Page 83 of November

“Is Paige coming?” Dana asked.

“No, she’s working.”

“When are you going to finally put a ring on it, Lainey? It’s been years.”

“I’m sorry; I don’t seeyouwalking around with a ring on your finger, and you were with that boyfriend of yours for over a year.”

“That was two years ago. I’ve dated three women since then. Keep up, Laine.”

Maisie stood up to leave them to their sibling bickering, which she’d heard a lot of back in the day.

“The longest was for, like, a month.”

“It wasfourmonths, asshole,” Dana argued as she began pulling items out of the bag. “Get napkins. I didn’t bring any.”

“Bossy,” Lainey replied as Maisie arrived at the front of the shop.

It was one in the afternoon, and they’d already had their three customers of the day, but she figured they might get lucky and have a few more in the afternoon since the store next door was running a massive sale to front-run Black Friday, which could net her some walk-in traffic. So far, though, nothing had materialized. Maisie knew she could close early, but that would mean definitively losing out on any potential customers, so she stood behind the counter and restocked the bookmarks. When her phone rang, she was surprised to see it was Colter Stone’s office number, which she knew and had saved when she’d been trying to reach him to schedule a debate for the election.

“Hello?”

“Miss Lincoln?”

“This is her,” she replied.

“It’s Colter Stone.”

“I know. What can I do for you?”

“Oh,” he said as if he hadn’t expected her to recognize his number or voice. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about the bookstore.”

“I’m not selling the property to the city, Mr. Stone. I don’t care what you offer.”

“What? No,” he said. “I’m not calling to try to make you another offer. I wanted to get you on the agenda for the next meeting.”

“The agenda?”

“Yes, for the historical landmark status.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I think you were right. The truth is that lot is not going to get me much. Yes, it’s in a great location, but it’s squished between two businesses that haven’t been there all that long, and they might make an offer to you to buy it, but the city doesn’t have much to gain. I lied about that. Anyway, it’s a PR thing for me, but it would give you what you want.”

“The election is over, though. Why do you care? Just PR?”

“Mostly, yeah,” he said. “It would also get you off my back, plus my sister.”

“Your sister?”

“Yes. It would get India off my back, too. She’s annoying. So, what do you say? Can you present to the council again at the next meeting? I can’t guarantee anything, obviously, but I can work my magic, and if you’ve got a good case, they should approve it this time.”

Maisie tried to focus and push the thought of India out of her mind because Colter Stone was offering her the one thing she’d cared about the most for the past couple of years.

“You know this won’t getyouanything, right? I won’t agree to not run against you in the future or something.”

He laughed and said, “I won’t be in this position long anyway. I’m running for mayor next cycle. In fact, I’m thinking about bringing some new blood onto my staff. Part-time, if needed, but someone to advise me on votes, among other things. I have a lot of yes-men who work for me. I’d like to bring someone on board who might not agree with me on everything.”

“Are you askingmeto join your staff?”