Adulting by Liz Talley

Author:Liz Talley [Talley, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B08C4P5ZCD
Goodreads: 54886771
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chase drew a snowman in the margin of the legal pad Olivia had given her for the meeting of the Mount Larsen Daughters of Gold Prospectors, which cohosted the Mount Larsen Fall Festival with the Redmond Civitans. She wasn’t certain what she was supposed to take notes about since she’d essentially been relegated to selling tickets for the agriculture exhibit in the Cornucopia Hall on Friday evening. Olivia had been assigned to the food booths—something about a runner with money and food tickets. They’d given them both green aprons with pumpkins and Ferris wheels stitched to the pockets. Chase had never been on a committee and hadn’t expected it to be so tedious, but it was.

Very.

“So now that we have brought you two up to speed and made sure all of our volunteer positions are covered, we need to talk about security and the carousing the people who run the carnival rides do in their mobile village. Dianne McFarren said she saw one of them smoking weed last year, and as you know, we cannot have that sort of activity in full view of children who may be passing by.”

Several of the women launched into horror stories of all the things “carnies” did that could be construed as inappropriate and a safety risk.

Quickly the conversation moved to calling the police as soon as they saw the first signs of carousing, which seemed to be their term for getting loaded.

Chase raised her hand. “Um, excuse me.”

The ladies—half of whom had treated her like an alien, trying not to stare at her too long through their sideways glances, and half of whom seemed to not care that she was a celebrity—looked at her.

Olivia’s eyes widened as she opened her mouth as if she was about to stop Chase from speaking.

Chase held up her other hand in her life coach’s direction. “Why don’t you just ask that any such activity be done in private? Like, call the manager. You could also post a sign in the vicinity that says any inappropriate actions will be addressed. That way, people know. Most people who are blowing off steam after work aren’t looking to offend other people.”

One woman narrowed her eyes. “People define inappropriate behavior in different ways.”

That was definitely true.

“I’m just saying calling the police shouldn’t be the first response. A lot of people don’t intend to cause a scene.”

“Like you?” one woman said.

The prickles of shame came back with a vengeance. Why had she said anything? Now they were turning their intolerance and judgmental looks in her direction. Heat suffused her face. “Well, yeah. Like me.”

A few of the ladies looked away, as if they were embarrassed, but no one said anything.

Chase swallowed. “I did some things I’m not proud of. Obviously. But I never intended to hurt anyone.”

“Children watched you.”

God, this was so uncomfortable. She should have kept her mouth shut and drawn more snowmen friends for her fat snowman staring at her from the margin of her notepad. “I wasn’t thinking about that at the time.

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