When Love Runs Dry novel · Chapter 6 of 32

Chapter 6: Town Hall

Opal turned the TV off with her toe.

"Well," she said. "She looks terrible in green."

"Gran."

"She does." She picked up the kitchen phone. "Special town meeting. Monday night. I'm calling the first selectman."

"Can you just call one?"

"I trained him. He was my summer intern in 1987. He'll call one."

He called one.

By Monday at seven the town hall auditorium was full, and people were standing along the back wall in their work jackets.

A woman near the front held a sign on a paint stirrer.

148 DOLLARS FOR BROWN WATER?

Mae sat on the edge of the stage swinging her sneakers.

Nolan couldn't find a sitter, and Opal said the stage was the best seat.

Nolan stood beside her with his arms folded.

He'd shaved. I noticed. I didn't say anything.

At the front table the first selectman was sweating through his shirt.

Beside him sat Delaney in her cream coat, with two Spaulding lawyers and a tray of muffins from a bakery in Greenwich.

Nobody had touched the muffins.

"Thank you all for coming," Delaney said into the microphone. "I know this was a scary week."

"Was it scary in my waders?" Nolan said, not loud.

Half the room laughed.

Delaney's smile held.

"Spaulding responded to the outage within hours. We're investing in this town. The new rates fund that investment."

A man stood up in the third row. "Fund it how? You fired the crew."

"We have a professional contractor now."

"Your professional contractor couldn't find the river," somebody called.

More laughter. Louder.

Delaney's eyes found me in the second row.

"I want to say something about the misinformation going around," she said. "Some of you have been listening to Meredith Spaulding."

"Brainard," Opal said.

"Meredith is my partner's ex-wife. She's going through a very painful divorce."

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