Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
LUCA
Luca flinched outside of Fairwick Falls Elementary as a loud, old-timey school bell rang. Kids streamed out, and he looked for his favorite little face.
He and Olivia had agreed he’d do drop-off and pickup to help her catch up from being sick.
There were only two more days until the festival, and she was in a rush to finish the costumes for her two classes.
Luckily, his shop was almost ready to launch in Fairwick Falls, and the dreaded commute to Cooperstown was over.
“Hey, you,” he said as a fifty-pound kid slammed into his leg.
“I touched a frog today!” AB yelled up at him.
“Very exciting.” He held AB’s bag as she scrambled up into the back seat.
“Can we call ?Livia so I can tell her about the frog?” she yelled as he buckled her seat belt.
“Maybe later.” He jogged to the driver’s side. This was day two of protecting Olivia from constant interruptions from Annabelle wanting to tell her every third thought.
“When’s she gonna be done with the festival?” Annabelle’s voice was wistful.
Luca buckled in and waited for the pickup line to start moving. “The festival is in two days. Excited about your performance?”
“Yeah,” Annabelle said confidently. They’d been working together on her routine every evening before bed.
“Brought you a snack.” Luca handed back a container of apple slices with a glob of sunflower butter.
AB crunched an apple slice. “This feels weird. I miss Olivia picking me up.”
“Maybe it won’t feel so weird if we do it all the time. What do you think about me taking you to school from now on?”
Technically, his need for extra help was nearly done. The shop would open up Monday.
“I wouldn’t see Olivia anymore?” Annabelle asked in a tiny, sad voice.
He wiped a hand down his face. Shit.
“She’d come over and spend time with us still, like for dinner. You might hang out together if I was busy with work.”
“Hmm…” Annabelle thought hard, looking out the window. “No, thank you.”
She’d said it politely and firmly, like he’d asked if she wanted more apples.
He chuckled as he looked over his shoulder at her, but it was his turn to finally move in line. “What do you mean, ‘no, thank you’?”
“She’s better at playing ballet princesses.”
“I don’t even get credit for the apple snacks?” he said to AB in the rearview mirror. She crunched and wiggled her head noncommittally.
He turned out of the school parking lot. “We’re going to the square to run an errand.”
“Ugh.” Annabelle pushed her body off the back seat in frustration. “I don’t want to. Will we have to do that every day?” she said with big, sad eyes.
This is the life you wanted, he thought to himself, just you and Annabelle. Being there for her and not focusing so much on work.
They drove through the town square. Hay bales lined the perimeter, and each corner of the square had a decorative stand full of pumpkins. The leaves had finally all turned to bright fall colors. Luca almost let himself smile at how proud he was to give Annabelle a childhood in a place like this.
AB’s face was pressed against the window. “Can I go look at the scarecrows?”
“Sure, we’ll stop at the scarecrows.”
He pulled over into a spot in the town square, and they hopped out. He was sponsoring the pumpkin chucking contest (allegedly a big deal, according to Martha) as a way to get their name out in the community. He needed to drop off the Bishop Body Shop sign.
They wandered hand in hand in the breezy afternoon through the small hay-bale maze. A large stage was set up on one side.
“Excited to dance up there?” Luca said, pointing to the stage.
“Yep.” AB shrugged confidently, as if it was no big deal. “I’m probably gonna crush it.”
“I like the confidence,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“Can ?Livia come over tonight? She does really good baby bunny voices for bedtime.”
“No,” he sighed, hefting the rolled-up sign in his arm. “Remember, kiddo, she’s busy right now.”
“But I want her to,” AB whined, pulling his hand hard as they walked around an old-timey wheelbarrow full of pumpkins.
“I’m sorry. You’ll just have to deal with my bunny voices.”
“You don’t even do the voices,” AB whined, slowing down.
He gritted his teeth and breathed his frustration through his nose. “I’ll try harder tonight. C’mon, let’s go drop off this sign.”
AB let out a very teen-like, “Ugh. But you said she was my babysitter!” She tugged on his hand. “What if I need sitting?”
His temper edged near the end of his control. “Annabelle, I’m not explaining this again,” he said firmly.
Emotion started to build up in her face. “But I want her to come over. I miss her.”
Jesus, it had only been three days.
And yeah, he missed her too.
But this was everything he’d wanted to avoid.
While he’d been falling more in love with Olivia and enjoying how good she was with AB, AB had quietly gotten attached to Olivia.
His worst nightmare had happened right under his nose.
He sighed and bent down to talk with her. “I know you miss her. I do too. We’ll see her soon, okay?”
AB sighed. “Can we go see the scarecrows?”
Luca kissed her head as he stood up, and they walked through the decorated scarecrows each business in town had created.
The Bloom scarecrow was covered in flowers, while Reed and Pearl had worked the night before on their Bookish scarecrow with a sweater vest and had sent him photos.
The hardware store, the Maroo law office, and heck, even the Thirsty Beaver had made one with an old-school beer t-shirt.
He made a mental note to sign up for next year. AB will have fun decorating it.
Luca dropped off the sign at the pumpkin chucking station as AB hung on his arm with boredom. She’d already mentioned Olivia two more times as they walked through the square.
Luca spied Bookish across the street. “Let’s go get a new book.” AB jumped and chattered in excitement.
Maybe I can find one where I can actually do the voices. He’d been trying to do a baby bunny voice, damnit, he was just crap at it.
They walked into Bookish, the scent of old and new books wrapping around them. Pearl walked by with a stack in her arms. “Hey, you two. No Olivia?”
AB turned to him with a deadpan look. “See? It’s weird.”
He finally let himself say what he’d felt all afternoon—yes, it felt weird without her.
* * *
OLIVIA
Olivia shushed the little girls in giant leaf costumes behind her as Gerald stepped up to the mic to kick off the fall festival.
“As chairman of the festival board, I’d like to welcome you to the Fairwick Falls Fall of Fairwick Festivities Festival.” Polite clapping greeted him. “This year’s theme is Leaf All Your Worries Behind at the Fairwick Falls Fall of Fairwick Festivities Festival.”
“Really flows off the tongue,” Olivia muttered, fixing Sophie’s costume as she wiggled in line.
A crowd gathered in front of the stage as the chairman spoke, thanking their sponsors.
They were up next—the opening act. Olivia got them in the proper order to walk out on stage.
She’d had to cancel her coaching call at the last minute to get the final costumes ready for the second number. She’d be late sending an audition tape to the Dayton Ballet, but she couldn’t let the kids down.
“?Livia, where’s your leaf costume?” AB asked as she flapped her hands up and down in excitement, standing in line.
“I will be right here watching you dance,” Olivia said, bending down on her knees so she was eye level, “just like in class, and you guys are going to crush it, okay?”
AB looked up at the stage with big, surprised eyes. “You won’t be on stage with us?”
Uh oh. “I’ll be right here, okay? You’re going to do great. Now, girls, what do we remember before going on stage?”
“The audience can smell fear,” they answered in unison.
“And how do we cover up that stinky fear?”
“Have fun!” they yelled together and giggled.
“And now,” the man on stage said, “let’s welcome Olivia Maroo’s first-grade ballet class, The Leaflets.”
“All right, go, go, go,” Olivia whispered urgently.
The little girls toddled on stage to an audible aww in their giant leaf costumes with the pink tutus. The audience started clapping even before the dancing started. Olivia’s heart skipped a beat at the reaction. She still lived for it.
She cued the sound guy, who started playing a famous Carole King hit that always reminded Olivia of autumn.
This was it—the big reveal of whether she should have been entrusted with small children for the past eight weeks.
The first eight counts went well as Olivia held her breath. The girls danced and twirled just like they were supposed to, going up and back, side to side.
She spied Luca in the front row. Her eyes drank him in. It had been two whole days since they’d seen each other, and she was thirsty for a glance.
He mimed along to the dance subconsciously. Had he practiced with AB at home, and she’d missed it?
Oh my god, I will never recover from how perfect he is.
Suddenly, Annabelle stopped dancing, looking unsure. She stood as the other girls kept dancing and walked up to the front of the stage, where Luca was.
Oh no.
AB bent down to talk to him, and his face got worried. They exchanged a few quiet words, and AB’s leaf shook at her top point as if she was saying no.
Luca darted his eyes to Olivia beside the stage as she made a what’s going on? motion.
AB held out her hand to him, and he shrugged and, holding her hand, walked up the front steps of the stage.
Oh. My. God.
He joined the girls onstage to a considerable chorus of awws.
Olivia’s hand flew up to cover her mouth in shock.
Holding AB’s hand, Luca waddled side to side, skipping in place and turning around with his arms held up over his head like a ballerina.
Her ovaries were practically climbing out of her body to get to this man. All she could do was press her hands to both cheeks at the adorable sight.
As they all hit their final pose, uproarious applause made Olivia’s heart jump. She clapped along with them, looking straight at Luca.