Rival Hearts (Little Falls #1)

4. Maggie

Maggie held the City Hall internal phone away from her and stared at it, disbelief running through her veins like ice. She placed the handset against her ear. With a deep breath, she said, "What? I didn't catch that, Ruth. Can you say that again?"

Her secretary cleared her throat. "Grady Castillo registered himself as an independent candidate for mayor."

"An independent candidate?" She spent one day a week in the mayor's office, and this week she'd decided Friday would be her day. She'd expected to be declared mayor for another four years today. Avoiding proclamations out loud didn't mean she didn't say them in her head. Right now, her brain was having trouble processing this turn of events. The calculating look Grady had given her last night made a lot more sense. "Does Grady even have a job?"

"Do you want me to come in there?" Ruth asked, and the scrape of the chair legs on the wooden floor as she rose from her seat was clear through the phone and the thick oak door. Instead of waiting for an answer, there was a click in Maggie's ear, and Ruth popped her head into the office.

"What in the world?" Maggie set down the handset and rocked back in her leather chair. The mayor's desk, big, wide, and older than Maggie, was laid out between them. She smoothed her hands along the grainy surface hoping like a genie in a bottle, it would magically restore logic and order to her life. Grady Castillo running against her for mayor was insane.

"I know." Ruth nodded. "Absolute lunacy. Why would he want to run against you?"

"Why would he want to run at all?" Maggie raised bewildered eyes to Ruth. "Does he even own property in town?"

Ruth inspected the piece of paper in her hand. "Looks like he bought the old Whittaker place."

"The Whittaker place?" Maggie shook her head. "The mold penetrated his brain, that's what's happened."

With a small laugh, Ruth shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like we have ourselves a race for mayor."

"Seriously? What job did he list?" Maggie rounded the desk, her heels muted by the gray carpet and snatched the paper out of Ruth's hands. "Musician? That's what he put down?" Last night he'd told her he didn't make his living off his voice anymore. So, what was this? A lie?

"Technically, probably true. The cash prize and then the royalties off his hit album."

"One hit album," Maggie reminded her. "One."

Ruth smoothed her chin-length salt and pepper hair. She was old enough to retire and had been for a few years. But when Maggie had gotten into office, Ruth had agreed to stay on for Maggie's first term. Everyone had been counting on a second.

"There's no way Grady wants to be mayor." Maggie thrust the paper at Ruth and spun on her heel back to her desk. "I mean, you've met him, right? Grady Castillo can't remember anyone's name, ever. He and Trent were banned from the pawn shop when we were kids. Banned!" On the tip of her tongue was Trent, a convicted felon, but she caught herself in time. She never talked about him like that, and she wasn't going to let her temper get the best of her now. Grady had always brought out the worst in her. "He would be a terrible mayor. I bet he doesn't even have a plan or a platform or anything."

"He has managed to get you quite worked up."

"A loophole." Maggie picked up the phone and dialed the former mayor who'd retired when she took over. "There must be some reason Grady can't run, right?"

Ruth shook her head. "I checked through everything I had on file to see if he was even allowed to run. It seems his candidacy as an independent is perfectly legal." She worried her bottom lip for a moment in silence. "If the house he bought and the career he listed is any indication, he probably doesn't have much money."