Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County by Amy Hill Hearth Page B

me. I went to the mayor’s office; I went to the hardware store and the Book Nook. My little town was usually a gossip mill but not when it came to this subject.
    Judd had drawn a rough map showing the way to get to the trailer. It was much too far to walk, and, anyway, I needed reinforcements. I hated to do it but I called Jackie from the pay telephone inside the Rexall. Would she take me over there? Would she keep me company, in case we found Darryl and he got ugly? If there was one thing Jackie loved, it was intrigue. That, and the possibility of some surefire excitement.
    â€œOf course, Dora dear,” she said, “I believe I owe you an apology. I was thoughtless and selfish about the construction in the, um, swamps. I was thinking about it and I believe you are right that the creatures, uh, critters , as you say, have a right to be here, too. Mankind is nothing if not arrogant. And, anyway, if I can help you, I would like to.”
    I couldn’t resist. “Even if it means you won’t get new restaurants and stores?” I asked, needling her.
    She sighed. “Yes, if it’s the right thing to do. Besides, I’m mad at your former husband. I don’t like the way he’s handling this.”
    â€œThat makes two of us,” I said. No disagreement there.
    â€œI can’t go over there right now, though,” Jackie said. “Can you wait an hour?”
    â€œSurely can,” I said. “I’ll be at the post office.”
    I was reluctant to see my former colleagues because I wasn’t ready to answer questions about my year away, and they had a way of flustering me. Working there wasn’t so bad, but as the only woman I’d always felt I was a bit of an intruder. Too bad Marty, my second cousin on Daddy’s side, had been relocated to the post office in Plant City.
    I found three of my former colleagues having a smoke break in back. They had been looking at a girlie magazine and when they saw me, they quickly put it away. Of course, this made it even more awkward to speak to them.
    Maybe because I’d caught them doing something they shouldn’t—and feared I would tell their supervisor—they were friendlier than I expected. I learned there was a lot of support in town for Darryl’s project, and, just as Plain Jane had said, it was all about jobs. One of my former colleagues put it this way: “My son has no future here. The only hope I have of him coming back to Collier County after he graduates from Gainesville is that there will be new opportunity here. Otherwise, he’ll move away.”
    Great, I thought. What I didn’t say was, Why don’t you move with him, to some place that’s already paved over? But since I was trying to get information from these fellas, I couldn’t afford to alienate them. They were trying to be honest with me. The smartest thing I could do was listen. So far they’d been pretty forthcoming. But when I asked if Darryl had permission from the mayor and the council, they either didn’t know or didn’t want to give me a straight answer.
    â€œThere have been some legal formalities,” one of them said, choosing his words carefully. “I’m pretty sure, from what I hear, that he’s already started work.”
    A car horn blasted out front. “That’s my ride,” I said. “Thank you, but I’ve got to run.” I wanted to hurry so that Jackie wouldn’t honk the horn again.
    The youngest of the three men followed me. He’d been in the Navy, and I always thought he might be sweet on me. “Dora?” he called out.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI don’t think things have been done properly,” he said. “By Darryl, I mean. I went to one of the town meetings and it seemed like it was a done deal. Important enough to be rushed through. Please be careful, Dora.”
    His comment almost took the wind out of my sails. I climbedinto the