Chapter 4
FINN
Tuesday, eight days before the festival
I fought the urge to run away from Drake, mortified by how rude Alex and I had been to talk about him as if he weren’t present. As if Drake were something for Alex and me to negotiate between us without his input.
Alex demonstrated how we got in and out of the fairgrounds. I cringed as Drake narrowed his eyes at the obvious path we’d worn in the grass outside the fence. Anyone who saw it would be able to tell there was a way in.
He glanced up and down the length of the fairground fencing. “Well, I guess I’ll be spending my morning inspecting the entire perimeter.” His shoulders sagged as he made a note in his phone.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
He glared at me. “It’s damn lucky I found out. Now give me Charles’ phone number and go away.”
Alex grinned at me from behind Drake’s shoulder. Asshole. I opened my contacts. “Uh, I could text it to you. You might need my number in case....” I couldn’t think of a reason. Alex turned around, his shoulders shaking. I’d kill him later.
Drake rolled his eyes. “Will it make you leave faster?” He told me his number so quickly I had to ask him to repeat it.
I texted Charles’ contact info to him, then I put my phone away. “I’m sorry about earlier. We shouldn’t have been arguing over you like that.”
Drake drew himself up to his full height. Damn, the way he carried himself was impressive for his age. “You’re right. You shouldn’t have.” He went back inside the fairgrounds without saying goodbye.
Grinning, Alex grabbed my bicep and dragged me toward the parking lot. When we were several yards away from where Drake had left us, he whistled softly. “Damn, bro. I’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner.”
I jerked my arm away from him. “Notice what?”
He chuckled. “The chemistry between the two of you. It’s like fire.” He mimed an explosion with his hands.
I shook my head. “No way. He’s too young.”
He snorted. “Maybe in years. But he’s no na?ve kid, that’s for sure. Why not give it a try?”
“You heard him. He’s not interested.” I hesitated next to my SUV. “Plus, Charles isn’t settled in yet. I don’t think it’d be good for him to see me dating, especially with someone who’s only here temporarily.”
Alex’s expression told me I was a dumbass. “No one’s talking about dating.” He pointed toward the fairgrounds. “He’s a young guy in his prime. Pick a night when Charles has guitar lessons or whatever, and see if Drake wants to get naked.”
I frowned. “He’s pretty pissed at me.”
Alex threw me a cocky grin as he got in his car. “Well, they say hate sex is the best sex. He’ll be up for it, guaranteed.”
Charles:
Meeting Drake after school to play guitar. Not sure when I’ll be home.
Me:
Have fun
It was only then that I realized Charles would have fun with Drake. More fun than he ever had with me around. Drake was less than ten years older than Charles, but an adult and a fucking rock star to boot. My mid-thirties, boring ass couldn’t compete.
I’d done my best to spend time with Charles one-on-one, but he became monosyllabic when we went out to dinner. He hated going on nature walks. Movies were good, but they didn’t help us create an emotional connection. And I couldn’t play the goddamned guitar like Charles’ father could.
Like Drake could.
Would Charles even want to come home after an evening with Drake?
Alex interrupted my thought spiral to invite me to the pub with him and some of our other friends. Hoping their company would get me out of my head, I headed over as soon as I was done with work, merely throwing a jacket over my scrubs. They were mostly clean.
The guys all greeted me with smiles and hugs.
At least some people valued my company and wanted to spend time with me.
Sam and Jason tried to draw me into their argument about whether, if your D&D character was a merchant as well as a thief, you could have two languages instead of just one.
But I couldn’t focus on the conversation, because I kept imagining how thrilled Charles must be to be playing music with Drake.
And I couldn’t drink my beer because my stomach was in knots.
After about forty-five minutes, Alex leaned over. “What’s up with you?”
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
He gave me a don’t try to bullshit me look.
I sighed and spoke in a low voice so the others couldn’t hear. Jason and Sam were debating the rules for darts, with Mickey egging them on, so they were well occupied. “Drake invited Charles to play guitar with him tonight.”
“Yeah? He said he was going to. I’m sure Charles is excited.” He studied my face. “But you’re not? Why?”
I twisted my beer bottle back and forth on the table. “It’s stupid, I know, but I keep thinking about how Drake is so much more cool and exciting than I am, and Charles will be disappointed he has to come home to such a boring guardian.”
Alex flicked me on the ear, and I flinched. “Stop that!”
“Let’s think back to a time in the very distant past, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and you and I were in high school.”
I glared at him. “Yes?”
“Did we think our parents were cool and exciting?”
I made a face. “No.”
He spread his hands out. “No teenager thinks their parents are cool and exciting. But, Finn, that’s not what kids need from a parent.” I grimaced at him, and he amended, “Or parental figure.”
I pondered this. “Because kids need their parents to be boring and practical, so they have a stable home life.”
“Exactly. So they know they’re safe.”
I rubbed my jaw. “That makes sense.”
He patted himself on the chest. “You can always rely on me for the best advice.”
I cocked my head. “Always? What about—” I grinned when he held up a hand.
“Stop bringing up Ms. Hayworth’s garden gnomes!”
I leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Alex. I’m going to head out so Charles has a boring and safe person to come home to after his wild night jamming with a rock star.”
I made my excuses to the others and left.
It only took minutes to get home, and Charles wasn’t back yet.
I paced the living room, debating whether texting him at 8:30 p.m. to see if he needed a ride would be too helicopter of me.
The sound of the key in the door barely gave me enough time to drop onto the couch and feign relaxation.
“Hey.” I looked casually up from my phone, as if I’d been scrolling social media instead of stewing over texting him. “Did you have a good time?”
He gave me the biggest smile I’d seen since his parents died.
“Drake is so cool!” He propped his guitar case against the wall and—voluntarily!
—came to sit down on the other end of the couch.
“He has, like, a ton of instruments and equipment. He let me play three of his guitars to see what the differences were. He said I was good!”
I smiled. “That’s fantastic. And he would know.” Holy shit, Charles was talking to me!
He nodded enthusiastically. “He knows all these famous people. He knows Poppy , and he said he’d introduce me to her when she comes next week for the festival!” He wiggled around in his seat as if he couldn’t sit still.
“Great!” I cast around for something to keep the conversation going. “So you played together?”
“Yeah! He showed me some fingering techniques, and we played a couple of songs together. He’s so much better than me, but he said it just takes practice. He said we can do it again later in the week, so at my lesson tomorrow I’m gonna ask Mr. Griffin what songs we should try.”
I wished Alex were here so we could giggle like twelve-year-olds at fingering techniques , but I pretended to be an adult instead.
“That’s a great idea. Did you talk about Uncle Zeke’s suggestion for you to perform in the amateur contest at the festival?”
Charles’ smile dropped. Shit. “Drake said I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t want to.” He picked at a stray thread on his jeans.
I studied him. “Are you considering it?”
He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Maybe. Drake said he’d help me prepare. The theme is songs from the ’90s and 2000s, and I could sing one of Mom or Dad’s favorites.”
I wished I were closer so I could put my arm around his shoulders, not that he’d let me. “I think they’d be proud of you if you wanted to do it, but they’d also understand if you didn’t.”
He nodded, still not looking at me. Fuck, what was I supposed to say now?
I spun my phone in my hands. “Um, when I have to make a big decision I’m not sure about, like when I was trying to figure out where to go to vet school, I imagine myself in each situation to see how it might make me feel.
So you could picture what it would be like to play and sing on the stage in front of the crowd.
And you could picture what it would be like if you were in the audience watching other people performing, but you wouldn’t be playing a song yourself. ”
He blinked at me. “That’s a pretty good idea.”
I laughed. “I have a few here and there. You have to watch out for them.”
He grinned. “You wanna split the rest of the maple butter bars from Uncle Zeke’s?”
I thought my heart would burst from happiness as I followed him to the kitchen.
“What’s up with the zombie act?” Nova looked pointedly at the coffee maker I’d just refilled after draining the last of the pot into my cup.
I groaned. “Charles is thinking about entering the amateur competition at the music festival. He stayed up late trying out a bunch of songs, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop.
If he signs up, he won’t even have two weeks to practice.
” I grimaced. “Which probably makes me a pretty shitty parental figure, since he was dragging ass this morning same as me.”
Nova snorted. “He’s sixteen. He’ll stay up late even if you tell him not to. Did he decide on a song?”
I tilted my head. “I think so? Or at least he narrowed it down to two. One of them is ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’, which actually sounds pretty good. I think the other one is that Santana song ‘Smooth’?” I made a face.
“At least, it had a long guitar intro. He never got to the lyrics. Maybe he needs to practice it some more.”
Nova grinned. “You’ll have a front row seat to every rehearsal.”
Fuck. “Thanks a lot.”
The bell over the front door rang, and she dashed out of the break room to check the client in.
I found the energy to make it through the day.
My last appointment left at 4:30 p.m., and afterward I worked on paperwork for a while, hoping to leave at a decent time.
Right as I was finishing up, Nova called me on the intercom.
“Hey, the SPCA is on line one.” So much for leaving early.
The rescue group functioned as Animal Control for Maplewood and the surrounding towns.
“Got it, thanks.” I picked up the call. “This is Dr. Hunnicutt.”
“Hey, Finn, it’s Rita at the SPCA.”
I relaxed. Rita didn’t usually call with emergencies. “Hey, what’s up?”
She sighed. “We found a hoarding situation. Do you happen to know of anyone who wants some chickens, or who could temporarily house any?”
“Oh, crap. How many are we talking?” There were a few people who had hobby farms I could contact.
“We have about forty we haven’t placed yet.”
I stopped myself from cursing, though I was sure Rita had heard worse. “Wow. That’s a lot.”
“Yeah, and we have multiple feelers out, but if you could help us place even a few, it would be appreciated.”
“Yeah, sure. I—” An image of Dolores’ large pen at Zeke’s place filled my mind.
There was plenty of room for a chicken coop, especially on the side away from where Dolores had dug her burrow.
And Zeke had run with Charles’ notion that Dolores was lonely.
Tortoises were solitary by nature, but chickens wouldn’t bother her.
“You know what? I may have somewhere a few of them could go. I need to see how quickly we could get a coop there though.”
“We have plenty of chicken wire we can provide to keep them contained for a few days. The weather’s supposed to be nice this week, so they’d just need food and water.”
“Let me get back to you.”
“Thanks, Finn. You’re a lifesaver.”
After hanging up with Rita, I pulled out my cell and dialed Zeke.
“Finn! Drake tells me your boy plays the guitar real good.”
“Yeah, he does. Hey, Zeke, were you serious about adding another animal to Dolores’ pen?”
He paused. “Welp, your young’un seemed convinced she was lonely, so it wouldn’t hurt none. You got a stray or somethin’?”
“Not me, but the SPCA is trying to place a bunch of chickens. Dolores probably wouldn’t be territorial with birds. We can order a coop for them, but in the meantime the SPCA would provide some chicken wire, and we could put together something temporary.”
“ Hmmm . It’d be nice to have fresh eggs around here. How many do you think we have room for?”
I suppressed my aggravation. Contrary to popular belief, veterinarians were not walking encyclopedias about every non-human species on the planet. I ran a quick google search on my computer. “I wouldn’t do more than six. And you don’t need a rooster. The hens will lay eggs without one.”
“Good. I don’t need no noisy fucker wakin’ me up at dawn. Where should I send Drake with the van?”
I smiled evilly, picturing Drake wrestling chickens into Zeke’s rattletrap vehicle. “Let me find out and get back to you.”
“You’ll come help, right? Bring Charles.”
“He’s got a guitar lesson this evening, but I’ll be there.” I wouldn’t miss it. Alex’s voice rang through my brain. Hate sex is the best sex .
Maybe, if I played my cards right, I could find out for myself.