Jean Gordon - Winning the Teacher's Heart

“Becca.”

The other two men looked at Jared. He hadn’t realized he’d spoken his thought. But it couldn’t be. With her job and the kids, she had more than enough to keep her busy. It must be one of the other Conifer Road residents.

“Yes, Becca Norton. She’s new to the board. You know her?” Steve asked.

He cleared his throat. “Yes, but not like we’re close friends or anything.” That sounded lame.

“It might be more to your benefit if she were. She has connections. Her father-in-law was the county Sheriff.”

“Ex-father-in-law.”

Dan silently scrutinized him.

“I know the Sheriff, too.” And he has to be behind this somehow.

“Steve, we’re ready to start.” Jared recognized the man speaking as the owner of the diner where his mother used to work. For a moment, he was eighteen again, alone against the world.

“Time to make our case.” Dan slapped him on the back, reminding him he wasn’t alone. This time, he had a team behind him. A team he’d put together. And the resources to back that team.

Jared turned to Dan. “Did you get a copy of the meeting agenda?”

Since they appeared to be the only permit applicants here, he hoped the board would get to them first. He’d just as soon get this over with and get out of here.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “You are the agenda.”

* * *

“Come on down,” Tom Hill, the chair of the Zoning Board boomed, reminiscent of The Price Is Right . “Take a seat. We’re not formal here.”

Becca kept her gaze lowered as the men approached the dais. She placed the paper she held in her hands on the flat surface in front of her and smoothed it. Anger at herself for caving in to the Sheriff’s demand warred with concern for her kids and the life she was trying to build for them. She flicked the corner of the sheet with her index finger. The uneasiness she felt about Jared’s project wasn’t limited to her. She’d run into one of her two neighbors at the gas station convenience store. When Becca had mentioned that she was on her way to the Zoning Board meeting, he’d asked her what she knew about Jared wanting to build a motocross track on their road and then shared his apprehensions about the potential noise, traffic and strangers. He’d also reminded her how the Conifer Road residents had banded together to oppose the casino if it had been proposed.

“And this is our newest board member, Rebecca Norton,” Tom said.

She looked up into Jared’s deep blue eyes. They darkened, almost as if he’d read her thoughts about the track. But that was ridiculous.

“Hi, Jared.”

“Becca. What a pleasant surprise.”

He wouldn’t think so for long. Her pulse quickened. Or maybe he was being sarcastic and didn’t think that now, either. Although his tone wasn’t sarcastic, she didn’t know him well enough to read the real meaning of his words any more than he’d been reading her thoughts a moment ago.

Tom cleared his throat. “Now that introductions are over, I think we can get this done in quick order.”

Jared relaxed his stance. “We brought updated plans and the preliminary environmental studies from GreenSpaces for you to look over.” He stepped to the dais to hand a cardboard tube holding the plans to the board members.

Tom took the tube and waved him off. “That won’t be necessary tonight. I don’t know what Steve told your guy.” He nodded at Dan. “But Ms. Norton has raised new questions from her and one of the other property owners on Conifer Road. We’ve decided a public hearing is necessary. Your development may not fall under the recreational facility exception, after all—it being a racing school rather than a resort or simply a racetrack open to the public.”

The town attorney shuffled his feet while Jared’s attorney glared at her. But their actions barely registered. She was focused on Jared. He seemed to be looking past her to something on the wall behind the dais. She resisted the urge to turn and see what he was looking at, only to regret that decision. If she had, she would have missed the gut-wrenching hardening of his features. She started to slump in her seat, then straightened and crossed her arms. Even if she felt bad for Jared, who obviously wanted to get started on his project, she had valid reasons for pushing the public hearing. And for him, it could deflect opposition later, after he’d already sunk money into the motocross track.

“The hearing will be two weeks from Tuesday, our usual meeting night,” the board chair said. “Same time as tonight. That’ll let us get the required notices in the Times of Ti. You’ll get a letter in the mail.”

“Thank you,” Jared’s attorney said. “We’ll see you in two weeks.”

Jared jerked a nod in the direction of the board before he strode from the room.

Becca watched him until he reached the doorway. She pulled her shoulder bag from the back of her chair and rose as he disappeared into the hall. “If we’re done, I need to get home. The kids, you know.”

Becca hated to use the kids as an excuse. She rarely did. But she needed to speak with Jared, to explain her concerns about the motocross track. She could only hope that he and his lawyer might be talking outside.

“Sure,” Tom said. “That’s all the business we had for tonight. Glad to have you on board.” He chuckled at his pun and looked to the other members for affirmation. “We need more younger people to be involved in town government.”

She smiled while inwardly chaffing at the extra minute his short speech added to the head start Jared had on her. “Thanks. It’s my community. I want to do what I can.” And not alienate Jared Donnelly doing it.

Becca crossed the room as quickly as she could without looking as though she was running from the hall. Stepping into the warm cloudy night, she scanned the parking lot for Jared. There were four cars besides hers and four board members still in the hall. Her heart sank. He was gone. A cloud passed in front of the full moon casting shadows on the car. Gray shadows. Like her mood.

She unlocked her car and started it. Her concerns about having a motocross track almost in her backyard were real, although the magazine article and Tom Hill had called it a motocross school, not a track. She shouldn’t feel so agitated about having brought those concerns up to the board. She and other people in the community who would be affected by Jared’s proposed project deserved to learn more. Except Jared’s stony expression when Tom had told him about the public hearing kept flashing in her mind. The expression had made Jared look incredibly attractive and threatening at the same time.

Becca slowed the car in front of the Paradox Lake General Store. Brendon had finished the last of the milk at dinner. As she pulled in to stop to get some more, a motorcycle parked in the lot grabbed her attention. She replayed her son’s chatter about Jared’s bike in her head. She tilted her chin down and frowned at the vehicle. Brendon had said Jared’s bike was lime green. This one was dark blue, and the middle-aged man who was walking toward it definitely wasn’t Jared. She went into the store and headed directly to the coolers at the far right where the dairy products were.

Pulling the glass door open with her left hand, she reached in for one of the gallon containers of milk in the back of the cooler, releasing the door to close gently against her so she could bend in far enough to grab it. She sensed someone behind her and stiffened even before she felt the person grasp the door to hold it open for her. Not to be unfriendly, but she hoped it was a helpful tourist rather than anyone she knew. She wasn’t in a mood for idle chat.

“Thanks,” she said without looking as she turned to walk to the checkout.