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.It would be the hit of the party.Maybe you and Rosie should look into it as a sideline.”“That’s a fine-looking plant,” Rosie’s dad was saying to another woman.“Here, let me get the wheelbarrow for you, and I’ll wheel it out to your car.”“I got it, Mr.Stockton,” Hannah said.She grabbed the wheelbarrow and started maneuvering it through the crowd.Tess looked at me.“Scary,” she said.“You don’t think she has a body double, do you?”“She’s a great kid,” I said.“She’s going to be just fine.”Before we started the meeting, Rosie and Tess’s husbands made sure everyone had either a glass of seltzer or some lavender black currant champagne, made the real way, without cutting any muddling corners.Tess stood in front of the chairs and clapped her hands.I could suddenly picture her as a teacher.I bet the kids quieted down right away for her.“Welcome to the first meeting of the Marshbury Clothesline Alliance,” Tess said.“It all started with a few posters on a clothesline and a vast quantity of bubbles in the fountain, but on the advice of counsel, we’re not allowed to discuss that.”Everybody cheered.“Most days,” Tess continued, “I am proud to live in this beautiful little town, but every so often I am outraged by the elitist, small-minded, judgmental, bourgeois….”I made a cutting motion across my neck.“But I digress,” Tess said.“Anyway, we’re here tonight to strategize so we can right a simple wrong.Energy costs are crazy, and there’s nothing like the smell of your sheets fresh off the line.Green is the new black, and clotheslines are as green as you can get.The Marshbury Clothesline Ban has seen its day, and it’s up to intelligent people like us to make sure the ban is banned.I’d like to see a clothesline in every yard in Marshbury by the end of the year.Whether they want one or not!”Everybody cheered again.I stepped up beside Tess.“We’d like each of you to take a copy of the Ban the Marshbury Clothesline Ban petition.If you can circulate it for signatures, and drop it off back here at the lavender farm by August fifteenth, that would be great.We’re hoping to go before the board of selectmen to present our case at the end of August.If we get enough signatures, they’ll put a question on the ballot at the town election in November.And, of course, we’ll win.”The cheering grew even louder, then tapered off.I waved to Sherry, who was sitting between two other women from work.It was nice to see them again.Everybody started surging toward either the petitions or the lavender black currant champagne.Something made me turn to look down Rosie’s long driveway.A man was emerging from the path that ran through the pine grove from my house to Rosie’s.I threaded my way through the cars that lined both sides of the driveway and met him halfway.“Hey,” Rick said.“Some party.”“It is now,” I said.“ISN’T IT LOVELY you boys have so much in common?” my mother said.She lowered her voice and whispered, “I have a good feeling about this one, honey.”Rosie’s dad had borrowed his grandsons’ Wii, and he and Rick were getting it plugged into my television.“So, what will it be, bowling or tennis?” Rick asked.“Ladies’ choice,” Rosie’s dad said.“How about bowling?” I said.“I have fond memories of Wii bowling.”Rick was squatting in front of the TV.He turned around, and his eyes met mine.My heart leaped, and we both smiled like we were kids again.“Bowling’s fine with me,” my mother said.“You’ll love it,” I said.“And don’t worry, you’ll pick it up right away.”“Oh, please,” my mother said.“I’m on a Wii bowling league at my condo clubhouse.I even have my own designer Mii.”After we finished playing, I walked Rick out to his Honda.“Sorry about that,” I said.“What?” he said.“I had a great time.Plus, we kicked their butts.”I smiled.I’d had a great time, too, a grand time, as my mother would say.A grand time with a man who might or might not be able to dance, but he was definitely quite the nice guy.We both looked up at the sky.The moon was almost full, and about a gazillion stars twinkled around it.Rick put his arm around me.“So what made you just show up tonight?” I asked.“Well,” he said.“I was going to wait and talk to you tomorrow at Fresh Horizons.You know, give you some time to figure out whatever you needed to with the guy in the suit.”I leaned into Rick.“Nothing to figure out.Old news.”“Good to know.But then I was afraid you might misinterpret it as a lack of interest on my part and take my head off in front of our small-group cohorts again.”I laughed.“I didn’t take your head off.I was just drawing a line in the sand.”“Perfectly executed,” he said.“That small-group stuff is really rubbing off on you, isn’t it?”And then he kissed me.Day 3210,001 steps“SO,” TESS SAID.“WHAT A GREAT TURNOUT LAST NIGHT.”“I was hoping a lawyer would show up,” Rosie said.“It always helps to have a lawyer present your case at those selectmen’s meetings.Otherwise, they try to trip you up.”“Just let ’em try it,” Tess said.“A part of me is hoping they don’t simply cave and ban the clothesline ban right away.Then we can get some picketing in.”“Just no bubbles,” I said.“That’s all I ask.And remind me to keep my ski mask on this time, okay?”We took a right at the end of Wildwater Way.Tess moved up ahead, and Rosie stepped back beside me.“So,” Rosie said.“Those clotheslines of yours certainly were a big hit.”“I know,” I said.“Do you believe it? And I heard you sold practically every lavender item in the shed.”“Yeah, it was great.Your mother promised she’d help me make lavender wands and more lavender wreaths.And she and my father are fine with keeping an eye on the shed through the season.After that they’re talking about heading to Florida so your mom can show off my dad at her condo complex
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