Sultry Sunset Read Online Free PDF Page A

began and took the seat beside me that I always saved for him. After being there for twenty minutes listening to the mayor read the minutes from the last meeting, Ivy said Oh like she suddenly understood the meaning of life.
    “It’s a snoozefest,” she whispered.
    “Yep,” I yawned, getting as comfortable as I could in a metal folding chair and jostling Mike from his dozing.
    The town was simply too small to need a meeting every week. There was no “breaking news” that everyone didn’t already know. Eleven thousand people just didn’t generate that much news. There were high school football stadiums that held more people than lived in Mangrove.
    “Remind me to not come with my dad when he gets here.”
    Normally after breakfast she did the dishes while I took a shower, and then I called the store and checked in while she showered. Together we left my house, walked to hers, opened it up so it could air out during the day, and then she took Benny and did something, either met up with a new group of friends at the beach, went for a bike ride, went to Wick and Wand and visited Sophia, went to the movies—where Benny was also allowed—or tagged along with me to the construction site. She would have done the latter most every day because, as she said, she enjoyed watching Leya and Oren “go at it.”
    The mayor of Mangrove and the owner of the only construction company in town were going to kill each other. Ivy was certain they were madly in love, but I did not actually live in a romantic comedy, so I knew that it was just a matter of time before their story would be on one of those true-crime shows on primetime.
    As the mayor, Oren Adler wanted to know what was going on with everything. Most people found his interest sometimes annoying but mostly benign. Leya Naidu found him insufferable, and because he was also the richest man in town, she refused, on principle, to do anything he asked. Ever.
    He asked if the community center could have more of a Shingle Style look when it was redone so it would match the buildings downtown, but she and I had agreed on a French Colonial style, and even if I had been fine with changing it, she was not. I just stood there watching them yell at each other, like it was a tennis match.
    That was the first of many battles that raged between them, from her having his car towed to him having her office rezoned so she needed all new paperwork refiled before she could even enter her building, from his parking lot repaved around his car to her house declared a biohazard area by the health inspector. I told both that they needed to be grownups. His priority was the total aesthetic of the downtown area. Her priority was to deliver on her promise to her customers. It was exhausting just being around them.
    “Seriously,” Ivy simpered, just besotted with them. “When they kiss, it’s gonna be epic.”
    I groaned and took her for ice cream at Sprinkles On Top. Her favorite flavor was chocolate swirled with macadamia nuts and fudge. Then after our midmorning ice-cream social, I went to the store to check in with Mike.
    “So how many pools will the new—is it a rec center or a community center?” Mike asked as we walked the store together.
    He had a point. It would be a place where seniors could take dance lessons and teenagers could cluster, and where mothers could bring their children for playdates. Classes would take place morning, noon, and night; there would be a dojo and two Olympic-size pools, plus rooms for dance like ballet with the barre installed and one with a stage where performances could be put on. I was excited about what the center would be once it was completed, and I looked forward to hiring a staff, but what I was actually going to call it was still sort of morphing in my head.
    “Hutch?”
    “I have to think about that.”
    He chuckled.
    “What?”
    “Nothing. You guys want burgers or chicken or kebabs tonight?”
    “Oh, are you grilling?”
    “Yeah. You and Ivy have