Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
GRANGER
Now
The second day of Goose Pride was as bright and colorful as the first and just as crowded too.
The vendors still lined Main Street, stretching down as far as the park and the church, where the sign out front said something about sin and hellfire.
An intentional choice for the weekend, I was sure.
Someone had tacked some rainbow balloons to the sign.
Free Dad Hugs Guy was still here, still wearing his shirt, and today he was accompanied by a person with a shaved head who was wearing a muscle shirt and a glittery tutu skirt.
The street was bright and noisy, and the smell of grilling meat and funnel cakes hung in the air.
But my eyes stayed on Bobby as he was swallowed up by the happy crowd until he was lost to my sight.
In the actual street, workers were setting up barricades to keep the spectators from spilling out into the actual parade, whenever that started.
I wished I’d paid more attention to Miranda and Emily chatting about the schedule of events on our way here, but I hadn’t expected to stick around this long.
I bought a breakfast smoothie from a food cart.
It was bright pink and tasted of somewhere tropical and helped push back the edges of my hangover.
I caught up with Miranda and Emily near Gobble de Goose—well, they caught up with me.
Miranda yelled and jumped, waving until she got my attention, and Emily laughed at her for making a spectacle of herself.
They’d acquired matching Goose Pride T-shirts from somewhere and were with one of the guys from yesterday, though I’d met so many of them that it took a moment to remember which one: Alex.
He was holding the leash of a small hairy dog.
“Nice dog,” I said, and the dog wriggled excitedly.
“He’s Cash’s,” Alex said, nodding toward the bakery. “I’m babysitting while he’s inside getting cream horns.”
“Cream horns,” Emily said, blinking.
“I know, right? It’s like marketing genius or something.”
“I think you’ll find they’re called cream horns even when it’s not Pride,” I said.
It was Alex’s turn to blink. “Huh. I thought Chase was just being rude.”
Chase was the angry twin, I recalled. “That sounds right for Chase.”
Alex laughed. “Yeah, he’s like that. He’s okay underneath all that scowling, though.”
“Are you girls having a good time?” I asked Miranda.
She beamed at me. “It’s awesome.”
“Thanks for bringing us,” Emily chimed in.
“Any time.”
The smell of coffee drifted across the air, and a moment later Cash appeared carrying a paper bag and a large cup. I knew it was Cash and not his twin because he was smiling. He nodded at me in greeting and I returned the gesture.
“We’re going to find a spot to watch the parade,” Miranda said.
They moved off in a group, and a pang of envy shot through me when I saw her linking hands with Emily.
I shook it off, but I couldn’t help wondering how different my life would have been if I hadn’t just watched Bobby Merritt walk out of it twenty-five years ago.
At the time I’d thought he was stupid for not seeing the impossibility of there ever being an us, but Bobby had always been a smart guy.
Hell of a lot smarter than me, it turned out.
He’d stayed in Goose Run—I was still vague on the details of that—and he’d done something incredible. What was it Chase had said yesterday? Bobby is Goose Run. Bobby hadn’t just stayed here. He’d become mayor and made the town somewhere worth being.
And me? I’d spent years hiding away a giant part of who I was, all for the sake of my career and my reputation and to avoid my father’s disapproval.
Looking at the life Bobby had built for himself and the town he’d made his own, I could lay a fair bet on which one of us was happier with their choices.
I stood watching as people assembled into groups at the park at the end of Main Street, and music started blasting out of loudspeakers just as the church doors opened.
I couldn’t help grinning because that was a move that was pure Bobby Merritt.
He’d never been very good at hiding how he felt, at least to anyone who was paying attention.
I wondered if, back in our college days, I’d been the only one who had been.
And in the end I’d been the one who’d let him down—let us both down—the hardest.
I couldn’t get close to Bobby for the rest of the afternoon, and a part of me didn’t want to. This was his big occasion, and the last thing he needed was my ruining it. So I stood in the crowd and watched the parade, clapping along with everyone else.
Bobby was up front, wearing his battered Stetson and a Goose Pride T-shirt along with his sequined suspenders, a rainbow bandanna around his neck.
He had his goose alongside him on a leash and it was wearing a matching bandanna, flapping its wings and honking.
I couldn’t tell if it was celebrating or gearing up for an attack, but I stepped back from the barricade just to be safe.
Following Bobby was a crowd of people. Some were wearing rainbow clothing, some had their faces painted, but the one thing they all had in common was that they were smiling and laughing as they made their way along the street, dancing and moving in time to the music that pumped out of the speakers.
I caught sight of the good-looking blond—Wilder—with his little girl perched on his shoulders.
She was clearly having a great time, waving a small rainbow flag and beaming like she was a pageant princess—maybe in her little kid brain, she was.
Next to them was a shorter guy with messy dark hair who was wearing glasses and a rainbow tee and a pair of bright blue suspenders covered in various Pride badges.
Chase was there with a solid guy with dark hair, and his usual scowl was nowhere to be seen. Cash and his vet were there too, walking hand in hand and leading their dog, and the looks they exchanged were so unspeakably tender that it made my insides twist with jealousy.
Next to me Miranda and Emily exchanged a glance, and then they were pushing through a gap in the dancing and joining the parade. They fell in step next to Cash, and Miranda wrapped an arm around Emily’s waist and whispered something in her ear. Whatever it was had Emily laughing in response.
Jesus, they all looked so happy.
Free Dad Hugs Guy was there dancing all the way, and as he passed us, he grabbed his partner and spun them around before lowering them into an impressive dip that earned them cheers and whistles from the crowd. They straightened up and he gave a bow, and his partner pulled him in for a kiss.
From next to me, I heard a soft sigh. I glanced over to find Alex watching, his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one feeling overwhelmed at all the happy couples.
“Hey,” I said, “are you okay?”
He shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be okay? Love is all around, right?
” He gave me a brittle smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
With a last glance at the parade, he wormed his way through the press of bodies, and I followed him instinctively.
He sat down on a bench near the bakery and I gestured at the space next to him.
“Mind if I join you?”
He shrugged.
We sat in silence for a minute or so before he spoke. “Sometimes I don’t want to be reminded that everyone I know here is all loved up and happy. Does that make me a bad person?”
“Not at all,” I said, thinking of my earlier jealousy. In an attempt to make him feel better, I added, “Maybe you just haven’t met the right man yet.”
Alex raised his eyebrows at me. “No offense, but I’m not into age gaps.”
I blinked, unsure if I was affronted or amused.
But there wasn’t anything funny about the way Alex snorted and said, “Actually, I’ve already met the right man, and now he’s married to someone else. So.” He shrugged again.
I winced. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Alex let out a breath. “Anyway, new town, new me, or something. That was the plan, anyway.”
“How’s it working out?”
He held his hand out and waggled it.
I resisted the urge to tell him he’d get over it in time, because that was about the most unhelpful thing anyone could ever say. Also, the dull ache in my chest every time I thought of Bobby proved it was complete bullshit.
I bought him a beer instead, because he clearly needed one. By the time the parade ended and his friends caught up with him, he was smiling again. Miranda and Emily were hanging out with the Goose Run boys and inviting them for beer and steaks at the cabin.
I got out of there before I could feel even more like an elderly hanger-on. Or worse, before I was volunteered to man the grill.
With the parade over, some people were drifting away but others were hanging around to party.
I looked around but Bobby was nowhere to be seen.
I wandered a little way down the street and opened up the Welcome to Goose Run pamphlet someone had handed me earlier, looking at the list of attractions around town.
It was a pretty short list. But one thing it mentioned was the Adventurama, run by Bobby Merritt.
It appeared to be a petting zoo of some sort, and the picture showed what looked to be an ordinary house.
Bobby’s house? I had nothing to lose by trying.
I checked the address on my phone and followed the directions to a few streets away.
I didn’t know if Bobby would be home or if he’d want to talk to me, but I owed him an apology.
Not an explanation—he’d made it clear he understood why I’d made the choice to watch him walk away without even trying to stop him—but an apology.
But selfishly, I also wanted to see him again before I left, because I’d missed him.