Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
LUCA
Luca fought with an unruly screw. “Why can’t things just do what they’re fucking supposed to do?” he muttered, growling at it. He was behind schedule at the shop and had barely even started the work of moving it to Fairwick Falls.
He’d stayed up late last night to find more rental space options, and he’d come in early to finish this fucking Airstream for Pearl. The Airstream now had a roll-top window for orders, a warming station for her baked goods, a sink—everything that a mobile farmer’s market stand could need.
“Knock, knock,” a bright voice said.
“Hey,” Luca called to Reed, who ambled through the doorway like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Brought some final touches.” Reed held up a menu sign and a few other items to outfit the Airstream. “I can install the digital register thing today.”
“Already done,” Luca said, in too sharp a voice as he finally got the fucking screw in.
Luca moved on to put one more coat of polish on the wood countertop.
It took fucking forever to set in, but it would have to be good enough for now.
He searched the shop for the rags and bucket of water.
The last thing he needed was for this place to go up in flames if the rags self-ignited from oxidation.
His best friend leaned through the customer window on his forearms, sporting a friendly smile that for some reason irritated the shit out of him right now. “It’s been a minute since we’ve seen you. We miss you, Pearl and I.”
“You saw me last week for dinner.” Luca huffed. “I’m doing every fucking thing here, and I don’t have extra time when I’m trying to keep five people employed.”
Silence greeted him in response.
He was being an asshole. He knew this.
“I know you know you’re being an asshole,” Reed said, reading his mind.
“Yeah, so?” Luca said, wanting to enjoy his bad mood with somebody who would tolerate him.
Reed peered around the window inside the Airstream. “Maybe somebody else could do some of this work? Like me?”
“Don’t touch that,” Luca said as Reed picked up a rag and then dropped it.
“I know you have a lot of work to move all of this to Fairwick Falls. You have a team, right? Maybe you should…use them?”
Luca sighed, rubbing in an even layer of oil on the raw wood counter.
“Leaning on loved ones is what they’re there for, Luca. You need to be able to rest sometimes, you know? You do a lot for everybody else.”
Luca shook his head. “No, I don’t. Not enough.”
Pearl had dropped everything when he’d needed her. For fucking years. Reed had been his constant sounding board of support since he was twelve. His team had covered his ass when all hell broke loose over the summer when he wasn’t here.
He was in everyone’s debt, and he hated it.
Reed followed him, not letting him escape. “I’m going to remind you that you are in a formerly totaled Airstream that you remade into an on-the-go bakery for your sister, just because it would make her happy.”
Luca swallowed a smile. “What did you need again?”
“Hey,” Reed said calmly. “Can you take thirty seconds?”
Tension coiled up in Luca’s shoulders. “Not really,” he said, tossing the rag in the bucket of water.
“Listen, asshole,” Reed said with a laugh. “I know you’re bigger than me, but I can still fight.”
That made Luca break into a laugh. “Yeah,” he said, stepping out of the Airstream and stretching his back. “I remember. Still have that scar.” Luca pointed to his eyebrow.
Luca had taught Reed how to fight so he didn’t get his ass handed to him in high school, and Reed had clocked him when he wasn’t expecting it.
“Alright, thirty seconds. Go,” Luca said, gulping down a glass of water.
Reed stared at him. It was a long, serious look.
Oh, fuck. This is bad.
Have I done something? Missed something important?
Is Pearl okay?
Is Reed okay?
Who’s dying?
Reed gulped and stood up straighter. There was a challenge and a tinge of fear in his eyes. “I’m going to marry Pearl.”
Luca noticed it wasn’t a question.
“No shit,” Luca said, not believing it.
“Yes, shit,” Reed said with a laugh.
“You, the sweetest man I know, are going to marry my black-cloud, death metal-flavored, acid-rain-upon-her-enemies sister,” Luca said, saying it out loud one more time just so he could believe it. “For forever,” he added.
Reed pressed at his chest with his knuckles, as if staving off a heart attack. “Going to attempt to, yes.”
Pearl and Reed had started dating when Luca and AB were in Florida. No one had been more flabbergasted than he had been at seeing them tangled up on the couch when he’d gotten home early. He’d thought, honestly, that he’d been hallucinating from the fifteen-hour drive back from Florida.
A bright spark of warmth slapped Luca across the face. “Come here.” He pulled Reed in for a hug, lifting him off the ground with a groan, making him laugh.
Reed adjusted his glasses when Luca set him down. “So you’re okay? I mean, she’d be really pissed if I did the whole asking-for-your-blessing thing.”
“Oh, she’d murder you.” Luca laughed. “Both of us.”
“But you’re okay with this?”
“Man.” He grabbed Reed by the shoulders. “Best news I’ve heard all week.”
“You’re gonna make me cry.” Reed slapped Luca’s face playfully, and Luca pushed him away with a laugh.
They’d been friends since sixth grade when they were both giant nerds and Reed had moved to the nice house down the block with an extensive comic book collection that Luca had coveted.
Luca had always been tall and chubby for his age, and being the poor kid in class meant he’d been as much of a bully target as the new tiny nerd.
They’d formed an alliance. Luca would protect him on the playground, and Reed would give him free rein of all the comic books in his treehouse next door and the snacks in his mom’s kitchen.
He’d never have guessed letting Pearl up into their treehouse club would have such lifelong consequences.
“I’m very happy, for the record,” Luca said, picking up a wrench because he needed to do something with all these feelings.
I’m aching for something like that myself.
“I should go. I just wanted to make sure we were good,” Reed said. “But um, keep this quiet. I need to figure out how to make all of her little black-hearted dreams come true.”
Luca nodded, a lump in his throat at the happiness of it all. Pearl, his spikey sister with a soft, squishy heart—who fiercely protected every underdog she’d ever met—deserved every happiness in this lifetime.
Reed started out the door but Luca turned suddenly and pulled him into another squeezing, hard hug.
“Can’t propose…if you liquify…my spleen,” Reed muttered through a strangled breath with a laugh.
Luca finally released him and pushed him out the door with a smile, hiding his face so Reed wouldn’t see the emotion there.
The door clicked closed.
It was hard for him to process emotions and thoughts when other people were around. Too much to manage.
Too much for somebody to see him deal with his own feelings. Even the guy who was his best friend in the whole world.
He gulped down the complicated feelings of sadness and joy in the weird confetti cannon that thumped through his chest.
It was fast, he realized. Pearl and Reed. They’d only been together a couple months.
But… He thought back to the pretty neighbor next door. Sometimes when you know, you just fucking know.
Even if it’s doomed from the start.
Happy tears pooled in his eyes, and he brushed them away with the back of his wrist.
He rolled Reed’s words around in his head. Leaning on others?
He snorted at the idea.
He carried a heavy load: boss, dad, employer.
Who could possibly be strong enough for me to lean on?
***
OLIVIA
“And left step. No—Harper, your other left—and step, and hop, and step. Front. Turn. Side. Step, step.”
The girls held hands as they wobbled their torsos, like falling leaves.
“And now—spin!”
The girls were supposed to grab hands and form a circle, but instead, two had started to skip in a circle already. Annabelle grabbed two little girls’ hands and pulled them along flailing behind her, dragging them on the ground. They started crying.
“Okay. Okay.” Olivia paused the music. “Let’s—” she ran her hand up and tightened her ponytail. “Let’s take five.”
Olivia had drafted the most basic choreography she could think of for their Fall Festival number, but it was still a disaster.
Olivia crouched down to a little girl who’d toppled over. “You okay, Sophie?” Sophie nodded, looking used to getting dragged around. “Annabelle, can you be more gentle next time?”
AB looked exasperated. “I was taking them in the circle! Sorry, Sophie,” AB said, pulling her friend up. And just like that, the girls were back to giggling and laughing. A familiar laugh floated into the room, and Olivia glanced up to see a godsend.
“Ms. Georgia!” three little girls screamed as they ran over. Georgia had been their teacher last year.
Thank god. She ignored the confused, concerned looks from the parents, and she pulled Georgia away from the girls into a separate corner.
“This is not going well,” Olivia said, turning her back so the parents couldn’t watch her face. “It’s a trainwreck. What’s your secret to getting them to learn the choreo?”
“Sweetie.” Georgia set down the large box she’d been holding, her metal bangles clanking as if she’d set a ball and chain down.
She tossed her giant scarf over her shoulder and gently held Olivia’s hands.
“The secret is: it’s not that serious,” she whispered through a laugh.
She squeezed Olivia’s hands. “This is supposed to be fun for them, dear. And for you.”
Olivia gasped. This was ballet they were talking about. “Georgia!” she whispered back, at her wits’ end. “Of course it’s serious. Their parents paid for ballet lessons. They expect them to do, ya know, ballet by the end of it.”
“It’s not that serious,” Georgia said slowly with a knowing smile. “Just have fun. This whole thing is supposed to be fun. See?” She pointed over to the girls.