Sitting on the bed, I feel lost. I don’t eat supper because all I can do is lie in our bed and go over our conversation. How can she think that no one wants her here? Sure, there are some who hate her in this town, but I can count those people on two hands.

I sit up in bed now and grab my phone, texting the same text to everyone.

Me: Tomorrow morning mayor’s office nine a.m. sharp. Mandatory.

I put the phone down, and when I walk into the office the next day, it’s just before eight. I walk to the conference room and set things up. When it gets closer to nine a.m., they start filing in. Jacob and Casey are the first to arrive.

Casey looks around, asking, “Do I want to know what this is about?”

I smile and then Jacob is the one who speaks up. “How are you doing without her?”

“Horrible,” I answer. “It’s one day, and I swear it feels like someone died in my house.”

He slaps me on my shoulder. “Love will fuck you every time,” he says. “I hope you made coffee.”

“I did,” I tell him, “and I got doughnuts.” They both take off to the conference room. Tony is the next to arrive at the same time as Sal, the town plumber.

“Whatever it is,” Sal says, “I didn’t do it.”

I laugh at him and shake their hands, thanking them for coming. “There is coffee in the conference room.”

Five more people arrive at the same time. Peter, the electrician; Jake, the carpenter; Tyler, the masonry expert that we have in town; Kaylie, an architect; and Tracy, the town gardener. “Thank you, guys, for coming,” I tell them and walk into the conference room at the same time as them. “Please have a seat.”

I wait for everyone to be seated before starting my pitch. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I called this mandatory meeting.” I look around the table. “As you are all aware, the town bar was burned down to the ground.”

“It’s awful,” Kaylie says. “Poor Savannah.”

“It really is awful,” I tell them. “It’s awful, and it’s a shame that one of our own has been targeted like this.” I wait to see everyone’s reaction to that statement. “With that said, I want to rebuild it.”

Tony is the first one to speak up. “Where is Savannah in all this?” he asks, and I look at Jacob, not sure what to say.

“She went to visit her mother for a couple of days,” Jacob says, lying. “She said she would be back next week.” He tells me something that I didn’t even know. I didn’t even ask her how long she would be gone. I didn’t want to think about it.