Chapter 8
JOSH
They told me that Nora, the director of Parks and Rec who created Merry Mayhem, doesn’t do things small.
But I wasn’t ready.
We walk downtown from Bruce and Harley’s place.
We take it slow so that Harley can keep up with his cane—which is shaped like an upside-down hockey stick—in one hand and his other arm linked with Bruce’s.
But there isn’t a moment of silence as we walk.
The family talks and teases nonstop. They make me miss my family, and I have the sudden urge to call my family and introduce them to the Delaunes and Chaberts. They’d all get along famously.
Thea sends Ruth ahead to clear the sidewalk of any sticks, stones, or other debris, and I find out that Thea is Harley’s PT. I also find out that Harley isn’t as compliant as he should be. But their banter about it is good-natured and full of exasperated affection from both of them.
As we near the center of town, I can hear Christmas music, laughter, and conversation. I can also smell what I can only describe as “carnival food”. It’s definitely popcorn and kettle corn, but there is the mingled scent of cinnamon—churros, perhaps?—and other fried foods.
We step onto Main Street near an enormous hot chocolate stand.
I mean enormous. Not only are there five people pouring and handing over paper cups of classic chocolatey hot cocoa, but there is also a line for white hot chocolate and spicy hot chocolate made with chili powder.
There’s also a line where people can have Irish Cream, Kahlua, peppermint schnapps, or butterscotch schnapps added to their cup.
Next to the serving lines is an impressive display of toppings from good old marshmallows and whipped cream to peppermint sticks and sprinkles to cherry syrup.
Finally, at the end, is a plethora of treats to go along with the drinks. Cookies of all kinds, Rice Krispies treats, cupcakes, and more fill the multi-tiered display trays.
And it’s all free.
“Wow,” is all I can say.
Thea smiles up at me. “Yeah. And this isn’t even officially mayhem.”
I laugh.
People linger about the tables, sipping and munching, chatting, laughing, clearly in a merry mood.
The rest of the street is just as festive.
There is a huge Christmas tree at one end of the street, and at the other end, near the Welcome to Rebel sign, is a ten-foot stone statue that is also decorated for the holidays with a Santa hat on its head and lights draped around its neck.
But the statue is not the founder of Rebel, or a beloved mayor, or a famous person from Rebel.
It’s an otter.
Yes, an otter. As in the animal.
Between the otter statue and the tree, Main Street is lined on both sides, in front of the storefronts for all the businesses, by booths that are just being set up and decorated, but many are offering samples of what they will be selling over the next couple of days.
Some are food booths offering a variety of items, from breads and pies to candies and jellies.
Others feature handcrafted goods that make great last-minute Christmas gifts, such as soaps and lotions, wood carvings, or knitted items. Other booths offer services like massages, house cleaning, and landscaping.
“Things will be in full swing tomorrow, but tonight is a chance to window shop and make a list for what people want to come back for over the weekend,” Bruce tells me.
“Some of these booths have been here every year, and others are brand new this year.” He points at a booth selling jams and honey.
“That guy drives four hours to be here.”
“Wow. This is impressive,” I say.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he agrees. “Nora is very good at her job.” He beams with pride.
“Clearly.”
As we stand in line for hot chocolate, people greet Harley, Bruce, Thea, and Ruth with waves and smiles.
Ruth ends up enfolded into a group of girls and promises her mom she’ll be home right after the kick-off event ends.
A man approaches Thea and shows her how well his knee is bending. She praises him and then reminds him that she expects him in the clinic the day after Christmas, despite his wonderful range of motion.
A woman approaches and asks a question about her shoulder.
After we get our hot chocolates—classic chocolate with marshmallows for Bruce, chocolate with a shot of Bailey’s for Harley, white chocolate peppermint for Thea, and white chocolate with caramel for me—we start down Main Street.
Another woman stops Thea and requests that she give the woman’s son a mini-lecture about using his crutches even when he’s out with his friends. The teen rolls his eyes, but he nods dutifully as Thea scolds him gently.
It’s clear the entire town knows and appreciates this family, and Thea obviously is an integral part of this community.
“How long have you been practicing here?” I ask her.
“Since I graduated,” she says. “It was always my plan to come back here and open my practice.” She takes a sip and side-eyes me. “So, six years.”
“What’s that look for?” I ask.
“I’m thirty-one.”
“Okay.” I’m not following.
“Old.”
I laugh. “Thirty-one is old?”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-six.”
She nods. “So, a lot older than you.”
I’m not sure why she’s pointing out our age difference. “Five years isn’t ‘a lot’,” I say.
“Violet is twenty-three.”
I lift a brow. “Good to know.” I guess. Why is she telling me this?
“Sam is twenty-three also,” Thea says.
I’m amused even though I have no idea what we’re doing here.
“Sierra is thirty,” I say.
Thea pauses with her cup partway to her mouth. “Who’s Sierra?” She sips.
“The woman I followed to Louisiana.”
Thea chokes on her drink of cocoa.
I smile and take a drink of my own.
Hmmm. She wasn’t expecting that I’d be into older women before. Well, older woman.
Until now.
I’m definitely into Thea Chabert.
Which is, admittedly, not ideal.
But Violet and I are not involved. Yes, I need to play a part here and at least stall until I can talk to her and work things out, but Violet isn’t my girlfriend, and I’ve made no promises to her beyond this weekend.
Thea doesn’t say anything about my revelation about Sierra. She just keeps walking. And I follow. For now, I’ll let her lead the way. I can’t do anything about my attraction to her at the moment.
But I know she feels the chemistry. Our moment in Bruce and Harley’s kitchen was not one-sided. Her hand on me, even while blotting my wet shirt with a dish towel, had sent fire licking through my veins. She was affected too. I saw it in her eyes.
We are going to figure out what this is.
But not right now. Not in the middle of Main Street, where the entire town has seemingly gathered.
Still, I’m staying at her house this weekend. It sounds like we’ll be spending most of the weekend together. This is going to be even better than just a nice distraction from my holiday melancholy.
Right in the middle of the street, which is shut down from traffic, is a stage where Nora Delaune herself is presiding over the sign-up for Merry Mayhem. She doesn’t look smug or frazzled. She looks like she’s having the time of her life as she hands out clipboards to the people in front of her.
I climb the six steps behind Thea.
“Thea!” Nora exclaims, bouncing to her feet. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey, honey.” Thea leans over the table to hug Nora. “I’m here to sign up.”
Nora audibly gasps. “You’re doing Merry Mayhem?” She’s clearly delighted by this idea.
“I am. In Violet’s place.”
Nora’s very expressive face immediately falls. “Oh my gosh, I went up to see her. She actually looks pretty good. I mean, for someone who’s in a coma.”
“She’s going to be okay,” I feel the need to insert.
Nora turns wide, interested eyes to me. “That’s what the nurses told me.”
“Nora, this is Josh Evans. He’s Violet’s…b…boyfriend.”
I definitely notice the way she stumbles over that. Interesting.
“They were going to do Merry Mayhem together, and I’m taking her place,” Thea finishes.
Nora’s smile is bright and quick. “Oh wow, Josh, it’s so nice to meet you. You’re the one she went to the wedding with.”
How to answer, but not lie? “That wedding was wild,” I say. There. I didn’t say yes. And that wedding did sound wild.
“Well, I’m so glad you’re both doing this. Violet would be thrilled. She loves Merry Mayhem.” Nora says it with a touch of pride.
“It was almost all she could talk about the other night,” I say, again able to be honest.
Nora looks pleased. “She is the reigning champion.” Then she frowns. “Sam has already signed in.” She tilts her head to her left.
“Tall guy in the blue shirt,” Thea fills in for me.
I spot him immediately. Sam is tall. Probably about six-three.
His light brown hair is cropped short, and he’s dressed in jeans, tennis shoes, and a long-sleeve T-shirt.
The woman next to him, who I’m going to assume is Ashley, the new girlfriend, is very pretty.
And also nearly the opposite of Violet in appearance in every way.
She’s curvy and at least five inches taller than the petite Violet.
She’s wearing bright red pants with a forest green sweater, and her short blonde hair falls in spiral curls to her shoulders.
“We can totally take them,” I say to Thea.
I have no idea if that’s true. These two could be secret ninja warriors.
“Oh, a rivalry,” Nora says. “I love it.”
Thea bends over the sign-up form and starts filling in blanks. “Do I get a family favor and a promise that you won’t make us do anything before nine a.m.?” she asks.
Nora laughs as if she’s joking.
I’m going to take that as a no.
Thea moves to the side. “Here, fill in your information,” she says, sliding the clipboard to me.
I bend over the form, curious what information they need. First, it’s the standard name and telephone number. The form explains that it needs to be a number where they can text me and where I’ll be checking messages regularly. I presume for the surprise challenges.
The rest of the form asks for things like food, allergies, phobias, and anxiety triggers.
I look up at Thea. “Your quest for information about me just got a lot easier.”
She grins at me. “You thought we were going to play Twenty Questions?”
I laugh. But I guess I had kind of hoped so.
Dude, this is your supposed girlfriend’s sister. You need to cool it. For this weekend, at least—or until Violet wakes up and you can come up with a new plan—you need to be interested in Violet.
But I’m not. I don’t dislike Violet, but I’m not curious about her the way I am about Thea.
That’s not fair, you’ve barely spent any time with Violet.
But honestly, I have probably spent as much time with Violet as I have with Thea, and I find Thea impossible not to want more of.
This is definitely going to be messy.
The bottom of the form, in very tiny print, is a disclaimer form.
“Basically, you can’t sue us for anything,” Nora says in her perky voice. “You’re coming into this knowing that you might get hurt, you might get sick, and you definitely might not win.”
“I might get sick?”
“I can’t control how you might react to copious amounts of eggnog or sugar cookie frosting,” she says.
Honestly? Fair enough. I sign my name at the bottom and date it. I straighten. “Okay, I guess we’re officially Merry Mayhem participants.
Thea nods. “Guess so. You can head over to Autre now if you want to.”
Nora gasps again. “No, you can’t leave. We’re going to introduce you to everyone. And then there’s the first challenge.”
“There’s a challenge tonight?” Thea asks.
Nora nods happily. “Yup. This one will help the town get to know you and set the stage for the teamwork it’s going to take for the rest of the weekend.”
I’ll admit, I’m intrigued.
“We have a couple more teams to sign in. Go have some more hot chocolate and relax. Browse the booths,” Nora says with a wave of her hand.
Thea sighs. I chuckle.
“Hey, if we’re going to kick ass and bring home the trophy, we’re going to need to be all in,” I tell her. “Enthusiastic about all the challenges.”
“You’re right,” she says. “It’s just that three hours ago, I had no idea I was going to be doing any of this. I’ve watched Merry Mayhem for four years, but definitely just as an amused observer. I think it’s crazy. You don’t really know what you just signed up for.”
I grin at her and realize that, whether I like it or not, whether it’s a good idea or not, I’m looking forward to this.
And it has everything to do with this woman.
I get to spend time with her. Do fun Christmas activities with her.
It’s not just about avoiding feeling left out and sad over in Autre, I am excited about this. And I’m grateful.
I stop as we walk back down off the stage. Light glints off an object sitting on the end of the table.
“Is that the trophy we win?” I ask.
She nods. “Yep.”
The trophy looks exactly like the statue at the end of Main Street.
“It’s an otter, right?”
“Yup.”
I follow her down the steps. “You all just really like otters?”
“There is actually more of a reason than that,” she says. “I know you’re from Autre, and over there, they think they are the ones who are otter crazy with the animal park and everything. But we claimed otters as our obsession a long time ago.”
I chuckle. The animal park in Autre is something.
It started as a petting zoo. Actually, from what I hear, it started with just a couple of otters who adopted the Landry family when they were only running the swamp boat tour company.
But it slowly grew into a petting zoo, then into an animal park, and is now a full-fledged animal sanctuary for several endangered species.
There are giraffes and penguins on the bayou because of the Landrys and Autre, Louisiana.
I’m not kidding.
“So what’s the story there? Why otters? Like to the extent that you put up statues?” I asked.
She opens her mouth, then shuts it and shakes her head. “Honestly, that’s probably a story for another time.”
I laugh. “Fine. Just get it in your head that you and I are taking that little otter trophy home. All in.” I hold up my closed fist.
She gives me a fist bump and laughs. “I’m ready.”
I love her laugh. I love that she’s doing this. I love how this entire thing has transpired.
I said all in, and I mean it.
I haven’t been all in on something since I packed my car one Saturday at eleven p.m., kissed my mom’s cheek, and headed for Louisiana with no warning to Sierra…or anyone else.
That was two years and a whole new life ago.
But it’s me. It’s how I do things. I’ve tried to be more level-headed, contain my spontaneous urges, and not just jump in with two feet and a wish.
Fuck that. That hasn’t worked out for me so well, so I’m back to all in.
I don’t know if Thea Chabert is really ready for my all-in.
But I have a whole weekend to get her there.