Free That Man of Mine by Maria Geraci

expected Doug to take off in a hot air balloon and never come back.
    Mimi began to cough.
    â€œAre you all right?” Momma asked. “Maybe you shouldn’t have chugged all that water earlier.” She glanced between Mimi and Doug. “I take it the two of you have work to do?”
    â€œI can come by later,” Doug said.
    â€œNo, no…I have to be going anyway.” Momma stood and gave Mimi a long look. “We’ll talk soon.”
    Hopefully, soon didn’t mean in the next couple of hours. Knowing Momma, though, it probably did. If Mimi wanted to avoid another call this afternoon, then she needed to take care of some family business. “I’ll stop by the house on my way home.”
    â€œYou will?” Momma’s gaze sharpened. “Good. Your father and I will expect you no later than six.” She left, not bothering to close the door on her way out.
    â€œShe seems like a nice lady,” Doug said.
    â€œAre you sure I’m the only politician in the room?” He smiled and Mimi motioned for him to take a chair. “So, what’s up?”
    â€œI was wondering if you’d had a chance to look through the festival papers.”
    â€œNot yet,” Mimi admitted.
    â€œThen let me save you the trouble. The festival’s broke,” Doug said.
    â€œBroke? As in, there’s something that needs to be fixed? Or broke as in there’s no money?”
    â€œBroke as in, no money. According to what I could piece together, Bruce overspent on advertising last year. And for some reason, a lot of people left the festival early. Based on the previous years’ revenues, it’s the late evening crowd that spends the most money on food and drinks.”
    â€œI’ll tell you why people left early,” Mimi said. “Bruce promised us that Billy Brenton was coming to put on a concert. He did everything but put up a billboard along the highway.”
    â€œBilly Brenton? Isn’t he some big country music star?”
    â€œYep. At the time, we all thought it was too good to be true. Which, of course, it was because Billy never showed. The festival organizers had to substitute Harry Polka and his tuba band at the last minute.”
    â€œ Harry Polka ?”
    â€œYeah. The name pretty well sums it up.”
    â€œI wish I could help you with this festival,” Doug said, “But I have my hands full with getting out the new budget.”
    â€œOh, no worries. This is what I signed up for when I ran for mayor.”
    He looked as if he was about to leave, when he said, “I was thinking, maybe we could get that cup of coffee today after work?”
    â€œI’d like that, but I’m pretty sure I just promised my mother I’d chain myself to her rack.”
    He laughed. Mimi had to admit, she liked the way the skin around his eyes crinkled up at the edges. It had been a long time since she’d noticed another man in that way. For an instant, she felt a little guilty. But it wasn’t as if she was going to do anything about that attraction. It was just nice to know that she wasn’t completely dead when it came to noticing the opposite sex.
    He stood and placed his hands on her desk, leaning in just enough to claim some of her personal space. “This is the second time I’ve asked you for coffee and you’ve turned me down. One more time and I just might get my feelings hurt.” His voice carried an unmistakable hint of flirtation. Or maybe he was just a naturally friendly guy. It had been so long since Mimi had found herself in this type of situation it was difficult to tell which was which.
    â€œI didn’t turn you down. I just had something else to do. But I promise, next time you ask me for coffee I’ll make time.”
    He grinned. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
    Yikes. That was definitely flirty. But as long as she didn’t reciprocate, then everything should be okay.
    She