How to Woo a Goose #4
Okay, maybe he was actually the smartest man alive, because when he stepped back again, giving Lucille a clear view of the porch goose, she hurried to stand in front of it, extending her neck and bobbing her head repeatedly.
I guessed she was goose-flirting.
“I think you’re right,” Mason said. “That’s definitely courting behavior.”
I shouldn’t have been as relieved as I was, but I was glad Lucille didn’t have a crush on Mason. Although I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did. He was pretty special.
Another car pulled up the driveway and into one of the angled parking spaces, but the driver stayed in the car.
Obviously, it was someone local who knew better than to cross Lucille.
Mason’s gaze flicked between the car and the goose, and I could see he was torn.
He really liked that fuck-ugly porch goose, but he couldn’t spend all day guarding the porch from random invasions by a jealous, lovesick Lucille.
I rolled my eyes, elbowed him gently in the side, and whispered, “Give Bobby the goose, dumbass.”
Mason cast a wistful look at Sir Honksalot, then squared his shoulders and said, “Maybe you could take Lucille’s boyfriend home with you, Bobby.”
Bobby’s face lit up. “Well now, that’s mighty generous of you. And he’s certainly a handsome fellow.” He hummed. “Hey! Maybe he can be the mascot for Goose Pride!”
Lucille continued to duck and bob in front of the porch goose, pausing occasionally to look expectantly at it.
I almost felt sorry for her—this really was going to be a case of “he’s just not into you,” wasn’t it?
—but then she lunged at my calf, beak snapping angrily, and any sympathy I’d had for her disappeared as I hastily backed away.
And it wasn’t like being ignored by a fake boyfriend was going to make her any more of a menace than she already was.
Bobby crouched down and scooped Lucille up in one arm and Sir Honksalot in the other, letting out a grunt as he straightened up. “Will we see you two at Goose Pride?”
I nodded. I was mainly going because not much happened in Goose Run and a Pride fair sounded like fun.
But I’d also heard that Wilder’s father and a few of his church followers were planning some kind of protest, and Bobby had said if they did, he was going to release his alpacas on them.
I wasn’t going to miss that for anything.
“We’ll be there,” Mason said. He’d also heard about the threat of rampaging alpacas.
“I heard tell that the hotels as far away as Hopewell are booked out that weekend. Lots of people coming,” Bobby said cheerfully. “Lucille’s excited as all heck, aren’t you, girl?”
Lucille ignored him, all her attention on the statue he was carrying.
The door opened and Kayla stuck her head out. “Excuse me, Dr. Ross, but Mrs. Palmer is ready for you,” she said.
“I’d best not keep you,” Bobby said. “Thanks again for the goose!”
He wandered over to his truck, securing Lucille in the tray and laying the ceramic goose next to her. We watched them drive away, and Mason shook his head. “I’d say that was the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me in Goose Run, but I don’t want to tempt fate.”
I snorted.
“Mason,” Kayla said, tapping an invisible watch on her wrist in the universal sign of hurry your ass up.
“On my way,” he said, but he didn’t go inside straightaway. Instead, he pulled me closer and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. Then he huffed out a laugh, his breath tickling my hair. “This town is so weird.”
I nodded. “In a good way, though.”
“Yeah. In the best way.”
It was. Things had a way of working out for people in Goose Run.
Mason and I had found family here, and we’d found Dog, and, most importantly, we’d found each other.
And maybe our lives weren’t big or loud.
Maybe they were just small, ordinary lives.
But there was something magical in the smallness of them, in all the spaces where we could just sit and breathe, and feel the sun on our skin, and be together.
Not much happened in a town like Goose Run, but on the other hand, miracles did.
Mine gave me another kiss on the side of my head and then went inside to see about a cat.
I stayed a little longer on the porch, looking at the spot where the goose statue had been and wondering what sort of chaos Bobby was inviting by taking it home.
Then again, if it kept Lucille from scaring away Mason’s clients, then I was glad it was Bobby’s problem and not mine.
Besides, I got the feeling Bobby had never met a problem he couldn’t turn into an opportunity somehow.
Then Dog nudged the back of my knee with his nose, reminding me it had been too long since he’d had a treat, so I went back inside with him to sneak him one while Mason was busy.
“We’re doing pretty okay, aren’t we, Dog?” I asked him softly, and his tail thumped against the kitchen floor. “Actually, we’re doing better than okay, because life is pretty perfect, right? Especially now Lucille doesn’t have a reason to visit anymore.”
And Dog beamed like he understood every word and couldn’t agree with me more.