Not for You to Keep
Mike: Did you talk to the girls?
Omar: Outfits are packed.
Omar: Except Ryan. That girl is a mess.
Mike: But his choreography is fire.
Omar: Facts.
Omar: We’ll be there later today.
Mike: Can’t wait to see you.
Omar: Wish you’d reconsider and join us.
“They’re on their way.”
I sat on the counter of Legends Comics, the epicenter of pride paraphernalia. As fast as I delivered boxes yesterday, more arrived. My arms ached, and if Jason asked for another delivery, I could cancel my gym membership.
“Tell Omar I want him to do my makeup,” Amanda shouted from the loft. She spent the morning getting copies of her comic ready for the festival. I waited patiently for Jason to return from dropping Lucas off at school.
I stared at the movie poster of I Am the First. It held a solitary boy hovering off the ground.
Behind him stood the mill. For such a small town, they had seen more than their share of adventures.
A parade celebrating Pride didn’t seem so far-fetched, at least not with half of Hollywood camped out on the green.
The bell jingled as Jason walked in.
“I can’t wait for Lucas to get his license.” He paused, his face horrified at the statement. “No. Never mind. I can’t handle that stress.”
“Morning.” I reached back and produced a cup of coffee. “Dark roast with almond milk.”
Jason took the cup as if he were dying of thirst. He slurped, and with each swallow he stood a little taller. He’d be happy to know I had bought him two.
“What’s on the agenda for today, boss?”
“We need to deliver tables to the vendor tents. I need to prep the stuff that’s going on the sidewalk. I think that’s it? Or at least until Gladys calls with her newest idea.”
“You have me for the morning.”
He paused mid-sip. Lowering the cup, his eyes narrowed. “What’s going on later?”
I often forgot Jason had been born and raised in Firefly. Because I most often interacted with him at Spectrum, I didn’t think he’d have that particular habit. His expression was anything but coy. I knew exactly what he wanted.
“Stuff.” I wouldn’t make it easy.
“Is it stuff with a certain bear?”
“It may or may not involve a certain gentleman.” I couldn’t hide the smile. I had already planned my evening with Sammy. A night by the fire, drinking beer and trading tales. “I cannot confirm.”
Jason set the coffee on the counter and wrapped his arms around my stomach. He squeezed tight enough I couldn’t breathe. His head rested on my chest as his hug turned dangerous.
“I’m happy for you.”
When he let go, it was my turn to interpret his words. “Thanks? I think.”
“Somebody has a case of the feels.”
My cheeks burned. I’m sure they stood out as if I had painted them myself. The butterflies in my stomach returned, and I couldn’t ignore the reality. It had been a week, and I wanted to make every excuse to see Sammy again.
“It’s a summer fling.” What I wanted and the reality weren’t aligned. I knew heartache waited around the corner. I dreaded it, and at the same time, I was proud of myself for opening up. “A legendary summer fling.”
“You know the saying,” he said.
“Firefly gives us what we need.”
“You know, I figured out how I knew him.” He returned to nursing his coffee. “He was at your last show.”
I slid off the counter. Checking for eavesdroppers. “I saw him, too. He was there with his employees.”
“Have you told him?”
“He knows I was there.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m sensing half-truths.”
With that statement, Jason proved himself a true citizen of Firefly Valley.
Not only did they treat secrets as currency, but they could detect a lie a mile away.
I came here to sort out what I wanted from life.
I tried keeping silent, tucking it away like it didn’t matter.
Jason might be nosy, but it came from a heartfelt place.
“He doesn’t know about Mabel.”
“Oh.” Now he was in on the secret about the… well… the secret. “Are you going to tell him?”
“I don’t think he’d understand.” Whether I invented them or not, there were signs. “Besides, if he’s heading home after the parade, does he need to know?”
“Is that why you’re avoiding Gladys? That girl is texting me non-stop.”
When I retired Mabel, it had been so I could reclaim my identity.
I wanted to be Mike and have the world see me.
Ignoring Mabel as part of my past had been impossible.
I got comfortable with folks talking about her.
Then Sammy came along, and it wasn’t setting her aside for me.
I hid. Mabel went from a retired drag queen to a dirty secret.
The door jingled.
“Speaking of the devil,” Jason said. He shot me a quick look that made it clear our conversation hadn’t ended. I wanted to give Sammy a hug for detouring the discussion. Well… for other reasons too.
“Sammy!” Amanda came stomping down the stairs from the loft. “What brings you here?”
“Good grief,” I muttered. There was no way we made it out of here without an inquiry. If only I were like the heroes in Jason’s comics. I narrowed my eyes and tried to freeze her dead in her tracks. No luck.
Sammy glanced in my direction. He smirked, and my worry melted away. At this point, I think he knew my friends well enough to know he had entered a playful battlefield. We had plans for the afternoon, but he accelerated our rendezvous. That last part had my stomach in knots.
“I heard you might need an extra pair of hands.”
“Hands?” Amanda said. “Pfft. We need more guns for this show.”
I cringed as she raised her arms. With only a pair of overalls on, we all had a clear shot of her muscles. I had to admit, I was jealous. I might need to see about going back to the gym.
Sammy mirrored her. “Locked. Loaded. Ready for war.”
His arms were beautiful, but his purple unicorn shirt exposed his belly, which made other parts of my body spring to life.
They turned toward us, grunting as they continued flexing.
Jason and I broke out in laughter. Just like that, Sammy sidestepped any potential awkwardness and became part of my tribe.
Amanda poked at his bicep. “Football?”
He couldn’t hide the grin. “Wrestling.”
Sammy had opened the door.
“Jason? Did you hear that? Our friend here is a wrestler.”
Sammy raised an eyebrow while I shook my head.
“I did hear that. Tight spandex?”
“The tightest,” she echoed.
“Amanda, how do you win at wrestling?”
“I’m pretty sure you pin a guy to the mat.”
He nodded. “Very top energy.”
“Real big dick energy, I say.”
His face turned red. I fought it off. With every ounce of willpower, I forced the blood away from my face. The trap had been set. They armed it in such a swift and playful way that I hadn’t seen it coming. Sammy’s bright red face confirmed one thing, but if they—
Jason turned. “Did you hear that, Mike?”
Amanda turned. “Oh, he heard.”
Our bodies betrayed us. Whether or not it was true, Amanda and Jason decided it had been a victory. They high-fived, knowing exactly what they had done. I wanted to swear at their devilish plan, but part of me felt relieved that somebody else knew that I had received a wrestling lesson.
“Now,” Amanda said, her voice turning serious. “All of Firefly is talking about yesterday.” I wanted to shake her. Amanda’s brand of love came with blunt honesty. “I’m hearing the guy was your dad, though Gloria is convinced he’s part of the mob.”
I threw him a lifeline. “Okay, we should probably—”
“My dad,” Sammy admitted. “He wants me to take over his business.”
“The same business that tried to come in and take away my loft?”
Jason leaned over and whispered. “Technically, it’s my loft.”
“Semantics.”
Sammy smiled at me. If he were ready to talk, I was ready to listen, even if that included the peanut gallery.
He let out a deep sigh. “His company buys up old properties and flips them. It’s kind of gross when you think about it. Go to struggling neighborhoods, make an offer they can’t refuse. Literally. Then price them out.”
“Ew,” Amanda said. “Company, not your dad.”
“No, he’s more than a little ew. He sees the profits and doesn’t care about the problems it creates. Then he acts like he wants to hand me the reins.” Sammy scoffed at the idea. “He just wants to brag that his company is still going strong. I’m not going to be his puppet.”
I wanted to hug him.
“And I thought I had daddy issues,” Amanda said.
“I was planning on telling him. Not with witnesses, but here we are. Kind of funny it happened in the town that shot him down.”
“Delicious irony,” I said.
“The tastiest,” he said. “He’ll throw a fit. I’m sure he’ll come crawling back and apologize. That’s his usual tactic.”
“Will you say yes?” Amanda lacked tact, but I had the same question. I wondered if our time cuddling in the back of the truck had given him a chance to process what happened. It unraveled his dilemma; meanwhile, mine stood there waiting for attention. Life needed to not be so complicated.
“Nope. Never,” he said. “I have my business. I’ll leave my mark without him pulling the strings.”
Amanda gave him a swift pat on the shoulder. “See, Mike. I told you that you had a real keeper.”
The shock of Amanda’s statement made me step in and point at the folding tables near the door. “Are those the tables you need delivered?”
“If you can take those, Amanda and I can handle the rest of these boxes.”
“Since when do I work for you?”
He scowled. “Would you prefer to pay rent?”
She bent over and picked up a box with lightning speed. “Where to, boss?”
I darted to the tables. Picking one up, I gestured for Sammy to take the other. We’d escape while Jason provided a distraction. Sammy had endured enough of Firefly’s curiosities.
We bolted. Freedom.
“You weren’t kidding.”
We stood at the end of the green, staring at rows of tents lining the stone walkway.
At the far end of the green, trailers had been set up for Chris’s Hollywood buddies.
The weekly farmers market seemed impressive, but this easily had three times as many tents and tables.
I had learned my lesson: never underestimate Firefly when they wanted to celebrate.