When We Met (Fool's Gold #13)(50)

“How can I help you two?” she asked when they were all seated.

Taryn glanced at Jack, who smiled back. She held in a sigh. Obviously he was going to make her do all the talking.

She wished she’d brought paperwork. Handing out files was always a nice distraction. But what was she supposed to do? Diagram out a “happy ending”?

“We’re concerned about the town slogan,” Taryn began.

“So you said in your message.” The mayor looked pleasant but not overly interested. “Fool’s Gold has been the land of happy endings for nearly a hundred years. I’m not sure we want to change now.”

Jack started to chuckle. Taryn glared at him.

“I agree with the mayor,” Felicia began. “People come here and fall in love. The happy ending is—”

She froze, her mouth still open, as if she were going to continue speaking. Then her jaw dropped and her green eyes widened. “Oh no.” She turned to the mayor. “They’re right. The land of happy endings. ‘Happy ending’ is a euphemism for a male orgasm. Like at the end of a massage. When the female masseuse stimulates the man’s penis until he—”

“Thank you,” Mayor Marsha said forcefully. “I get it.” Color stained her cheeks. “None of us ever thought of the name that way, but now that you’ve pointed it out, it seems like something we should have noticed long before this.”

Taryn resisted the urge to squirm in her seat. “Yes, well, Jack, Kenny and Sam noticed it. For obvious reasons.”

“They’re immature and driven by their need to ejaculate?” Felicia asked.

Taryn grinned. “Yes, that would be it.”

“Hey,” Jack said, sounded wounded. “There’s more to us than that.”

Felicia nodded. “Yes, of course. You have emotional depths. It’s just the male drive for orgasm is very powerful. It can cause focus problems and poor decision making.” She leaned toward him. “I’ve noticed that falling in love and making a long-term commitment tends to redirect a man’s sexual energy. When a man has a partner he truly loves, he is more able to direct his energies in positive ways.”

The mayor cleared her throat. “Perhaps we could keep on the topic at hand. The town slogan.”

“We’re working on several options,” Taryn said. “If you want to hear them at a later time. Or you could brainstorm in-house.”

“I think I’ll leave this to the professionals. Do you have any idea what direction you’ll be going in?”

Jack started to speak, but Taryn glared at him again. No way she wanted him telling the mayor anything like Fool’s Gold—Where Men Are Finally Coming.

“It’s early yet,” Taryn said instead. “Let me put together a presentation.”

“That would be helpful,” Mayor Marsha told her as she rose. “The work will be pro bono.”

The words were a statement, not a question. Taryn nodded. Later she would take up the matter with the boys. But as they’d created the problem by noticing it in the first place, she didn’t think they would be in much of a position to complain.

They all shook hands again and the three of them left. Once they were in the hallway, Felicia turned to Jack.

“I have to discuss a matter with Taryn. It’s female in nature and will upset you. I suggest you leave now.”

Jack glanced between them. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said. “Call when you want me to come get you.”

He practically flew down the stairs.

Felicia pointed to a bench in the open hallway. Taryn sat next to her and waited. She couldn’t imagine what the other woman would want to talk to her about. Especially under a “female nature” topic.

Felicia angled toward her. “As you know, I’m pregnant.”

Taryn glanced at her baby bump and nodded. “You’re past the point of hiding that from anyone.”

Felicia smiled. “Gideon and I started trying in December. I believe I got pregnant right away. I took the test the morning of our wedding and it was positive.” Her smile faded. “I’m having a girl.”

“I don’t understand. You wanted a boy?”

“No. I would have been equally happy with a child of either sex. My concern is Gideon has a son. Carter is very helpful and informative. I had thought to draw on his memories of his childhood to help me be a better mother. But he’s concerned his experiences as a boy won’t give me enough information when it comes to raising a girl.”

Taryn didn’t know Felicia’s whole story. She’d heard bits and pieces—that Felicia had been so intelligent as a young kid that her parents had been afraid of her. As a result, she’d been raised in a university lab. Somehow she’d made her way to the military, where she’d been a logistics expert for a Special Forces team. Now she ran the festivals in town.

While her background was extraordinary, Taryn could see how Felicia would feel unprepared to be a parent. “How can I help? I don’t have kids of my own. Or a lot of experience with them.”

“That is true. However, you and Angel are working together with a new FWM grove. I’ve talked a lot to Patience about raising Lillie, but I would like a more robust amount of information. I would like very much to come to a meeting and observe the girls. I thought spending time like that would help me understand them better.”