“That remains to be seen,” Taryn grumbled, not sure how she ended up having to be the one to talk to Mayor Marsha about the town slogan. Although it wasn’t as if she could have let Kenny and Jack go by themselves. Heaven only knew what they would have said.
He parked his Mercedes in front of City Hall and walked around to help her out of the car. As he put his hand on the small of her back and guided her up the steps, she had to admit that for all her complaints about the boys, they were basically good men with nice manners. Even better, they respected women, paid their bills on time and in Jack’s case, put up with Larissa’s craziness.
“By the way,” she said. “If Larissa says anything about a marmoset, tell her no.”
Jack frowned. “What are they? Monkeys?”
“Yes, and they bite. I checked them out on the internet. They’re wild animals and we don’t want them anywhere but in their natural habitat. Which is not your house, by the way.”
“Okay.”
Taryn glanced at him. “Really?”
Jack shrugged. “Sure. I can stand up to her.”
Taryn laughed. “Yeah, we’ve all seen that happen.”
“You’re saying I can’t?”
“I’m saying you won’t. There’s a difference.”
They walked into the old building. Taryn paused to take in the architecture. There were murals and a wide staircase. All very pretty when she wasn’t there to deliver bad news and no doubt get sucked into doing something she didn’t want to do.
“I blame you for this,” she told Jack.
“We’re giving back to the community. That’s a good thing.”
“I’ll remind you of that later, when I’m beating you with a stick.”
He winked at her and pointed to the stairs. “Mayor’s office is that way.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m a man of mystery.”
“You probably looked it up before we left.”
“That, too.”
They went up to the second floor. As they approached the mayor’s office, a woman came out of another office and walked toward them. Taryn recognized the beautiful, pregnant redhead. Felicia Boylan was in charge of festivals in town. Taryn had met her when she’d first come to check out the town. Felicia was extremely intelligent and more than a little blunt. Taryn admired her for both qualities.
“Good afternoon,” Felicia said as she approached. “Mayor Marsha asked me to sit in on the meeting. If the town slogan is changing, we’ll have to address that in our advertising for the festivals. Depending on what the change is, we can use it to our advantage. Although I must point out that there are costs involved. Printed material, banners, updating online.”
Jack looked startled by the information that accompanied the greeting. Taryn only smiled.
“Nice to see you,” she said. “I agree, there will be costs. The question comes down to value.”
“I like the slogan,” Felicia murmured, leading the way into the waiting area by the mayor’s office. “I have my own Fool’s Gold happy ending.”
Jack made a choking sound. Taryn looked at the other woman’s baby bump and knew exactly what he was thinking. She elbowed him to keep him quiet.
As they approached the double doors leading to the mayor’s private office, she saw an older woman sitting at a desk.
“Hi, Marjorie,” Felicia said, smiling at her. “Should we go in?”
Marjorie nodded and motioned to the half-open door.
Mayor Marsha was waiting for them. She shook their hands, then led them over to a small conference table by the window. The mayor was dressed in a suit, with her hair up in a bun and pearls around her neck.
“How can I help you two?” she asked when they were all seated.
Taryn glanced at Jack, who smiled back. She held in a sigh. Obviously he was going to make her do all the talking.
She wished she’d brought paperwork. Handing out files was always a nice distraction. But what was she supposed to do? Diagram out a “happy ending”?
“We’re concerned about the town slogan,” Taryn began.
“So you said in your message.” The mayor looked pleasant but not overly interested. “Fool’s Gold has been the land of happy endings for nearly a hundred years. I’m not sure we want to change now.”
Jack started to chuckle. Taryn glared at him.
“I agree with the mayor,” Felicia began. “People come here and fall in love. The happy ending is—”
She froze, her mouth still open, as if she were going to continue speaking. Then her jaw dropped and her green eyes widened. “Oh no.” She turned to the mayor. “They’re right. The land of happy endings. ‘Happy ending’ is a euphemism for a male orgasm. Like at the end of a massage. When the female masseuse stimulates the man’s penis until he—”
“Thank you,” Mayor Marsha said forcefully. “I get it.” Color stained her cheeks. “None of us ever thought of the name that way, but now that you’ve pointed it out, it seems like something we should have noticed long before this.”
Taryn resisted the urge to squirm in her seat. “Yes, well, Jack, Kenny and Sam noticed it. For obvious reasons.”
“They’re immature and driven by their need to ejaculate?” Felicia asked.
Taryn grinned. “Yes, that would be it.”