Sweet Sensations

Chapter Twenty-Three

Xavier

Three weeks later...

Alice cut another piece of strawberry pie, sliding it onto a small plate and plopping down a scoop of vanilla ice cream. "Arty?" she said. "I know strawberry is your favorite."

"Fine, fine," Arty said, taking the plate but avoiding eye contact. The two of them were always going in and out of feuds, but regardless, Alice made sure he had his share of the pie.

Georgia clinked her spoon against her coffee mug, calling the meeting of the business association to order. The construction was quieting down on the street outside and the redevelopment taking shape. With the temperature and the leaves falling, most of the diners were inside the café, and Alice's waiters and waitresses were kept very busy with the afternoon crowd.

"The landscaping crew sent along some designs for us to consider for the corner," Georgia said. "Has everyone had a chance to review them? I emailed the attachments last week."

Everyone started grumbling at the same time, pulling out their phones and muttering under their breaths. Technology had always been one of our group's biggest challenges.

"I don't know why they're suddenly pulling us into the process," Jacqueline said, pursing her lips. "They could hardly answer their own emails a month ago."

"That's the point, dear," Alice said, pushing aside a stray lock of hair that had fallen over her face. "They're trying to make it up to us."

"I'm not complaining," Arty said loudly. "If the kid here gets us a new bus stop and some free landscaping, I say keep dating that suit from the city!"

A few people chuckled, and I held my hands in the air. "This is not about me dating Dominick," I said, although Arty had already turned back to his pie.

Although the truth was, I did take the landscaping project as a small act of penance from Dominick. He wasn't able to fix what went wrong, but he was able to do better as the project went forward.

Duly noted, I thought to myself.

"I like the design with all the flowers," Alice said. "But are the colors set? Maybe something a bit more on the purple side of things would be nice."

Jacqueline adjusted her glasses. "I preferred design 3B," she said.

"Which one is 3B?" Alice asked.

Jacqueline frowned. "It's the attachment labeled 3B."

"Well, can't you just tell me what it looks like?" Alice asked.

I took a deep breath, then cleared my throat loudly. It was a technique Dominick had explained to me, where I summoned my voice from the bottom of my chest and projected it outward. For once, everyone actually paused and turned to look at me.

"The appendix points out that most of the designs are seasonal, but one of them includes quite a few winter plants. That also means the landscaping crew will be coming by more often, which equals more consistent maintenance and upkeep in general." Everyone stared at me, blinking like they were surprised to hear my voice. "It's 2A, the one with all the shrubs," I said.

"2A, 2A," Arty muttered to himself, as though considering an idea for the first time.

Georgia caught my eye from across the table and winked, and I suppressed a giggle. It might have been a small victory to most people, but getting the group to hear my idea without immediately shutting me down was, actually, a rare occasion for me. Scooping up some of the strawberry pie with my fork, I dabbed it in ice cream and licked it down.