"Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off?" Trent asked as they rolled back into Possum Springs.
"Yes. I like feeling useful," Claire replied.
"You are useful, Claire." He paused. "That came out kinda weird. I value your company. I mean, that is to say I'm not trying to get rid of you, just-"
"Trent," she said, "it's okay. I don't need reassurances right now. I'm actually...kinda good. Just in general. And you are...taxing yourself. Which is fine, to a certain degree, because this is a time of need and you are offering to do things for your friends. I'm just here to help...soften the blows of reality when and if they pop up."
Trent was quiet for a moment, considering that. "Thank you," he said finally, and it was a heartfelt thank you. "Seriously. You're a great friend and person, Claire. I appreciate what you do for me, and what you do for our friends. It genuinely means a lot."
"Well...you're welcome," she murmured awkwardly, then cleared her throat. He glanced at her. She looked like she wasn't sure how to handle what he'd just said.
"You're also just, like, so beautiful," he added.
"Oh my God, shut up, Trent!" she cried.
He laughed and focused on driving. Though his mind kept drifting back to the conversation with Jacob. Why would he be assuming that he and Candy were fucking? Had she told him about their little stoned conversation and admission of mutual attraction, and he'd just extrapolated from that? Is that why Candy had been acting weird recently? Only that didn't quite feel right. Something was definitely off and happening in the social background that he wasn't really in the know about, but was definitely picking up on.
Like ripples on the surface of a pond, they had to come from somewhere.
It felt kind of dangerous, given the fact that Mae had flat out told him: If you bang my mom, it'll ruin the relationship. He knew he could keep it in his pants when it came to Candy, even if she came strongly onto him, which seemed really unlikely, but what if Mae thought they'd done something together? She seemed to trust him implicitly, and he believed that he had earned that trust, but still...it was a potentially complicated situation.
Unless he was imagining all this.
Except that felt more and more unlikely, especially with what Jacob had said.
They pulled into the parking lot nearest the Video Outpost Too and made the short walk to it. Angus was alone inside, behind the counter, looking a little tired.
"Oh hey guys, did everything turn out all right? Um...with both things? Bea and Gregg?" he asked.
"So far, yes," Trent replied, realizing he hadn't actually checked his phone since he'd sent the text to Ann. She had indeed responded and it read: She's fine, still very hungover and she's worried you're mad at her. She's drinking water and puffing, doing a bit better, sleeping off and on.
He fired off a quick response thanking her and returned his attention Angus. "Bea's good. Hungover badly, but otherwise good. I needed to talk to you about a financial decision related to your vehicle."
"I'm listening. I'm assuming it's related to the tire?" Angus replied.
Trent nodded. "Yep. I've been in contact with Germ's dad. He's hunting down a replacement tire, but he says it makes sense to replace all four tires in this situation. I'm inclined to agree, given you're going to be driving all the way to Bright Harbor soon. And, on top of that, he says if you give him the three tires you've got left, he can cut us a steep discount."
"Hmm...what kind of discount?"
"Not sure yet. I don't know how long he'll-" Trent hesitated as his phone buzzed. He checked it. "Well, speak of the devil. He's found four tires, all new, that should fit your vehicle. He's offering to bring them over and get them changed out and take away the old tires for a hundred and fifty bucks altogether."
"Man, that's about thirty five bucks a tire," Angus murmured. "If this was anyone else, I'd be so suspicious. But it's you and Mister Warton, so that sounds fantastic to me."
"Will you let me cover the tires?" Trent asked as he sent a quick response to Jacob that the deal was on.
"Why?" Angus replied, sounding genuinely a little confused.
"You and Gregg are going off to a new city, hours and hundreds of miles away. You have no idea what kind of BS you might have to suddenly deal with when you get there. You need money right now, I have money right now. Consider it a housewarming gift," Trent replied.
Angus looked at him for a long moment, frowning slightly. Finally, he nodded. "I accept. You make sense. Thank you, a lot. In truth, Trent, you and Bea and Mae and Ann, everyone in our group, has done more for me than my family ever has, by several magnitudes."
"I believe in found families," Trent replied. "And also helping people out."
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people that do," Angus said. "And I'm glad to see that's going well."
"So am I. All right, uh, I gotta get back to my house to meet with Jacob and to guide Bea back out of the land of the hangover," Trent said.
"Thanks again."
Trent nodded and he and Claire headed back to his Jeep. Then he paused. "Let's walk to the Snalcon," he said. "I'll get you something."
"Well, thank you," Claire replied. She smiled and took his hand, lacing their fingers together. "I have to say I really, really love our relationship."
"Do you now?" he asked.
She laughed. "Yes. It's...easy. I didn't really think it could exist. Although the more I think about it, the more I think that it only exists because you have other girlfriends. And, well, also because you're a great person. But I think the girlfriends are a crucial component for stability."
"You think so?"
"Yes. I mean, certainly there are men out there who could do what you are doing now who are also single, it's just...it's become obvious to me that I want a certain combination of factors that are...at odds with each other. I want someone to have sex with, but not too much. Good sex," she murmured, lowering her voice, "and safe sex. But also not to be my boyfriend. But also not to just ignore me. I guess, I want a genuine friend who respects and likes me, who I am horny towards and is horny towards me, and sometimes we sleep together, but we aren't dating, and there is no expectation of that happening. And that doesn't really work. I know there's a lot of guys who say they could make it work, but it seems like too many of them would fall of in one direction or another: they'd get too emotionally invested and decide they want a 'real' relationship, or they drift away because all they care about is sex. But the fact that you have one girlfriend, let alone three, is keeping that from happening."
"Well...there's other things, but yeah, it's a big factor," he replied.
"I know. I don't mean Bea, Mae, and Ann are the only reasons you don't treat me like crap. You're also very kind, respectful, and considerate, and authentic, and that's very appreciated."
"Good to know. All right, figure out what you want and I'll figure out what I want," he said as they entered the Snalcon.
They got back home about the same time Jacob arrived. He was looking...awkward as he got out of his truck. Trent had been waffling on whether or not to bring up the thing about Candy, but when he saw the man's expression, decided to just let it be for now.
"Would you send Mae out?" Trent asked as he and Claire got out.
"Sure," she replied. "Hi, Mister Warton."
"Hello, Claire," Jacob said with a nod.
"Thanks for doing this," Trent said.
Jacob looked at him for just a second longer than might be normal, then seemed to decide that the conversation wasn't going to turn against him. "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. Now, uh, what exactly do you need to speak with me about the...the city council for?"
"Um...let's wait until we're done with the tire changing," Trent replied. "And go somewhere more private."
"All right."
Mae came out a moment later. "What's up? Hi Mister Germ's Dad."
Jacob chuckled. "Hi, Mae."
"I was hoping we could teach you how to change a tire, and I imagine Jacob has even more experience than I do," Trent replied.
"Oh yeah I can do that," Jacob said. "Everyone should at least know how. Here, come here, Mae, I'll walk you through it. It's really not difficult."
"All right," Mae said.
Trent watched as they went through the process of getting the car jacked and then getting the tires swapped. Mae was a little awkward at first, but after a certain point picked it up without a problem. She got the first tire replaced without much trouble and Jacob checked it and found it to be a job well done. After that it was a simple matter to get all four tires replaced. Trent put the donut back in his jeep and Jacob got the other three tires.
"Perfect, thanks again," Trent said as he started extracting bills from his wallet.
"Wait are we paying for this?" Mae asked.
"Yeah, but don't mention it to Bea, she'll just get worried. I figured it'd be a nice housewarming gift for Angus and Gregg, you know?" Trent replied.
"Oh, cool, yeah," Mae said.
"That's really nice of you," Jacob said as he accepted, counted, and then pocketed the money.
"It's nice to be nice," Trent replied. "Now, um...let's have that talk."
"What are we talking about?" Mae asked.
"Jacob and I are going to talk about the city council," Trent replied as they went inside.
"Oh. Yeah. That's...yeah, you should probably actually talk about that."
"Is everything shutdown in the basement? All your equipment?" Trent asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Probably best place to do it," Trent said.
Mae nodded and Trent led Jacob downstairs. Something was bugging him and that was the first thing he asked. "Hey, so, Candy didn't mention the council to you? Because she was supposed to."
"She didn't, but the last time we were hanging out she was...distracted," he replied.
Trent chuckled. "Yeah, distracted. I imagine both of you were." Jacob cleared his throat awkwardly. It was admittedly pretty funny to see him like this, but Trent decided not to push it any further. "All right, cards on the table time: the city council has collapsed. There's only one member left, do you know this?"
"I had heard that two of them were arrested," Jacob replied. "What happened to the third?"
"He resigned. All that's left is the fox woman, Colleen."
Jacob grunted. "I never much liked them, but...Colleen struck me as the most reasonable, at least. All right, I'm listening."
"She came to me recently after seeing how much of a turnout our events got for the house fundraiser. She's desperate. She thinks that me and Bea can make Possum Springs appear good through an ad campaign or something. I agreed to help her...on the condition that she and the mayor throw their weight behind two of my candidates for the city council election. And I want you as one of those seats."
Jacob stared at him like Trent had just pulled a gun out. He looked bewildered. After a moment he looked around, spotted Mae's chair, walked over, and sat down heavily in it.
"You want me to run for city council?" he asked finally.
"Yes," Trent replied, and let the silence play out while Jacob toyed around with that particular notion.
"I'll admit, the thought has crossed my mind," he muttered. "After everything that happened, well, you know what I wanted: to protect the town, make some changes. In my loftiest dreams, I imagined running for council. I thought that I could make some real changes that way, or at the very least get some inside intel that could help me make some moves behind the scenes that would help protect the town and the people."
"And that's why I want you. You actually give a fuck about the town. You aren't looking for money, you aren't looking for power, you're looking to protect people. That's exactly why I'm so relieved that Molly is the Chief of Police now. She genuinely cares. Her motives are actually pure. Or as pure as can be, realistically. The same is true of you."
"Yeah," he muttered. "So wait, who's number two? You said two seats."
"Candy."
Jacob stared at him for a moment, then slowly looked down. Finally, after what felt like a long moment, he began to nod. "I can see it. Honestly, it'd be perfect. Candy's a lot sharper than people think, and she's got a good heart. Really, people think she's a little slow, and I know that Candy knows this and sort of leans into it, because she's happy enough living her life the way she wants, which is easier if people don't come to you for things. They'll think she's easily controlled. Could be complications though…"
"Like the fact that you're a drug dealer?" Trent asked.
Jacob laughed. "Yeah, that's one. Not everyone knows it, but enough people do, and I imagine it'll get out. We'd have to make some changes, probably have to shift that particular responsibility elsewhere in the family. Clean up a little. And then there's the fact that...eh…" he looked awkwardly at Trent, then sighed. "If you don't know already, me and Candy, uh…"
"I know you're swinging," Trent said, glancing briefly at the door.
"Ah. Okay then. I thought you did. Obviously there might be some...conflict of interest there, potentially, maybe. It might come out. I'd rather it didn't. I love Candy as a very close friend, but there's never been any confusion about who is what in the relationship. Honestly, after almost twenty years, I thought we were done, but, well, that turned out not to be the case…"
"Apparently it's my fault," Trent said. Jacob raised an eyebrow. "I was...encouraging Candy to stop thinking she's an old woman just because she's in her forties, that there's no reason she can't make new friends, get a little stoned, play some games, go to the movies...indulge in some things she used to when she was my age…"
"Ah. Well. In that case, you have my heartfelt thanks. I love my wife without question, but Candy is...absolutely amazing in bed." Jacob began to say something else, then stopped, then cleared his throat. "Should definitely shut my mouth about this. Um. Well...so what I'm hearing is you want me to be on the city council, and you're in a position to make it happen."
"Yes and more than likely yes, though it's not like it's a guarantee or anything. But I think it'll work. People like you."
"Hmm." Jacob was quiet for another long moment, then finally sighed. "What's the deadline? When do I gotta say yes or no by?"
"June fifteenth."
He nodded and got back to his feet. "I need to talk to my family about it, think about it, sleep on it at least a few times. It'd be quite the change...but I could do a lot."
"You could."
"What about the final seat?" he asked.
"Dunno. Colleen's going to run for her own seat again, but I dunno who might do the fourth seat. Maybe we could find someone else? I don't know, I figured we could flesh it out a lot more on the fifteenth," Trent replied.
Jacob nodded. "Makes sense."
"Sorry if this is, like, putting you on the spot. I didn't tell Colleen the two names, just that I wanted a say on two names, so I could absolutely just let this drop."
"No, you did the right thing. This is an opportunity, and you took it, and you treated it seriously. That's...very grown up, and I appreciate that. This is definitely the right thing," Jacob replied.
"Okay, good, because it kind of feels like playing with a grenade."
He chuckled. "Yeah, big decisions feel like that...all right, I'm going to head out if there's nothing else. Got some thinking to do."
"Sounds good," Trent replied.
They went back upstairs, Jacob wished them farewell, and headed out. Trent sighed heavily and began to go sit down on the couch, then stopped. He looked at the stairs. He still at least had to check on Bea. He headed upstairs and carefully opened the door. She definitely looked like she was passed out, and that was a good way to get through a hangover faster, so he left her to it and headed back downstairs.