Chapter 50 Jae
JAE
Fall encroached shyly. Morning air a touch crisper, the slant of sunlight more acute. The So Long Summer Daze Carnival fell on the last Saturday before school was back in session. With it came an encore of sun-drenched, balmy warmth, a farewell gift for the town.
Summer was quite put out over being in the dark about what was happening with the carnival.
Not hearing back about anything she volunteered for and growing increasingly annoyed with the odd way everyone was behaving.
No one seemed to know what was happening with the carnival, yet there was no panic.
No emergency town meeting. No Stanley breaking his own speeding ordinances, zooming around in his golf cart, accosting people with his clipboard.
“I swear to god if someone says ‘how strange’ when I ask them why nothing has been done I’m gonna lose it,” she complained the night before the carnival.
The next morning we headed over to the village lawn early. To help set up, was Summer’s sweet-as-pie reasoning. Her burning need for revenge in the bond, however, said she was hell-bent on finding out who was responsible for icing her out.
I held Winnie’s hand as she skipped along. We’d picked her up along the way because she did not want to miss a second of carnival fun because of Mabel’s nap schedule.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Summer skidded to a stop at the top of the hill.
The carnival setup was almost complete. Stanley certainly ran a tight ship. His volunteers and vendors were buzzing around the stalls and rides that had popped up on the lawn like candy-colored mushrooms.
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable…and there she goes,” Lucien said, watching our omega storm off.
Summer found Stanley, Harry, and Carmen clustered together in the middle of the chaos in project management mode.
Things were serious because Stanley was wielding a megaphone and no one had taken it from him.
I spotted Summer’s friends near the perimeter, setting up colorful flag buntings.
I gave them a big wave, and they exchanged sheepish looks before waving back.
I had an inkling of what was going on, but I would let Summer figure it out on her own. I don’t think she realized how beloved she and her family were in this town.
Summer jabbed Stanley’s clipboard. “Will you look at that, you do have a list of volunteers! And what’s this one?
Food vendors? Tell me Starlight Grove’s Senior Committee for Overseeing the Committee for Town Festival Planning didn’t purposefully freeze my family and my pack out of the So Long Summer Daze Carnival! ”
“Did she breathe?” Mercer muttered out of the corner of his mouth.
I admired my omega’s tenacity and huge lung capacity. And that she called us her pack. That was never getting old.
Winnie tugged my hand. “Why is Aunty Summer angry?”
“She’s not angry. She’s just a passionate lady,” I assured her.
Stanley and Harry had matching Hawaiian shirts and matching exasperated expressions.
“Summer, light of my life,” Harry began. “There’s a very good reason for that.”
“Oh, so you don’t deny it?”
“We know the last few weeks have been hard on your family. Of course we would have wanted your contributions to the carnival. But it was a unanimous decision by the committee that a better use of your time would be for all of you to just attend.”
I knew it .
“What do you mean ‘just attend’?” Summer’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Eat food. Play games. Have fun ,” Harry emphasized.
Carmen cast an appraising look over the three of us.
“And now that you boys have officially moved back to town, consider it a welcome for them, too. Before we recruit them for eternal servitude at every festival from here on out, of course.” She winked.
“Speaking of which, what is your official pack name?”
“Pack Beaufort-Park-Pham,” Summer said.
“Pack Summer,” I corrected her. It was a very kind but ridiculous idea for her to want to keep all of our names.
I wanted the whole world to know we were hers.
Plus, I discovered that wielding her name came with perks. An extra hole punch on my loyalty card at Beans ’n Bliss. Free fruit to snack on while I shopped at Mariposas. Whether the town were admirers of Summer or afraid of her (probably both), being part of Pack Summer carried weight.
“It’s my first name . This is so stupid,” Summer muttered darkly.
Too bad she could not hide the pleased shiver that would go through her every time we said it, though. That bad boy was locked in.
Summer turned back to the committee. “So let me get this straight. You want us to…enjoy the festival?” she asked weakly.
“As paying customers,” Stanley said grandly.
Harry elbowed him.
“I meant because they didn’t have to volunteer or work!”
“I’m sure you did.”
The gears in Summer’s head clicked into place. “Stanley, that town meeting…do you even want to paint the community center?”
“Heavens no. Can you imagine only altering it by one shade? Who would do such a thing?”
“Unbelievable.”
The mayor was extremely chuffed with his subterfuge. Summer’s indignance melted away, and her bottom lip started trembling. Oh no . I immediately wanted to swoop in. No one made my girl’s bottom lip tremble, even if they were doing a wonderful thing.
Harry got there first, a comforting hand coming to rest on her shoulder. “Have a wonderful night, hon,” he said kindly. “The carnival is kicking off any minute now, and I think that one”—he pointed at the milk bottle knockdown—“is calling your name.”
Stanley, Harry, and Carmen left with their megaphone and planning maps. Winnie ran over first, hugging her aunt’s legs. Summer welcomed the comfort of our group huddle, finding my hand and squeezing it.
“You good?” I asked, rubbing her back.
“Yeah.” She sniffed. “I wanna knock down some milk bottles.”
It was hard not to compare how it felt being in Starlight Grove then and now . The growing dread and detachment I felt toward everyone in my life as I watched my family fall apart was gone. Bonds of love and community had replaced it completely, rewriting my history.
I had written so many songs since the day we had chosen to stay for Summer. Some were in bits and pieces, waiting for collaborators. Others were refined and polished, ready to send to my label. I had never been able to call on my creativity this prolifically.
I was inspired often these days.
Summer nudged me and pointed across the lawn.
I beamed, seeing the tall, long-haired silhouette of my friend.
Rowan and his wife had landed stateside a few days ago and were staying in Summer’s old apartment.
My worries about where we would write his next album together were eliminated in a short text conversation weeks ago.
JAE
so how do you feel about writing your next album in a sleepy little town in New England instead
ROWAN
You bloody bastard
You’ve found your omega haven’t you?
JAE
Her name’s Summer
She’s perfect
ROWAN
I’m going to fucking knock your teeth out for not telling me sooner
Fuck it, I’d love to visit your hometown
Despite it working out very well for me to not be separated from Summer so soon after bonding, I really did think this would be the perfect place to work on his next album.
The moody fall surroundings would be perfect for his sound.
I was already getting ideas for the instrumentation—haunting guitars with layer effects beneath Rowan’s distinct raspy baritone.
My fingers itched to pull out my phone and record a voice memo, potential lyrics teasing at the edge of my consciousness.
“You have your writing face on.”
“Hmm?”
Summer kissed my cheek, leaving a quick nuzzling scent mark behind.
“I’m so glad Rowan is settling in well. The girls and I already talked about taking Lillian under our wing while you two are working.
Do you think she would like embroidery night at Lucy’s store?
We’re going to do cuss words surrounded by flowers. ”
She was the most generous soul. Kind. So pretty I burned eggs the other day staring at her. “Love you.” I kissed her. “Gonna go say hi to them.”
“I’m serious, ask her! Lucy needs to finalize numbers!”
Rowan yanked me into a boisterous hug, slapping the life out of my back. “Is it true the town’s mayor is a cat, or are you lot taking the piss out of tourists?”
I laughed. “It’s true. If I find him I’ll introduce you. Word of warning, he’s mad with power.”
“Just like any other elected official then.”
The carnival devolved quickly into the best kind of chaos. I lost everyone within five minutes but was never without a familiar face. I ate funnel cake with Alvin. Lost at darts to Marisol. Took Mabel to get a little butterfly painted on her cheek.
Every time I saw Summer she had another gigantic prize plushie.
I had no fucking idea how she was doing it.
My omega had been harboring a secret talent for carnival games this whole time.
She was even winning chance-based ones. I watched in amazement as her prize wheel spin landed on the tiniest Winner section.
Her friends trailed behind her like a giggly row of ducklings, cheering her on.
Olive had an octopus, Lucy a unicorn, and Ivy a teddy bear.
All were ginormous. Summer won herself a roly-poly avocado and screamed with joy.
“Lucky ladies!” Stanley said when he spotted them taking a photo together with their winnings. “Your alphas have been busy, I see.”
“Ex cuse me, Summer won these for us,” Ivy corrected him indignantly.
“Yeah, I won them! Why would I need an alpha to win stuff for me?” Summer demanded.
“Do you think only alphas can win prizes?” Olive inquired.
“Or that omegas can only receive gifts from alphas?” Lucy added.
Stanley wisely didn’t answer any of their questions and made a speedy escape.
I managed to lose Summer again after that, needing to fulfill an earlier promise to Winnie of riding bumper cars with her “forever and ever and ever.” By the time I was apologetically handing over a very overstimulated child to Lina, I was wiped. All I wanted was to be home in my omega’s nest.
I scanned the crowd for a long time before finally seeing my girl up on the hill, sitting with a familiar friend.