It's In His Smile (A Red River Valley Novel Book 3) by Shelly Alexander

Author:Shelly Alexander [Alexander, Shelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503936058
Publisher: Montlake Romance, Seattle
Published: 2016-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

Miranda took Talmadge’s advice and started to assemble a trustworthy team to help plan the festival. After spending the rest of the week making phone calls to the small group of people that she had let into her inner circle over the years, she walked into the Chamber of Commerce building with enough gooey cinnamon rolls and coffee from the Ostergaards’ bakery to feed an army.

If there was one thing she remembered from her high school AP history classes, it was that an army tended to be more loyal if their bellies were full. Not only did she want her soldiers going into battle against Mrs. Wilkinson fully armed and ready to fight, but Miranda wanted to win the war. So she set out the cinnamon rolls and coffee in the conference room and went back for the cranberry-pecan scones—Mrs. Ostergaard’s specialty. No one stood a chance against those.

She’d scheduled the first meeting during Talmadge’s physical therapy appointment. On purpose. Miranda wanted to establish herself as the commander in chief without her council automatically deferring to him.

Plus, she couldn’t think with him in the room, much less plan an attack or lead a charge.

Within fifteen minutes the room was full of chomping, slurping, moaning-at-the-decadent-flavor volunteers.

Miranda went to the whiteboard and plucked the top off of a marker. “Thanks for coming, everyone.” Her voice cracked, and she wanted to fan her eyes as she turned and looked at the roomful of helpers. For someone who had felt alone most of her life, she had a lot of friends. Maybe Talmadge was right. Asking for help wasn’t always a bad thing.

She wrote out a list on the board. “Here’s what we need to accomplish for the festival. Can I get a volunteer to head each category? Everyone else can sign up to work on a task.”

Within two minutes each category was filled, and Lorenda furiously scribbled every detail down on a notepad while Miranda wrote the names on the board so everyone could see. It took twenty minutes for Miranda to cover all of the assignments.

“Let’s meet weekly for updates. Same time, same place,” she told her crew. “I’ll bring the refreshments.”

As they stood to go, Mrs. Wilkinson walked in with her son, Bart—the Red River elementary school principal—in tow along with the mayor. She didn’t bother with a hello before launching her first barrage at Miranda.

“I brought along two respectable people in our community to witness your lack of experience and to ensure that the chairmanship is rightly switched to the better candidate.”

“This meeting is for the Hot Rides and Cool Nights Festival. You must be lost.” Francine held her travel-trailer-size purse in her lap.

Bart’s receding hairline gleamed under the fluorescent lights, and he stared at his shoes. Mayor Schmidt—a tall, seventyish man with a potbelly and a keen eye for local politics—shoved his hands in his pockets.

And wow. Mrs. Wilkinson must donate a lot of money to Mayor Schmidt’s campaigns because he looked as hen-pecked as Bart.

Joe spoke up. “Looks to me like Miranda has everything under control.

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