Now & When by Sara Bennett Wealer

Author:Sara Bennett Wealer [Wealer, Sara Bennett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2020-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Swiping away tears before they can ruin my makeup, I walk out of the meeting room and make my way into the council chambers. The room is nearly packed. I spot Eli’s dad in the corner with a group of people in business suits, all of them super polished and surprisingly young. They must be the Everest team. Eli sits a few rows over with some other people from school. And then there’s Jordan’s social media brigade. They’re easy to spot, with their TEAM GARDEN: BE A BLESSING buttons.

I wade through the third row to the seat Jordan and Harper have saved for me.

“Everything okay?” Mom leans up from where she and Dad are sitting in the row just behind. “What was all that about with Truman?”

I shake off the urge to flinch at the sound of his name and shrug. “It was just Truman being Truman. I told him to try behaving more like a human being for once.”

“You don’t have to punish him just for my sake,” Harper says. She tugs at the sleeves of her sweater, then checks the basket of marigolds under her seat. “I don’t feel like he meant to be mean. You can go sit with him if you want.”

This is classic Harper, able to feel sorry even for someone who hurt her. But she doesn’t know how petrified I am right now, not just by the idea of what I’m about to do, but by what I’ve just done: fired my partner and ensured that when I step into the spotlight I’ll be doing it alone.

“Trust me,” I tell her. “I’ll do a better job if I’m not with Truman.”

I look over my shoulder at my parents, and their smiles give me confidence. Behind them, at the very back, stands Truman, silently mouthing his speech. No one stands with him, and when I scan the crowd, I don’t see his parents. Sympathy pokes at me in spite of everything, and I’m almost grateful when seven people file onto the stage at the front of the room. One of the council members is Fia Reyes’s dad, and he starts thumbing through a stack of papers as if prepping for his own personal courtroom drama. The mayor comes in last, smiling like it’s utterly normal for this many people to pack a Thursday night hearing. She bangs her gavel and we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thus begins what must be the most deadly dull forty-five minutes I’ve ever lived through. First up on the agenda: a shopping center wants to expand its parking lot. Some guy from the city drones on about easements and flood plains. Some guy with a house behind the development is concerned about his property value. Some of the council members think the improvements are overdue. Others want more information. As I listen to the blah blah of engineer’s reports and asphalt contracts, I tell myself that fighting with Truman could have affected the near future, too. Maybe it’s all been resolved and the garden isn’t even on the agenda anymore.

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