Kiss My Sass [Books 1 & 2]

[book 2] chapter twenty-four: alex becomes a smitten kitten

AFTER JUST ABOUT the worst possible date ever, I was actually thrilled to be at work the next day, relieved to have some kind of distraction. I had spent the entire night complaining about my date to my brothers, to Amber, and even to my dad, and I was certain everyone was fed up. 

Instead of being cooped up in my office today, I got to participate in a council meeting. My mom felt like I was finally ready, so I got to be present as a voting member, which was far cooler than it sounded. The only things we had voted on were installing a new traffic camera at one of the busier intersections in the town, and changing garbage collection day from Wednesday to Friday. Although the motions discussed were pretty uneventful, it still felt pretty awesome being a part of the group that made these decisions.

"That concludes the motions in today's agenda," the chair spoke. He turned to look at my mom. "Any final words before we adjourn, Madam Mayor."

She shook her head. "That should be all, though I would like to commend Daniella for her participation in today's meeting."

One of the other councillors nodded and smiled at me. "It took me a good two months to learn all of the jargon, nice job."

"You're a quick learner," the chair added. "Perhaps politics is your calling." He glanced around to see if anyone had any last comments to add. "All in favour of adjourning today's meeting?"

We all raised our voting placards, ensuring a clear majority, and the meeting was adjourned. As everyone packed up their belongings and left, Mom waved me over to the back of the room. I followed and sat in an empty seat across from her.

"You're picking things up rather quickly," she began. I shrugged my shoulders, unsure of what to say. Honestly I was starting to enjoy this job more than I had initially thought. "If you're up for it I'd like to start giving you more responsibility."

"What would this entail?" I asked inquisitively.

She smiled, probably glad I was interested. "Well, I'd like for you to handle more of the outreach initiatives, and instead of creating meeting briefs for me, I think it's time you overlook meetings with stakeholders."

I pondered over her suggestion for a bit before I replied. "That actually sounds kind of great."

Mom reached over and squeezed my hand that was rested on the table. "I knew I could count on you. This is going to be wonderful!" Her phone rang and she dismissed me so she could take the call in private. 

I grabbed my bag and left the board room, ready to call it a day. It was a beautiful day out so instead of waiting around for Mom to finish her call I decided to walk home. I put my earbuds in and listened to music as I walked home from the town hall, reflecting on my newfound responsibilities. Truthfully, I genuinely was excited to take on more tasks around the town hall. What started off as a punishment was turning into meaningful work for me, and the thought of summer already being past halfway over had me kind of bummed. Soon enough, I'd have to face reality and I was not looking forward to that.