Harpers Point was the kind of place where everyone knew what happened before it could be posted on social media. It was just that kind of town. Neighbors were close. Families closer.

There was almost no need for the Point Post, but Lexi Hale had taken on the job of editor a year ago. And after generations of Hales putting out a bi-weekly paper, she was determined not to be the one to run it into the ground.

Trying to run a town like that was a job that required a certain amount of patience and vision.

Evan walked up the front steps of city hall, a building that also doubled as the post office and around the back was the one-room police station. It was efficient and quaint. Maybe it was also the reason news spread faster than wildfire.

“Good morning, Mayor,” Goldie Crawford waved wildly from the sidewalk. She yanked hard on her poodle, Miss Pudding’s collar. The dog was dressed in a red and green argyle sweater. That dog had more clothes than some children in town.

“Good morning.” Evan nodded, gripping a cup of coffee in his right hand. The warmth soothed the pain in his left hand that hit him from time to time on freezing damp mornings like this. Winters were the hardest part of living in Harpers Point.

“I’m ready for the bake sale. I have five pies and three cakes,” she announced. “I’ve baked up a storm this year. And wait until you taste the cinnamon cakes. I’m trying something new with cinnamon and…”

Fuck. If he didn’t get inside, he’d be stuck out here half the morning discussing Goldie’s family recipes. “Good to know. Thanks for the hard work. The firehouse will appreciate it.”

He took the rest of the stairs and walked inside the brick building before Goldie and Miss Pudding tossed out more about the annual holiday bakeoff. It would probably be the first of ten times one of the local village women tried to ensnare him in conversation. He was lucky to have escaped before Goldie brought up her niece who would be in for the holidays.

All the women liked to talk to him about their granddaughters or nieces. Sometimes it was the daughter of a good friend in for Harpers Point for their first Christmas here. The holidays had a way of turning the community ladies into a team of relentless matchmakers.

He didn’t need to be paired up. He had enough problems without worrying about fucking women over the holidays.

“Have a good day, Ms. Crawford.” The bells on the fresh greenery wreaths jingled as the doors closed behind him.

Evan Jacobs wasn’t the kind of man to get sucked into sentimental tradition, but if he wanted to serve another term, he was going to have to find a way to embrace it. That meant participating in the bake-off, the mistletoe shootout, and the Snow Ball on Christmas Eve.

“There he is. Good morning, Mayor.” Georgia beamed when Evan strolled into the mayoral suite. She had served every mayor since 1985. She was as much a legend in town as the annual Snow Ball.

Her gray hair was pulled back in a bun. Christmas tree earrings dangled from her lobes. Evan tried not to stare at the sweater she wore. Rudolph’s nose was actually blinking.

“Good morning, Georgia. Messages?” He leaned over the poinsettia on her desk to collect the stack of pink notes.

“I copied down all the emails for you.”

“Georgia, you could have just hit forward. I can read them on my laptop.”

No matter how many times he explained how the email system worked, Georgia wouldn’t let go of the old ways of running the communication inside the office. Evan had even brought in a few high school students after school from the coding program to give her some basics. Nothing stuck.

“Oh, this was much easier, sir.”

He sighed. “Thanks. I’ll look them over in my office.”

He closed the door that separated their two offices from each other. He placed the coffee on the corner of his desk and sorted the messages into two piles: urgent and next week. The next week stack was significantly higher. He grumbled when he finished reading the last one.

It was from Claudine Francis. If he discarded this particular message into the second pile, Claudine would inevitably call again. However, if he returned the call, he had a feeling he’d regret it. It was a no-win situation. She could be a fucking nightmare when she wanted to be.

Evan sat into the cool leather seat behind his desk. He stared at the American Flag framed on the opposite wall. It had been a gift when from the town when he was sworn in as mayor. Along the bottom was a brass plate with his name and the date of his inauguration.

He stared at the stripes and the stars. Sometimes it felt like the years on deployment were a lifetime ago. When he was a different man. When the only thing that mattered was survival. Other days it felt as if he could almost taste the sand in his mouth and the dryness in his throat. He could hear the explosives in the distance.

Evan shook his head. There were a lot of things he couldn’t change about the past.