If he’d been a tomato before, he was now a giant maroon balloon, ready to pop.

“I’ll accept your expertise,” Walter declared, and my breath gushed in relief, my posture softening against Cam’s. “Camden, I’ll also accept the Rose Rowan Mining Company’s building as your historical building. Welcome to the society.”

“Now, his summer plan,” Dorothy leaned over me to say into the microphone, filling my nose with the scent of grape aerosol hairspray.

Battle won—now on to the war. Whatever it was.

“Cannot be put forth at this time.” Tim Hall’s gaze darted to my dad’s furious glare in my direction. “He’s a first-year—hell, first-day member. He can’t put forth a plan until his second year without a council member willing to sponsor his plan, of course. Rules are rules.”

“Certainly one of you will sponsor it.” Dorothy raised her eyebrows at the council. “Trust me: you want to know what he’s offering.”

I would have missed the subtle shake of Cam’s head at Dorothy if I hadn’t been watching his expression so closely.

Walter looked up and down the dais. As foreman, he couldn’t sponsor a plan, and I wasn’t sure what other support Cam could count on up there.

“I’ll sponsor it.” Julie Hall leaned forward, blatantly looking away from her father-in-law’s seat. She was the youngest member of the council, having inherited the seat from her mom when a car accident took her last year.

“That’s my girl!” Gideon shouted from the second row, causing a few sputtered laughs.

“What is this plan?” Walter asked before any other objections could be raised.

Camden leaned over me to raise the microphone, and I scooted to the left, giving him the podium. When I moved to retreat, Dorothy put her hand on my back, effectively stopping me.

“I’d like to offer the Rose Rowan Mine up for tours.”

There was that collective gasp again, and this time it included mine. The Rose Rowan Mine was the one property this council had always salivated over, but Art and Cal had kept it closed for decades.

“I’m sorry, son?” Walter asked for clarification, his eyes wide.

“I would like to open the mine to tours. I’ll get started on it right away, but I can’t guarantee it will see visitors this summer. Next is probably a more accurate opening.”

“How?” Dad barked, clearly torn between his hatred for Cam and his longing for the mine to reopen.

“I figure a giant sign that says ‘open’ should do the trick.”

Great. He’d come this far only to let his mouth ruin the whole darn plan. Go figure, Camden Daniels losing his cool at the last second and letting everything turn to crap.