Chapter 27 #2
“Good.” I lift her hand and kiss it, ignoring the people milling around us.
Ignoring everything but the absolute vision in front of me.
“Because I’m furious that he spoke that way to you, and I have no intention of letting it go.
He’s lucky to get away with only a little humiliation today, but hopefully it will be the gift that keeps on giving and our pal Christopher will want to put it in his paper. A man can wish.”
Something shifts in her gaze, and she shocks me by getting up onto her toes and kissing me softly on the mouth, the bills of our hats kissing too.
Knowledge hits me like a slap to the face: for the first time since my secret came out, I’m perfectly happy.
After Bianca and I finish our shopping expedition, we find Theo at the Evergreens & Apples booth with the nonnas.
He’s eating an apple, his expression glazed over, while they discuss whether or not Halloween is unholy.
The three of them are alone, Christopher having finally disentangled himself from them.
When Bianca explains that we’re entering the scarecrow contest, Theo almost trips on a pumpkin in his desperation to join us.
The three of us enter the scarecrow tent with our supplies.
It’s a massive tent, full of scrambling people and laughter and straw all over the place.
The frames for the scarecrows, which were prebuilt by volunteers, are lined up in front of the judges’ table at the front of the tent.
Mr. Mayor has seated himself front and center, surrounded by the four other individuals who invested in the festival.
Together, the five of them will be judging the scarecrows.
Christopher the Mustache is sitting right next to Mr. Mayor.
Beyond the scarecrow frames sit a row of picnic tables covered with raw materials—straw and twine and sticks—as well as various decorations for the finished figures—old clothing, hats, button eyes, and whatnot.
In the back of the tent, there are three rows of empty picnic tables that can be used as workstations.
Theo insists our scarecrow frame was made incorrectly and makes some modifications at the picnic table we claim near the back of the tent. The frame ends up looking the same as it had started, if you ask me, but this is my first scarecrow experience, so I don’t say anything.
After we get the straw wrapped into limb-like shapes with the twine, Bianca and I dress our straw child in the outfit we purchased—a button-up shirt, slacks, and shoes just like Mr. Mayor’s.
We attach him to the frame, and then we finish him off with some blue button eyes, the wig, and a Sir Gala-Head pin.
“Ah, I see what you’re going for,” Theo says, nodding in appreciation. He angles his head to look at Bianca. “Look, I wasn’t going to say anything, but I heard you got fired. Any truth to that?”
“Who told you?” she asks, her expression heated.
He scratches his head. “Theresa. She says she saw it in a dream, but you know how she is. She spies on people.”
“Why are you talking to Theresa again?” she asks. “She was poison for you.”
He rolls his eyes and taps our Mr. Mayor scarecrow on the head. “You almost married Mr. Straw for Brains.”
“At least he didn’t cheat on me and pretend it was because he’d had a vision.”
Bianca and Theo look like they’re about to start throwing straw at each other, carrying on the storied Murphy and Cafiero tradition of getting into public fights, so I interject.
“We’re missing the point here. Mr. Mayor is not firing her,” I say.
“She got a free week off, is all. And thank God. She works too hard. He may have called it a reprimand, but we can all agree that he’s an arrogant prick, and we don’t care what he calls it.
We’ll be spending most of our time at the nursing home anyway. ”
“We will?” Bianca asks, looking at me in disbelief.
“Of course. We need to learn how to make that pie. It’s not going to bake itself. Plus, if I’m going to work with the kitchen staff, I’ll need to meet them.”
She looks at me like I just grew a new head. Thankfully, the dreamy expression on her face suggests she likes the new one better than the old one.
She wraps her arms around me for a hug as Theo asks, “You don’t know how to make pie? I watched that video you did—”
He blushes and tries to backtrack, but Bianca won’t let him.
“You’ve been watching Giovanni’s videos?” she teases, releasing me.
“No, of course not,” he says, as if offended. “I listen to the audio.” He glances at me. “No offense, man. But I don’t need an eyeful of your abs.”
“None taken, but if you want to come work out with me and the Biceps Before Bingo crew, I’ve got an open invitation.”
He’s silent for a moment, and then his shoulders start shaking. “Old Man O’Connor got to you?”
“I’m looking forward to it,” I insist. “But if you want to join us, I can probably make that happen for you.”
“He’s asked everyone under forty in this town, and no one’s taken him up on it.”
“Until now. What do you say? I’ll buy you a beer afterward? Maybe we’ll win a couple of dental cleanings in bingo. It sounds like it’s the hot ticket in town.”
Theo’s full-on laughing now, but he nods. “Yeah, fine. You’re all right, Giovanni. You’ve got yourself a deal.”