Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Noah dropped a tray of iced coffees in the middle of the long outdoor table.
“Are you dying?” Will’s brow was furrowed against the strong morning sun. “Because I can’t imagine why else you would’ve called us to meet at eight a.m. on a Wednesday.”
Lyra backhanded Will in the shoulder. “You can’t just ask people if they’re dying. Noah, what are we doing here?”
Noah looked down the long table at his friends. They had all showed up and even rearranged their schedules without question. “I need your help.”
Andi sat up and looked at him with concern. “You’ve never asked for help before.”
“And I wouldn’t unless I had no other choice. The sanctuary failed an inspection. If we don’t replace all of our fences in the next thirty days, we’re going to get shut down.”
Lyra gasped.
“We met with the bank yesterday, but they won’t give us the money for repairs. I need your help to think of how I can raise this money. And fast.”
“How many kidneys do you have?” Andi eyed him.
“Oh.” Will slapped the table, rattling the iced coffees. “My Fourth of July party.”
Noah stared at him. “What about it?”
Will’s family had always thrown the biggest Fourth of July party in town. Food, fireworks, and enough Jell-O shots to incapacitate the entire town.
“We make it twice as big. And we charge an entrance fee,” Will said triumphantly like he had just single-handedly solved everything.
Noah shook his head. “I don’t think that’ll be enough. We need close to fifty thousand dollars.”
“Okay,” Lyra said. “So what if we add more stuff to the party? A silent auction, maybe? Carnival games and inflatables for kids? Oh, or a crab feast. Will, can your dad invite all his rich friends?”
“They’re already invited. Maybe Cassie can invite her new horse patrons. Where is Cassie, anyway?”
“Busy with the clinic,” Noah said gruffly.
Lyra narrowed her eyes. Her bullshit detector had always been finely tuned. “I’ll be right back.”
She went into the café and reappeared with a notebook a minute later. “Let’s divide up responsibilities,” she said, immediately taking charge. “I’ll be on food. Andi, do you want auction donations or inflatables?”
“Donations. There’s a couple business owners out there who owe me.”
“Great. Will, that leaves you to source some carnival games and inflatables and anything else you think might draw a crowd.”
“We’re gonna have to get another bartender,” Will mused.
“What do I do?” Noah asked.
“You worry about the sanctuary. Focus on sourcing the fence material or finding a contractor or however that works,” Lyra said with a wave of her hand. “You’ll need someone ready to go when we get the money together.”
“You’re optimistic,” he said.
Andi scoffed. “I eliminated a tree of heaven infestation on the farm last year without losing any crops. This is nothing. We’re gonna raise your money, so relax.”
She jumped up and plucked her iced coffee from the table. “Gotta get going if I’m gonna shake down the jeweler for a gift certificate. Meet tomorrow to touch base?” she said to her sister, who nodded.
Lyra grabbed her notebook and went back into the café, leaving Will and Noah behind.
“Are you okay? Seriously,” Will said. His usual joking energy had slipped away, leaving true concern in its place.
“I’m fine,” Noah said defensively.
“You seem grumpier than usual. Is it just the time of year?”
Noah set his jaw. In just a few days, Bobby’d been gone for three years. “It’s definitely not helping.”
“Does this have anything to do with Cassie?” Will asked.
“No,” he said, maybe too quickly.
“Okay. Great chat.” Will clapped him on the shoulder. “If you need to talk, you can call me. I know you’re going through a lot of shit. You don’t need to pretend that you’re not.”
Will walked away whistling. His words hung in Noah’s mind, but he didn’t have the time or energy to process them.
By the time he rolled into his driveway, night had fallen, and moths were pelting the solar lights that lined his walkway.
He reflexively checked Cassie’s driveway, spotting her car.
Not that it mattered if she was home or not, since he was going to be keeping his distance.
His own mother didn’t want them to be together, but not because she didn’t like Cassie.
Because she didn’t believe in him. And that stung worse than anything else.
His capacity to destroy outweighed everything. He had failed Bobby, and he would fail Cassie. Hell, he’d probably fail the sanctuary too.
Inside the house, he stared blankly at the inside of his almost empty freezer. Was Cheetos and defrosted ground beef a thing?
A flash of movement in the backyard caught his eye, but it was just Taco bounding around next door. He had fixed the fence while Cassie was gone, so unless Taco dug another hole, there weren’t even surprise visits to look forward to.
He turned away and started quick-thawing the meat, leaving the back door open to enjoy the cool night air. The beef was almost thawed when a blood-curdling scream came from next door.
Panic struck hot and fierce. He abandoned his task and stomped down the basement stairs to the gun safe. He quickly worked the dial and pulled out a shotgun.
The screaming was still coming from next door. Was that Cassie? Had someone broken in?
The gun was heavy in his hands as he jumped the fence and stalked toward the back door, searching the windows and grounds for the source of the noise.
He entered the kitchen silently, but it was empty. The sounds were coming from down the hall. He stepped over what looked like a whole cucumber with bite marks in it and entered the hallway. Heart in his throat, he hurried toward the source of the noise and kicked one of the doors open.
There was a gasp, and suddenly, he was very wet.
Cassie knelt on the bathroom floor, shower sprayer pointed at him. A very sudsy and pissed-off looking Taco was in the bathtub.
“Noah?”
Taco took advantage of the distraction and leapt over the tub wall. He shook, sending a spray of soapy water everywhere.
Cassie screeched and pointed the hose back into the bathtub.
“What the hell is going on?” Noah asked. “Someone was screaming. I thought you were being murdered.”
“That was Taco.”
“Taco?” He looked at the soapy dog who had wandered over to jump on him. “There’s no way. It was like an exorcism. Or a death metal performance.”
“You’ve never met a Shiba, have you? When they’re bathed, they scream like they’ve been told peanut butter is outlawed.”
He left the room and deposited his shotgun out of reach above the refrigerator, muttering under his breath about ridiculous screaming dogs.
“How did you get in?” she called after him.
He came back and dropped down on his knees next to her. “I jumped the fence. You left the back door hanging wide open. You have the self-preservation instincts of a fish taco.”
“Wow, thanks,” she snapped.
Together, they hoisted Taco back into the tub. He held Taco’s shoulders for a minute or so while she scrubbed every inch. Awkwardness had settled between them.
“I’m hearing around town that you’re throwing some kind of fundraiser for the sanctuary,” she finally said.
“Yep,” he said.
“And you didn’t think to tell me about it? I would’ve helped.”
“You have enough to worry about,” Noah said. “With the clinic opening next week and your…murder dog.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “I guess I’m just confused why you wanted my advice before but now you suddenly want nothing to do with me.”’
“If you wanna invite your fancy horse friends to Will’s Fourth of July thing, that’ll help,” he said, carefully avoiding the real question.
“Why did I have to find out from your mom that the sanctuary failed inspection?” she asked quietly.
“You talked to my mom?”
“Yes, because you were busy reverting to being the Mysterious Mr. GrumpAss from the Department of Emotional Withholding. I wanted to know what was going on because I care about you. And your mom. And the sanctuary,” she clarified.
“I’m just…dealing with some stuff,” he said.
She sighed and ran the sprayer over Taco, who had backed into the corner of the tub.
“What happened while I was gone?” She sounded resigned, like she was already anticipating a rejection.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I don’t buy that it’s just the fence that has you freaked out. Something changed while I was in Arizona, and you shut down on me. Did you meet someone?”
“Who am I going to meet? This town has a population of like five thousand.”
“Then what, Noah? Last week, you were laughing and playing and having sex with me on a rooftop, and now you can barely look me in the eyes.” Emotion cracked her voice.
He bit the inside of his lip, hating himself for what he was about to do. “It can’t happen again, Cassie. You were right. We need to be just neighbors. That’s all.”
Her cheeks flushed, and he couldn’t tell if it was anger or shame or despair. She probably just wanted to punch him.
“It’s nothing you did—” he started to say, but she silenced him with a look.
“If you’re about to hit me with a ‘it’s not you, it’s me,’ you can get the fuck out right now,” she said. “I mean it. Go.”
She turned away from him, and he rose to his feet. A sinking feeling overwhelmed him as he retrieved his shotgun. As he stepped onto the back porch, muffled sobs came from the open bathroom window.