Two days later, I found myself for the first time, in the same room as Jared's father.

It wasn't at the Kent's house, however, and as far as I knew he wasn't even aware that I existed, let alone that I was there. He was probably a little more interested in the 100 or so angry people  who packed the meeting room at the town hall, salivating his head.

All the town meetings, plus Elks club meetings, school board meetings, AA meetings, and the women's club meetings were all held in the smallish meeting room at the town hall.

It was a fluorescent lit, wood paneled room with a permanent cigarette smoke smell that pretty much sucked the color out of your skin and made you drowsy the moment you walked in.

I had only been there once before when my friends and I had lobbied the school board for an eighth grade dance. They had shot us down only to start up one year later.

It takes every governing entity in this town at least 12 months to make a decision about anything. Mr Kent has no idea what he is in for.

Still, he looked relatively calm and unaffected as he took his front row seat in one of the ancient folding chairs facing the table where the mayor and his lackeys sit.

I had expected Mr Kent to show up looking all Trump-like in a designer suit and a brief case. Instead, he sat there in an open necked white shirt and khakis with a plain blue folder in his lap. And he still looked more distinguished than any other man in this room.

"Alright, Alright! Let's settle down!" Mayor Brick called out, slamming his gavel on the faux wood surface of the metal table a few times.

The din of the room fell to a whisper as people took their seats. The room was filled to capacity, with more concerned citizens lining the walls.

Actually, I wasn't sure if they were so much concerned citizens as people hoping for a glimpse of Robert Kent and his family.

Unfortunately for them, Jared and his mother were nowhere in sight. I wondered how they could stay away. The meeting was all the town had talked about for the past few days. But then again, they weren't exactly apart of the town.

I was disappointed not to see Jared though. At this point, he was pretty much all I thought about, and I would have taken any chance I could just to see him again.

Of course he had dodged the strip mall subject pretty handily that day at his house. Apparently he really did have zero interest in his fathers work.

I myself had come out of sheer thirst for drama. Lake Logan had not seen this much excitement since.... well.... not since before I was born.

My father sat next to me, his face stoic, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Mom was next to him, sitting at the edge of her seat.

Across the aisle were Donna and her family, and she winked at me and fell into the chair next to Derek.

"Okay, normally we would read the minutes from last week and go on to business we had planned for a while, but I know y'all aren't here to listen to any of that," Mayor Brick said, drawing a few laughs. He pulled up the waist band of his pants under is round belly and smiled, proud of his joke.  His silver hair gleamed under the lights,  and I had a feeling he used more product than usual, knowing he was going to have an audience. "So let's get to the task at hand. Robert Kent has made a generous offer to the old Lawrence place and proposes to build a strip mall on the premises."

The was an angry murmur through the crowd, and I glanced at Mr Kent. His expressing didn't change a bit. He was as co asa cucumber. His attention only focused on the mayor. Man, this guy is good.

"Now I'm going to let Mr Kent come up here and share a brief outline of his proposal with you, and then we'll here the comments from the floor," Mr Brick said. "Mr Kent?"

Mr Brick sat down behind the table and Mr Kent got up. My father stiffened in the swat next to me.

Instead of striding to the center of the room, Me Kent stayed in his corner to address the audience. Up close, he looked older than I thought. His hair was this and graying, especially around the temples, and the skin of his face was a little slack, like someone who had recently been his with the stomach flu.

As he stood, he was met with jeers and boos and for a second, I was embarrassed to be there. So none of us wanted to see the Lawrence farm go, did the audits in the room have to act like second graders about it?

"My proposal calls for a strip mall with ten store fronts and one large warehouse style space for a supermarket, along with 100 parking spaces," Mr Kent begins.

"100 parking spaces? We don't even have 100 people living in this town," someone calls from the crowd. Everyone around the jokester laughed.

"The facade of the mall would be tasteful and fit in with the environs. And the plans would call for the razing of the farmhouse and outbuilding, but would only affect about a third of the orchid.

This got a rousing protest from the audience, which I could tell Mr Kent was surprised about. He clearly thought that saving any of the orchid was a benevolent move on his part. Still, he gamely continued over the growing noise.

"With reasonable rents and generous spaces, the mall would give area professionals a chance to open small businesses and restaurants without the cost of building their own structures. I will create jobs and give all of you a new variety of shopping and dining choices, which I, for one, think the people of this town deserve."

He glanced over at the mayor who was looking on with a disturbing amount of interest.

"That's it for me. Thank you all for your time." Mr Kent finished.

"Who are you to decide what we deserve?" Someone shouted from the back of the room.

Instantly the room erupted in chaos. Shouts and jeers and questions and feet stomping.

Mayor Brick almost broke his gavel trying to get everyone back in order. Do nana rolled her eyes at me and made a big show pulling out her latest Summer Romance novel.

" i'd like to say something!" My father said, standing just as the noise died down. I felt sick to my stomach as every pair of eyes in the room turned toward us.

"The chair recognizes Thomas Grace," the mayor said, looking relieved.

"I'm not sure how you know what we do or don't deserve, Mr. Kent, being that you haven't set foot in this town in 20 years," my father said, staring his down.

A smattering of applause and cheers met his statement, but my father held up a hand, instantly silencing it.

" But what we want is to preserve our way of life. We have traditions around here. Traditions that are important to us. History that we want our kids to be a part of. Now I wouldn't expect a man like you to understand that, but I understand this. You can't just come in here and destroy that because you want some more green to line your pockets. We won't let you do it." My father said.

I swallowed hard as the room exploded again. A few people even gave my father a standing ovation. Hi, for one, felt ill. My father had just insulted Jared's father to his face. Now I was kind of glad Jared hadn't shown.

Me Kent stood up. " If tradition and history are part of your priorities, I do have a counter proposal," he shouted, quieting everyone.

"Uh... the chair recognizes Roberts Kent," Mayor Brick said.

"Let's hear it," my father said with a touch of sarcasm. Whatever it was, he was going to shoot it down.

"If the town Council approves the sale of the Lawrence land to me, I will, intern, finance the restoration of a great town landmark, the Regency theater."

A universal gasp went out over the room. Donut dropped her book. Derek went pale. Suddenly, their father and mother were sitting straight up in their seats.

"What?" Donnas dad blurted.

My heart painfully fluttered in my chest. The Policastro's had been trying to figure out a way to restore the Regency to its former glory for years, but had never been able to get the financing together. I knew that it was Donna's father's dream to see the old place brought back to the way his dad had imagined it. For a guy who didn't seem to know much about the lake Loganers, Robert Kent had just hit upon the deepest wish of one of our favorite towns people.

"I, for one, would love to see the elegance in glitz of the old place restored," Mr. Kent said breaking the stunned silence.  "Together we can bring it back to the way it used to be. I've looked into the history of the place and learned that it was one of the first movie houses built in upstate New York I propose a full whole overhaul and restoration and I myself will lobby the state for landmark status so that the building will be protected from future development that is, if any other offer is accepted."

Everyone was whispering and shifting. I gaped at Donna, Who gaped at her parents. Derek looked like he was about to faint out of his chair.

"This is ridiculous," my father said finally. "It's a bribe! He thinks he can just buy us all off."

"Now, now Thomas. I think I would like to hear what the owners of the theater have to say about said proposal," Mayor Brick said. Everyone in the room looked at Donnas parents. "Jim? Lucy?"

Donnas dad shifted in his seat, cleared his throat, and sat up in his seat. "I'd.... be willing to listen."

After that, you couldn't have gotten the room under control with a Nuclear explosion.

*     *      *

Hello all!!!! There's a little bit of town drama for you.
What did y'all think of Mr Kent. It's his first official appearance and I would really like to see how I did on him.
I had no idea that this chapter was going to end like that, I just started writing and didn't stop until I thought it was good, so it's as much a surprise to me as it is to y'all.

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT AND VOTE

Much love, Kylie