The Late Bloomers' Club by Louise Miller

Author:Louise Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Charlie and Fern were hunched over one end of the counter. When I went to see what they were up to, I found them hot-glue gunning yellow pom-poms onto green aprons to make them look like giant ears of corn—their uniforms for the Corn and Tomato Festival.

“Did you finish the corn chowder?” I asked.

Fern held one of the aprons up to my body. “Try this on.”

I popped the loop over my head and tied the back.

Charlie and Fern studied me with concerned faces. “It’s not really saying corn to me yet,” Charlie said after several moments.

Fern balled up a fist full of pom-poms and balanced it on my head. “What if we added a headpiece?”

After considering me for a moment, Charlie cut a bunch of pale yellow yarn into strips and tied them into the neck loop of my apron, so that they draped over my shoulders.

Fern clapped her hands. “Tassels. Perfect!”

Charlie had propped the door open to let the warm afternoon breeze in, so I had no warning when Sean walked in. He was wearing another new suit.

I walked him down to the end of the counter, away from Fern and Charlie. “What can I get you?”

“Coffee would be great, to go, if I could. Thanks, Nor.”

I studied Sean while I poured the coffee into a Styrofoam cup. He looked tired. A little older, even. Maybe life as a public servant was wearing him down. “Charlie made a crumb cake.” It had always been Sean’s favorite.

“I’ll take two.”

I wrapped two pieces of the cake in wax paper, put them in a to-go bag, and placed it in front of him, next to the coffee. “Everything all right?”

Sean lifted out a piece of cake and took a huge bite, crumb topping tumbling down his lapels. “This town council gig has got me working all hours. We have an emergency meeting tonight about a sudden spike in kindergarten students for next year. The schools are asking for two more teachers, but there’s no room in the budget.”

I counted back, and confirmed that it was exactly six years ago that we had those back-to-back blizzards that had the town trapped for a solid week. “I knew that stormy winter was going to create a baby boom.”

Sean raised his coffee cup to me. “You called it.”

I leaned my arms on the counter. “Speaking of your new role in the town, I have a favor to ask.” These were not words that ever came out of my mouth. I especially didn’t like to ask Sean for anything because he was the kind of person who would bring it up over and over again. But I had said that I would. “Listen, about the agenda for the next town meeting.” I took a deep breath. “Mr. Danforth was hoping that you could move the vote on the zoning change for Peggy’s land to the top of the meeting.”

“Did he fill out the paperwork?”

“He did, but he was certain that some other articles were ahead of his, and he was concerned—”

“You know the rules, Nora.

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