Chapter 38
Theo
As I hop out of my truck, Maddox opens one of the crates in the back and helps a puppy down from the tailgate. “Good morning, little lady,” he says, petting the top of her head. The young husky mix’s tail whips excitedly. “Ready to find a home today?”
True to the plan, Maddox and I, along with the rest of the fire crew, are dressed in bunker pants, suspenders, and tight black shirts. We’re definitely playing up the image, but with the crowd already gathered around our adoption area, I’d say it’s working.
Maddox hands the leash off to Margo, one of our other firefighters, then moves to the next animal.
We had a couple of volunteers drop out at the last minute, leaving at least fifteen animals that needed transportation from local rescues.
It took quite a bit of coordinating with vehicles and crates, but with the added help from the fire department, I think we’ve made it work.
A chorus of yips and barks greets me as I walk past the dogs and carry a small crate toward the banner that reads CATS AND KITTENS, decorated with paw prints.
“This gal’s a little nervous.” I hand the crate to a volunteer from our local shelter. The tabby cat’s amber eyes peer at me from the back corner of the enclosure. “We’re going to find you a good home. Don’t you worry,” I promise before hurrying back to my truck to move it out of the way.
The roads nearby are closed for the parade, and an unbelievable number of people have already gathered downtown.
It takes a bit of help from the police department to thread my truck through the crowd, but once I finally get to a parking spot, I jog back the way I came, hoping I have enough time to catch the parade.
Maddox and Vivian’s boys will be walking with their preschool, and it’s bound to be adorably chaotic.
Weaving my way to Main Street, I curve around the taco truck and the stage that’s been set up on the south side of the square, where a local band is plugging in their sound equipment.
There are booths with small business vendors, and Coffee Cottage has a line out the door.
Almost all the tables and chairs Garrett set up are full of people, eating and visiting and sipping coffee, and children are chasing one another through the playground.
Laughter and chatter are echoing all around me.
I’ve never seen this many people gathered for the Thimbleberry parade. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance we can actually pull off our adoption goals.
The urge to search for Fable in every face in the crowd is overwhelming.
I keep hoping I’ll catch a glimpse of her blond hair or hear her laughter over the roar of voices.
Her Bronco was back in front of the A-frame when I ran down her street yesterday morning, and I had the tiniest bit of hope she might get a hold of me.
No luck, though. I’m starting to worry about what that means for us.
“Hey, you!” calls a voice to my left. I turn to find Philip Fucking Anderson beside the puppy corral, waving me over. He’s in a long-sleeve button-down, slacks, and a tie, which looks terribly out of place on a warm spring day at a parade.
Of course he wouldn’t recognize me. We went to the same small-town high school for three years and had at least five classes together during that time. But, sure, call me you instead of my actual name.
“Do you have any purebred dogs?” he asks as I step closer. “I want to get my wife a wedding gift, but these are all . . .” He sneers down at the gaggle of puppies. “They’re not what we’re looking for.”
I have the sudden desire to knock the back of his knees and send him tumbling down. As we learned at the Branch, he looks great sprawled out on the ground.
Clearing my throat, I put as much disdain into my grin as I can.
“See, the whole point of this adoption event is that we’re trying to find homes for rescues—animals who’ve been in shelters for various reasons.
If you’re looking for a purebred dog, this isn’t the event for you.
” I’m actually pretty proud of myself for how calmly I said all that.
But his displeased grunt ratchets up my annoyance again. “Seems dumb. You might actually make decent money if you had something more valuable out here.”
I’m too stunned to speak. My molars grind together. What the fuck is this guy’s problem?
As I look around for someone—anyone—to save me from this conversation, a flash of honey-blond hair catches at the corner of my eye.
My heart trips over a beat as I turn, then it picks back up at four times the speed.
The sight of Fable sucks all the oxygen from my system.
She’s glowing in the sunshine—her hair wrapped in those two adorable buns I’ve become obsessed with and a crown of thimbleberry flowers atop her head.
She’s wearing a tank top with an open, flowy shirt over it and fraying denim shorts with tiny flowers embroidered on them that show off her gorgeous legs, tipped in her black Converse sneakers.
There’s a smile flirting with her pretty pink lips.
That tattoo is peeking out at her collarbone, begging me to drag my lips there, and my freckle is on display, like a secret message just for me.
She looks like springtime and home and forever. So beautiful my heart aches.
When my eyes meet hers, her expression turns desperate, and she breaks into a run.
In real time, it’s only a few seconds, but I watch it in slow motion.
The loose shirt dances in the air behind her, her smile beams brighter, and her eyes get glassier, until her feet leave the ground, and she leaps into my arms.
I can finally breathe again when her legs circle my waist, her arms around my neck. She fits perfectly right there against me, held so tightly we might never let go. She smells incredible—like flowers and bare skin and everything I’ve missed.
“Theo,” she whispers, nuzzling into my throat.
“Fable,” I whisper back, squeezing my eyes shut to ignore every other person around us. The noise of the festival fades away until all I can hear is her soft breath.
Her fingers tuck into the hair at the nape of my neck. “I’m so sorry,” she murmurs. “I regretted it as soon as I said it.” She pulls back, blinking away tears as she cups my face. “That wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t have thrown that at you. I’m sorry.”
A sigh of relief gusts out. “I’m sorry too.”
She presses her thumbs to my lips. “No apologies from you. You’ve already done that, and you’re not going to keep doing it.”
I nod, grinning behind her fingers.
She buries her face in my neck again and breathes me in. “I missed you.”
I tighten my grip. “Not nearly as much as I missed you.”
A throat clears beside us. “Fable?” Philip’s grating voice filters back in.
Huh. Forgot that guy existed.
Fable looks his way but doesn’t try to lower herself from my arms. Thank goodness. “Oh, I didn’t see you there,” she says airily.
He glances back and forth between us, still not appearing to recognize me. “It’s been a while.”
“Not that long.” Fable tilts her head. “Last month, you ran into me at the Branch. Remember when you fell?”
His brows dip. “That was you?”
Fable just nods, her jaw tightening.
“Oh.”
“Oh?” I blurt. “That’s it?” Still no apology from this asshole.
He’d look really good with a black eye and a busted nose.
Fable distracts me by slipping her nails over the back of my neck. I have to swallow down a hum of pleasure. “Luckily, though, Theo was there to catch me.”
My name must trigger his memory. Recognition alights in his eyes. “Oh, Theo. We went to school together,” he comments like I’m the one who needed the reminder.
We both give him a blank stare, which seems to make him fidget. Good. I hope he feels so uncomfortable he leaves this conversation. This town. The whole state.
“Looking for a dog?” Fable asks.
He glances back at the corral of puppies. “There isn’t a great selection here,” he remarks, and I swear a few of the dogs pause their playing to glare at him. “I was hoping to find something with better breeding and—”
Fable cuts him off with a short, sarcastic laugh. “God, you really are a snob.”
“Aunt Fable!” shouts a little voice as Eloise comes into view beside us. She has a giant bright-blue ice cream cone—which is quite a treat for ten in the morning—and a matching blue stain around her lips.
Fable drops to the ground and kisses the top of her niece’s head. “Hey there.”
Behind them, the rest of the family waits at the edge of the crowd. Avery has a pink ice cream cone, Tessa and Millie are telling secrets behind their coffee cups, and Mary has her phone out, pointed in our direction. Beside her, my mom waves and Dave dips his chin in greeting, a smile in his eyes.
“What’s a snob?” Eloise asks.
Fable scrunches her nose. “Oh, just someone who thinks they’re better than everyone else.”
Eloise peers up at Philip, looking just shy of predatory. Her cunning gaze sweeps over him from head to toe, then, with a tiny smirk, she lifts her ice cream. She takes one huge bite from the top before unceremoniously dropping the entire thing.
Or maybe she tosses it? I can’t be sure.
But we all watch with wide eyes as a mound of bright-blue ice cream plops onto Philip’s leather shoes. For a moment, none of us react, we’re all frozen in place.
“Oops,” Eloise says, her mouth so full I almost can’t tell what she said.
Philip lets out the most childish whine I’ve ever heard. “Are you kidding? These are expensive!” He jumps back, trying to kick the ice cream off his shoes.
Millie and Finn are there in a heartbeat, apologizing and herding Eloise away, but judging by the smug grin on her face, I’d say that went exactly how she intended.
That little troublemaker sacrificed her ice cream for that stunt. I’d better go buy her a new one.
A burst of cheering sounds from Main Street, and Fable slips her hand in mine. “The parade is starting. Let’s go.” She tugs me in that direction, leaving a pissed, cursing Philip in our dust.
We manage to wedge ourselves into a spot in front of the hardware store with a perfect view of the parade. I keep Fable pressed to the front of my body, my arms around her the entire time, unable to let her go.
As expected, the preschool walk is adorable. All the kids carry their favorite stuffed animal and Maddox and Vivian’s son Carter needs an entire wagon for his. There are homemade floats, a group of children with colorful flower crowns, and a bike procession from a local nature club.
And as the high school athletics teams go by, I pull Fable closer, savoring how far we’ve come since that day. How much life has taken us on a meandering, winding path to bring us right back here. Together.
When the parade is nearly over, she curls her hand around my wrist and pulls me to follow her. “Come on. I need to show you something before the adopt-a-thon starts.”
And I let her lead me through the crowd, because I’d follow her anywhere.