This time she bit her lip to keep from smiling.
The next one was a “no” and then another “yes.”
“We are three to one for the yeses,” Blanche said, a bubble of excitement in her voice. “When we reach five for one or the other, there’s no need to continue to count.”
Chloe gave her aunt a grateful look, touched by the support. “Okay,” she said, opening the next slip of paper. “It’s a no.”
Three to two.
And the next one. “Another no.”
Tied at three all. Chloe exhaled softly, but it sounded loud in the quiet room. She’d really expected more support from this group of professionals.
Certain they could all hear her heart pound, she reached into the box.
“Another no,” she said, and it was impossible to hide the disappointment.
“That’s four no’s,” the undertaker said firmly.
“One more, and we can be done with this,” Ned added. “I have a deadline to meet for the Banner.” He cleared his throat. “The Bitter Bark Banner.”
There were two slips of paper left. She opened one, and her heart kicked as she read it. “Yes.”
Not a single person in the room moved or breathed, the tension palpable in the thick silence of the dead tie of four to four.
“Okay,” Chloe whispered. “Last one,” she said, closing her fingers around it.
“Read it,” Nellie insisted, leaning all the way forward.
She opened it and blinked, stunned. “Abstain.”
“Abstain?” The echo came from at least five people in the room, two immediately on their feet.
She turned the paper to show them all. “Abstain.”
“Who abstained?” Ned Chandler insisted.
“It’s a secret ballot,” Blanche reminded him.
“What do we do?” Andi asked, her frustration as evident as everyone else’s.
“Let’s break for lunch,” Blanche suggested, the idea like a bucket of cold water on them. “We all need a little time to think about this, talk to each other, and come back and revote.”
What they needed was to know who abstained and why so Chloe could work to change that person’s mind.
“I think a break is a great idea,” Chloe agreed, hoping it would give her a chance for private conversations. “And I’m available to answer any questions or offer additional information if you need it.”
“We don’t need it,” Ned grumbled.
“We need lunch,” Undertaker Mitch said, putting his hand on Ned’s shoulder. “Let’s go get a bite and talk about this. Jeannie, join us, hon.”
Oh, that wasn’t good.
“Of course.” She smoothed her hair and looked at Nellie. “Make it a foursome and come with us.”
No one else was invited to that party as the four of them walked out, leaving Chloe to assume they were the four nays. And unless she tagged along, she wasn’t going to be changing their minds.
“Blanche, take me to an empty office so I can get some work done,” Dave, the real estate broker, said. “I have more important things to do than chat about this.” As he stood, he looked at Chloe. “If you ever give up marketing, I’ll give you a job.”
She nodded thanks as he and Blanche walked out, followed by Andi and Jane, who were deep in discussion.
“And that leaves us,” Shane, who hadn’t moved from his chair, said softly.
On a sigh, she sat back down and started to drop her chin into her hands, but stopped herself. Instead, she reached into her bag and grabbed the hand sani to squirt it on the palms that shook so many hands today.
“Well, I never saw that coming,” she mused aloud as she rubbed.
“I gotta know something, Perfect Chloe.”
She sliced him with a look. “Don’t push your luck, Counselor.”
“Aww. The other night it was Dirty Shame.”
“The other night you were…a guy who fixed broken stuff in the back of the bar.”
“Do you like me more or less now?”
“I don’t recall ever saying I liked you at all.”
He laughed. “But you have to answer my question.”
She waited, studying him, hating the so completely female response that zinged through her as every hormone in her body perked up the very moment they were alone.
“What breed?”
She frowned, not following the question at all.
“Or is it just a sweet little mutt?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your dog.”
“I don’t own a…” Oh, she’d walked right into that one.
He leaned right in, reminding her very much of a lawyer who’d made his point to the judge and jury. “So you don’t like dogs.”