“Neither of you is dressed for the honkytonk orchestraorline dancing,” I point out. “Though you do look nice.”
“Yeah, is that a new shirt?” Andi chimes in, and Reid shoves his hands in his pockets.
“Um. Yeah.”
“It looks good on you.”
“Thanks.”
“Okay, great!” Andi says, as if something’s been decided. “Let’s go!”
“To the country western bar with the honkytonk band,” I say, knowing full well that something else is going on here.
“Yeehaw,” Reid says, and Andi grabs my wrist. I let her pull me along. It’s what I do.
* * *
Shockingly,we don’t go to what I’m sure is a standout performance by Dwayne Wayne’s Honkytonk Orchestra. Instead Andi drives us out of town while singing along to Taylor Swift, and once we’re past Sprucevale limits, it takes me about five seconds to figure out where we’re going.
“I don’t think there’sanyhonkytonk here,” I complain as she parks in the lot for Loveless Brewing.
“It could probably be arranged,” she says, and she’s smiling so wide and bright that I can’t imagine someone not giving her what she wanted. “C’mon.”
I admit, my mind goes right to worst-case scenarios. Andi’s cooked up some harebrained scheme to reconnect me with my parents, with Matt, or Beth, or my other siblings who took their side. She’s arranged an intervention. I’m going to get inside and discover this is all an elaborate ruse to get me to buy a timeshare in the Catskills.
Or, the worst because it’s the most likely: it’s a surprise party with all the trappings. It’s not even my birthday.
“It’s not my birthday,” I point out when we reach the doors, and Andi gives me a confused frown.
“I know?” she says, and then pulls me in.
It looks like every other Saturday night at Loveless Brewing, and I let out a secret sigh of relief at the lack of confetti and balloons and people shouting my name. Andi pulls me to one side of the big, high-ceilinged room, looking pleased with herself, and after a moment I see why: sitting there is Silas and Kat and Javier and Wyatt and Lainey and Sadie and James and Ariel and her boyfriend and my sister Hannah.
“Surprise,” Silas says, then stands and comes over to give me a hug. “What are you drinking?”
* * *
“You’ve got Mothman and Bigfoot,”Sadie is saying thoughtfully, her chin resting on one hand. She’s halfway through her second beer and taking this very, very seriously. “You know about Deepwood Dave?”
“Of course,” Javier says.
“I can’t believe they named a monsterDave,” I tell them.
“I like it. Approachable,” says Sadie.
I sigh deeply. “Monsters shouldn’t be approachable,” I remind her. “They’re monsters. Please don’t approach them, for the love of God. Don’t approach any wild animals.”
Sadie narrows her eyes and takes another sip.
“Not that they’re real,” I say, belatedly, but the two of them already look far too amused. “I’m just saying, if you see something monstrous, don’t approach it.”
“Maybe you should look into the vaults at Forest Service HQ,” Sadie tells Javier. “Sounds like they’re hiding some cool shit.”
“We don’t have vaults,” I say, which may or may not be true.
“That’s what I’d say if I had vaults,” Javier says.
“Hmm,” Sadie intones seriously. Then she snaps her fingers and sits up straight. “Hodags! Do you know about those?”
