Chapter 35
You sure you’re ready for this, Chucks? —Milo Warner
“Shouldn’t I have some kind of PTSD around these things?”
I laugh as Noah points to one of the gondola cars crawling forward about five feet above us. “Maybe. Or you could think of them as a reminder of the day we first saw each other here in Devon Falls.”
“I like that.” Noah leans up against me for a kiss, but we barely get a peck in before my sister interrupts.
“Bro, have you tried this maple cotton candy? Shit is so good I might actually consider becoming a country girl.” She stuffs a clump of brown spun sugar into her mouth and waves over at Noah. “Hey there, Noah. Damn, you two really can’t keep your hands off each other, can you? Too cute, I swear.”
“Of course that stuff is good. It’s designed to put you into a diabetic coma,” I tell Mia. “So, what do you think of the grand reopening of the Devon Falls gondola?”
Mia glances skeptically up at one of the fire-engine-red cars moving through the sky, then down at the Devon Falls faithful who have come up to the ski area—no, community center area—today so they can take a ride up the mountain and celebrate these gondolas officially going back into business.
“I think people here must be bored as hell. But they travel with maple cotton candy, so who am I to complain?”
Noah laughs as she winks at him. Not for the first time, I’m grateful for my sister’s ability to quickly put anyone at ease when they’re around her.
When Ma told me what she had in mind for her official campaign announcement, I worried the shine of that spotlight would be too much for Noah.
But then Stan got involved in the plan, and then my sister showed up in town, and pretty soon the whole thing was a family affair.
I know Noah’s still got some reservations, but we’ve all made one thing very clear to him: if the cameras get to be too much, we call the whole thing off.
There are plenty of other ways for Ma to announce that she’s running in the primary race to be the next governor of New York state.
Mia polishes off the cotton candy and tosses the cone into a nearby recycling bin Scout set up earlier. “Okay, then,” she says as she licks her fingers. “You two ready to do this thing? Ma’s got her crew set up over there.” She points just down the hill to a woodsy trail.
Noah and I follow Mia down the path toward the camera. Noah, I notice, keeps looking away from it. “You sure you’re ready for this, Chucks?” I whisper to him. “We make the rules here, remember that. And I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt you in any way.”
Noah flashes me a nervous smile. “Always my alpha,” he whispers back. “But,” he adds. “I’m ready to do this, Milo. I really am. For me. For you.” He squeezes my hand in his. “For us.”
We watch the footage back later, after it’s been posted on Ma’s social media accounts, at the impromptu watch party Devon Falls insists on holding for us.
Luis puts the video up on the big screen in his café, and half of Devon Falls sits around on barstools and in booths eating his famous empanadas and meatloaf while Noah covers his face with his hands.
“I hate watching myself on screen,” he tells me.
“The good news is that you looked excellent during the filming,” Benson says as he eats his fifth empanada. “Milo, on the other hand, could have ironed his shirt one more time. Has Tom taught you nothing?” he asks me.
“I’m beyond upset that I wasn’t consulted on the fashion choices for this shoot,” Tom says as he winks at me. “But I like the shirt choice, Noah.”
Noah decided to wear his Big Fan of Human Rights shirt for the campaign announcement. Stan and Ma both loved it. “I can’t believe Ezra told you to stop wearing things like this for me,” he grumbled as he helped Noah straighten his shirt collar before filming started.
“Hush, everyone!” Luis says as he messes with the tablet he’s using to project the video onto the big screen. “I’m about to hit play.”
And there we are, taking up the entire television screen: Ma, Mia, me, and Noah, standing by my side. And Stan.
We look like a family.
“Hello, friends,” Ma says to the camera.
She’s called her constituents “friends” in her addresses to them for as long as I can remember.
Makes me smile every single time I hear it.
“I’m here with New York’s neighbors in Vermont today, celebrating the soon-to-be kickoff of a community center that my son has been helping to open!
” A cheer launches through the crowd around us as the camera pans to Devon Falls citizens standing by the community center gondola, talking and laughing while kids circle their feet.
The whole scene looks more than a little like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Then the camera swings back to us. “This is my daughter, Mia, who’s here to help us celebrate.
” Mia waves to the camera, her best media-practiced smile on her lips.
“And this is my son, Dr. Milo Warner. And you may recognize his boyfriend, Noah Hardaway. Noah’s the son of my colleague in the New York state senate, Stan Hardaway. ”
The camera pans to a waving Noah and Stan. Noah’s doing a pretty damn good job of not looking like he’s going to throw up, but I can see how tightly I’m squeezing him around the waist. He was almost shaking at that point, and more than once I nearly told the camera woman to cut the taping.
We had a signal planned. If he wanted to tap out, he needed to step on my toe with his. He never did.
“You all look great!” someone in the back of the room calls out. The cheer in the crowd swells to the point where I’d worry about neighbors reporting us to the police. But the sheriff’s standing in the back of the café, so I figure we’re probably fine.
“I’m sorry our parents and Mia had to miss this part of the day,” I murmur to Noah.
“Fancy politicians and lawyers,” he says easily. “Always with extra work to catch up on.” He frowns. “Well, for now at least.”
I still can’t quite believe Stan’s retiring from the senate. But he definitely seems serious about leaving his work behind and spending more time in Devon Falls.
Which, of course, has me thinking more and more about exactly what changes I need to keep seeking after the community center officially opens next week.
Am I really ready to go back to practicing medicine?
What would that even look like? There’s only one part of my future I’m certain of right now: that Noah Hardaway will be at the center of it.
I shake off my muddied thoughts of the future and focus on the video, where Ma’s getting ready to make her official announcement.
“Friends,” Ma says to the camera. “I’m so proud of the work Milo, Noah, and everyone else here has put into the Devon Falls Community Center.
I look at the work they’re doing here, and I think about how inspired I am to keep supporting families and communities across the state of New York.
And that’s why, today, I’m officially announcing my candidacy for the role of New York state governor! ”
The crowd around us erupts in applause again. I wolf-whistle as the camera moves back to Stan.
“Hi, everyone!” Stan waves at the camera. “I couldn’t be prouder of my son and his boyfriend for the work they’re doing here. And I couldn’t be prouder to know Lilah Warner. She’s done so much to make life better for New Yorkers, and I’m excited to endorse her candidacy.”
“Quite the family business you all have going on!” Burt Busby calls out, and there’s a swell of laughter in the room.
The room goes silent again as Noah begins speaking into the camera. This part of the announcement was his suggestion. His idea. I grip his hand as tightly as I can, and I feel the tension that moves through him as his own words begin filling the air of the café.
“A lot of people in New York know my story,” he says, just loudly enough for the camera to pick up his words.
“You know that I’ve seen firsthand how much the choices we make in the voting booth matter.
Milo and I have both spent years watching our parents work so hard to ensure people in New York can help take care of their neighbors and their loved ones.
We both learned the importance of taking care of the people around us from our family members, who work so hard for the people of New York state.
And that’s why we hope you’ll vote for Lilah Warner as the next governor of New York. ”
The video ends, and Luis mutes it as it goes on loop. “Should I play the one they took of you talking to Congresswoman Warner?” he asks Gabe.
“If you want.” Gabe raises his glass from his perch on a barstool right between Tom and Colin.
“But first, I’d like to call for a toast.” A swarm of glasses rises up around the café.
“First of all, I’d like to toast this entire town for being nothing but supportive of the community center and our mission for it.
” Whoops and hollers of excitement echo through the space.
“And, of course, I need to toast my partners, Tom and Colin, and my favorite partner in crime, Lou.”
Lou squeals from the other corner of the room, where he and Bear are playing tug-of-war with a rope.
“And last but not least,” Gabe adds as he swings his glass around to point it at me, Noah, and Scout, who’s standing behind us.
“To the staff of the Devon Falls Community Center, which is finally, officially, opening in just six days. I’ve been told many times that family isn’t always made by blood.
Sometimes it’s made by the people we choose to shed blood, sweat, and tears with.
Here’s to the family we’ve made together at the center.
Here’s to the family you have created for us, Devon Falls. ”
I don’t even hesitate before I sweep Noah off his feet, into a bow, and grab hold of the kind of kiss only an alpha like me might dare take in public from the man he loves.
The cheers around us probably echo down the street, but there’s only one sound I hear. It’s Noah, laughing as he kisses me back. “Can I tell you something weird?” he says. He tugs at my sleeve as Luis hits play on a video of Gabe talking to my mother about his vision for the center.
“Of course.”
I follow him outside onto the sidewalk, which is virtually empty, what with the entire town gathering inside Luis’s place right now. “What’s up, Omega?” I ask.
Noah blushes, but he laughs.
“You know,” I tell him as I wrap my arms around his waist. “You were pretty damn amazing on camera. I still can’t believe you offered to speak up for my mom and talk about your past like that.”
Noah clears his throat. “Actually, that speech is kind of connected to the something weird I wanted to tell you about. I was watching that video play, and I was thinking about this fortune that came in my Chinese food the day you and I met on that elevator.”
“Fortune?” A bell’s going off in my brain now. “What fortune?”
Noah rolls his eyes. “I almost threw it away. I was feeling so stuck that day, you know? But I couldn’t stop thinking about what it said. You will find the change you seek.”
My breath hitches, and I wait so long to speak that Noah frowns and pushes at my sleeve. “Are you okay, Milo?”
“Oh, I’m more than okay, Chucks.” I reach into my pocket, and I pull out the slip of paper there. I wasn’t even sure why I grabbed it out of my drawer this morning, honestly. Who brings a fortune to a gondola opening?
But here the damn thing is, right when I want it.
I open it up and show it to Noah. I watch as the smile that lights up his entire being starts around his eyes, then moves to the corners of his lips, then down to his raised shoulders, and eventually all the way to those sneakers of his I love so much.
I can’t wait to tell Jack and Sam that I finally, and very unequivocally, won our fortune game.