The storefront for Marcia’s little tourist office is closed, the place darker than I’ve ever seen it. Curious and worried, I head over to River’s coffee shop. A few people are standingaround waiting for their drinks, so I head toward the back to wait for River to have a moment to speak. He spots me and waves, nodding in understanding.
Once the store is empty, he wanders over with a cup of coffee that he hands off to me. I take it with a grateful smile, then dive in about Marcia.
“Marcia all right?”
“She fell and broke her hip. She forgets she’s almost ninety, and so does the rest of the town.”
“Oh no. Is she okay?”
River shrugs. “Her kids are with her, but that’s all I know. I don’t think she’ll be able to handle the lantern festival this year.”
“I can help.”
River squints at me. “Can you?”
“Well, as you’ve pointed out, I have nothing else to do.”
“Haha.”
“Seriously.”
River rubs his forehead. “I’ve helped in years past. I think the whole town needs to pitch in on this one if they don’t want it canceled. I think most of it is done, it’ll just be the day before and the day of that will need a lot of help.”
“Well, whatever I can do.”
“Tucker can help more too. We used to be the unofficial mascots of it when we were teens. Mostly Tucker, since the whole wish thing was his idea.”
“Wish thing?” I ask before taking a sip of my coffee to hide my blatant curiosity.
River grins widely, a million memories sparkling in his gaze. “It used to just be the lanterns, but then as a kid, Tucker said everyone should write wishes on them before they were released. Now we have themake a wish on the lanternmomentbefore release. I’m the reason the lanterns are expensive eco-friendly ones we source from Canada. They basically melt in the water so that no wildlife is hurt.”
“My agent was asking about that. Optics and all.”
River nods in understanding. “Oh, I’m sure. I’ll probably call a meeting this weekend to get all our ducks in a row since the festival needs so much work still. Hopefully we don’t have to cancel for a stray hurricane like we had to when we were kids.”
I knock on the counter with a rueful smile. “Don’t invite it into the universe.”
“I forgot you sports dudes are all superstitious,” River says with a hard roll of his eyes.
“Sports dudes.”
“Sports dudes,” River repeats, turning his head to hide his wicked grin. “How are lessons going with Tuck?”
“Good. He’s quiet.”
River snorts in disbelief and moves back behind the counter as a new patron comes in. I watch as he makes the coffee, handing it off with a smile and wave. I lift my coffee to the person when they recognize me, but gratefully there’s no question for pictures, as most of the townsfolk got that out of their system my first few weeks here.
“Is Tucker not a quiet person?”
“Not really, not once you know him. He’s shy around you.”
“Because I’m famous?”
“Because you’rehot, and he has issues,” River points out. He seems to rethink what he said, biting his lip, toying with it, then quickly letting it go. “Pretend I didn’t say that. It’s not very best friendly of me.”
“He thinks I’m hot?”
“Everyone thinks you’re hot, Charles.” He waves his hand up and down my body with a smirk. “Look at you.”
