A Lot Like Home

Though she really didn’t get what was so bad about wanting to use the untapped stores inside that yearned to nurture. The right way though. Not because she’d been forced into it as a child. Not because she’d latched onto the wrong man for her. And definitely not because she’d railroaded townspeople into a shopping center they didn’t want—they had motivations and dreams she couldn’t begin to understand.

It would be better if she lost the race. These people needed something better than what she could give them.

Serenity and Augusta picked that moment to return from the back, ballot box in hand with the news of who had won. Havana didn’t need to hear the announcement; the answer was written all over the huge smile on her aunt’s face. Caleb was the new mayor.

“Congratulations,” she murmured to him as Serenity took to the dais, crowing out his name.

Caleb’s expression was nothing short of stunned. And that was all she could take of this. Havana fled the diner without looking back.

Twelve

Holy crap what had just happened?

Caleb couldn’t catch his breath as Serenity hustled him up on the stage, arm slung around his waist and her face wreathed in smiles. The guys all wore matching expressions of half mirth and half disbelief as if they couldn’t decide whether to laugh or demand a recount. Or maybe that was just him.

“Are you sure I’m the winner?” he muttered low enough that only Serenity and Augusta Moon could hear him. “That can’t be right.”

Of course it could. Even Havana had assumed this would be the outcome. He’d been in denial because… he couldn’t be mayor. A dull buzz started up in his head.

“Stop being modest,” Serenity instructed firmly and shouted out to the crowd, “Our new mayor!”

The folks whistled and clapped, generally having a good old time celebrating an electoral win that never should have happened. Caleb could not be the mayor. It was ridiculous. These people had made a mistake expecting him to lead anything more complicated than a horse to water. And even then, he sure didn’t have the right to make it drink.

“This wasn’t supposed to turn out like this,” he whispered to Serenity with a fierceness that she brushed off.

“It’s providence,” she told him as if that explained everything and probably did if you had the ear of the universe.

Caleb did not. What he did have was an extreme bout of nausea that did not bode well for his acceptance speech. A flash forking through his vision told him some very bad memories were about to surface, and when scenes from al-Sadidiq made an appearance, his demons weren’t far behind.

His leadership days had ended abruptly for a reason. He sucked at it. People had died. Rowe still had nightmares to contend with, and not all of them happened while he was asleep.

“We’re happy to have you as our first mayor,” Augusta Moon told him as she pumped his hand. The pretty woman, who wasn’t much older than he was, nodded at the crowd. “They’re waiting on you to make your acceptance speech.”

Totally befuddled, Caleb turned to the crowd, drinking in their upturned, expectant faces. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” Mavis J called out, patting the arm of the gentle giant standing next to her. “Let Lennie and I be the first to welcome you into the fold.”

And like that, his panic vanished in a blink. These people were embracing him for no other reason than because he’d stood up for their uniqueness. His doubt demons might be fighting to make an appearance, but something even deeper began to bleed toward the surface.

He’d come here to find a purpose. A home. A place to belong and heal, and that was being handed to him. Was he really going to throw that back?

No. No, he was not.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely. Forge ahead. “I still don’t know what else to say other than I humbly accept. I’ll do my best to honor the trust you’ve shown me today.”

The crowd applauded, and his team surged forward to clap him on the shoulder, offering their congrats and general support. He could do this. They would be right behind him. Tristan might wisecrack, but he’d break the tension every time. Hudson would be first in line to do anything required to move Caleb’s agenda forward. Isaiah would make sure they all understood their value to the team. Rowe would just be Rowe, never wavering in his solid presence because Hardys didn’t bail no matter how hard it got.

Caleb’s spine straightened, and he swallowed easily for the first time in ages.

One thing in his favor—this town hadn’t ever had a mayor before, so the bar was pretty low.

When he got back to the hotel later that night, the guys were in a celebratory mood, so it was a long while until he made his way to his room. But when he got there, he was too keyed up to sleep. He wandered out onto the balcony that overlooked the street. The town had long gone quiet, a reality he aimed to change now that he’d been handed some power in this place. Eventually he’d like to see some nightlife as an alternative draw for guests at the resort. Assuming he could figure out a way for Scott’s investment company to still build it if the residents stuck firm to their guns and didn’t sell the land they all jointly owned.

If Havana’s warning had been right, the resort might not happen if Caleb didn’t green light the shopping center. And he had no plans to.

As if thinking about her had actually conjured her, the back of his neck prickled as Havana appeared on the landing of the stairwell that led to the alleyway. She climbed over the railing and stood there, a shadowy figure lurking in the darkest part of the balcony.

“I wanted to say congratulations again,” she murmured.