o drink.
“That wasn’t my goal, no. I’m all in support of the library. I didn’t realize that I’d thwarted that until Mr. Marshall came to my house and had words with me over it.”
Tucker went to Stark’s house? “He asked you to fund it?”
Stark laughed. “No. I don’t think he’d take water from me even if he was on fire. But like you, he thought my goal was to stop the library. And it wasn’t.”
“What was?” I sat on the edge of my couch. I didn’t intend for him to stay long, so I wasn’t going to settle in for a long chat.
He see-sawed his head. “It’s not important now. What is important is that I feel bad about putting the kibosh on your project. And it’s not sitting well how things went down at Mrs. Reynolds. When I asked Rick to return—”
“You asked him to come back?” I couldn’t stop from gaping.
“Yes.” He turned away, his fingers plucking at non-existent lint on his slacks.
“Why?”
“Again, not important. But the whole thing was a reminder about that statement of best laid plans…” He didn’t finish what he meant about that. “I’m here because I want to help you with your library. And before you tell me no, hear me out. I’m here in Salvation and I want to make a difference. I see things that can be better in this town and I know you do too. When you talk about a new library, people listen. All I’ve wanted to do is talk about the same things. Jobs. Education. But when I do it no one listens.”
“You don’t talk, Stark. You bully and manipulate and threaten.”
“I’m not doing that now. Right now, I’m offering you the chance to redeem your good name, build the library you want, not what Meredith Reynold’s wants, and help me become more respected in the community.”
I studied him. “What’s the catch?”
He shrugged. “Support Wallace for the mayoral election.”
“No.”
He laughed. “This is what I find fascinating about you people. You act all high and mighty. You condemn me and my methods. Mr. Marshall told me my actions hurt the children of Salvation. So here I am, offering to help them, and you’re willing to sacrifice their literacy for your friend. How does that make you any different from me?”
There had to be a difference, but I couldn’t think of one. “I’ll find a way to help the children that doesn’t betray my friend or my values.”
He nodded. “What about your reputation? This library could help you regain that. The people of Salvation would once again respect you. They wouldn’t be talking about how you tried to dupe a well-respected elderly woman out of her money.”
“I don’t care what people say.”
He quirked a brow. “Don’t you?”
I studied him wondering what he was getting at.
He stood and smoothed out his tie. “I wonder then why Mr. Marshall is no longer here. I figured it was because you didn’t like people talking about how young he is.”
How did he know that?
“You don’t know anything about it.”
He shrugged. “Maybe not. But I know that young man loves you enough to come into my home and threaten me with bodily harm if I messed…actually, I think he said, if I fucked with you again. In my mind, why else would you kick him out, unless it was the way people talked.” He reached out for the doorknob. “Then again, maybe you blamed him for ruining the library deal, but that would be unfair, and everything I’ve heard about you suggest that you’re a fair and decent person.”
He opened my front door. “If you change your mind about the library, let me know.”
“Mr. Stark.”
He turned. “Call me Simon.”
“If you’re interested in gaining the goodwill of the people, why not just build the library? Why do you have to have conditions?”
He shrugged. “In my experience, everything is transactional. I help you; you help me.”