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she just jerked her head toward the side and waited for him to get in.
    Newland wasted no time.
    She backed out, and they were off.
    “How’s your brother getting to the meeting?”
    Natalie didn’t bother to take her eyes from the road as she gave a one-shoulder shrug. “He either rode his bike or took a cab.”
    “He doesn’t have a car?”
    This time she did look away from her driving and shot him an incredulous look. “Of course not. He doesn’t know how to drive.”
    “But you said he was sixteen.”
    “Do you think I’m really going to let my immature baby brother behind the wheel of a car?”
    Newland bit back a chuckle. “But you let him run the town.”
    He wished he could see the look in her so-blue eyes, but she had already turned back to the front. “That’s different. There aren’t nearly as many lives at stake with him at the helm of the city.”
    This time Newland did laugh. But it didn’t draw any attention from Natalie. He supposed she expected it.
    They drove in silence for a few moments before Newland ran a loving hand across the dash of her car. “Nice ride.”
    Natalie made a noise that sounded like some sort of agreement, but he couldn’t be sure.
    “You don’t see many cars like this in small towns. This had to have set you back a pretty penny.”
    “Listen, Mr. Tran—”
    “Newland,” he corrected, but at least she said it correctly, with the “ah” a sound.
    She coughed. “Newland,” she acquiesced. “I have had more than my fair share of dealings with the press, and I know every trick in the book.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that I’m not going to answer a bunch of other questions about my family and my life here in Turtle Creek and my brother as the mayor and the nonexistent ghost in my aunt’s house just because you complimented my car.”
    Newland threw up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, all I said was you have a nice ride.”
    She chanced another look in his direction. “Thank you.” Her tone was unreadable. He didn’t have time to start another conversation as they pulled up in front of the school.
    “The town meeting is here?”
    “In the gym, yes.” Natalie got out and dropped her keys in her purse, but didn’t bother to lock the car. Now that he’d sat in it he knew it was a Jag. And cost upwards of a hundred thousand dollars. But he supposed in a town the size of Turtle Creek, if anyone stole it they would be easy to find. It had to be the only one around.
    “So what’s on the agenda for tonight?”
    “Agenda?” She seemed distracted. “Oh, you mean the meeting. I believe tonight we’ll be talking about whether or not to change the school colors and if something should be done about Harvey Johnson’s hound dog.”
    Newland stopped as sure as his feet had been glued to the parking lot. He looked around at the milling faces. It seemed half the town had turned out to discuss these important matters. “You mean everyone is here to talk about the school colors and a hound dog?”
    Natalie nodded. “Of course. We take politics very seriously around here.”
    Evidently
, Newland thought as they walked into the gymnasium. Rows of chairs had been lined up on the gym floor, and a table had been placed in front with a line of chairs waiting behind it.
    He had seen enough to realize that the chairs were for the townspeople who didn’t want to sit in or had spilled out of the bleachers, and the table and chairs under the basketball goal were the places where the town council and the mayor would sit.
    Aubie Coleman sat in the middle of that long, white cloth-covered table—the honored seat reserved for the mayor—awaiting the meeting to start.
    Natalie slipped out of her red shoes and hooked them on the fingers of one hand before walking smartly across the gym floor. She perched on the edge of one seat in the front row. Newland was forced to follow behind her, noticing that the other women who wore heels had, out of