“Good,” Bobby said, “because I already had two hundred of these printed. Guess I should have checked them first!”
I was just debating whether I’d regret asking what Goose Pride involved when Cash arrived. He stopped short when he saw Lucille but gave Bobby a cautious smile.
“Afternoon, Cash,” Bobby said. He held up the poster like a little kid holding up their schoolwork. “You like it?”
Cash’s gaze flitted from the poster to Bobby, and then he raised his eyebrows and pointed to a pin attached to Bobby’s overalls strap. His throat worked for a moment and then he whispered, “New?”
Bobby beamed, and I couldn’t tell if it was because Cash had noticed his new pin or because he’d spoken to him. I suspected it was a little of both—Cash was still quiet around most people. “You like it?” He hooked a thumb behind the pin and held it out from his chest, and I took a closer look.
It was a goose carrying a rainbow flag.
Huh.
Cash nodded, then looked at the poster again and raised his eyebrows in a silent query.
I took the opportunity to shove the goose back toward Bobby. He took her, smoothing her ruffled feathers. “Well, I’ve been reading about small town festivals. Did you know there’s placeswithpicklefestivals? Anyway, they bring in a whole lot of tourist dollars, and the good lord knows we could use some of those. And I got to thinking that this town should have a festival of its own. Except we don’t make pickles, and I don’t think the Adventurama’s quite enough on its own to bring the people in. Then last week I was over in South Hill and I found this cute little button, and it all came together. The next morning I woke up and said to myself, ‘Everybody loves geese, right?’ And we want a festival where everyone’s welcome and we wanna make it inclusive. So I came up with Goose Pride!” Bobby said, grinning proudly. He looked at me expectantly.
Kayla leapt in before I could say something stupid like,why?“Sounds peachy, Bobby. What sort of things are you planning?”
Bobby stroked his chin. “Well, I thought we’d hold it over two days. We’ll put up rainbow decorations all down Main Street, and we’ll hold it in the park. There’ll be market stalls and carnival games and face painting and the like for the kiddies. I’ll get Lee to make rainbow cakes and special desserts. And at night we’ll have a band. People will come from miles away to see it, just you wait!”
“Sounds great,” I said weakly.
“Thanks! I’ll leave you this for your notice board,” Bobby said, slapping a hand against the poster. And then he left with a hissing Lucille tucked firmly under his arm.
I watched him climb into his battered old truck and said, “It’s going to be a disaster, isn’t it?”
But Kayla, sounding almost fond, said, “You never know. Bobby’s full of surprises.”
Cash hummed in agreement and waggled his hand back and forth.
I hadn’t lived here long enough to know if they were right or not. On the one hand, itsoundedlike a solid concept. But on theother hand, I had my doubts about the organizational abilities of a man who couldn’t keep his own goose leashed.
It was only when I was pinning the poster to the board that I looked at the festival dates and realized I’d be long gone by then anyway. Back in Cincinnati living in my nice, quiet apartment, working at a practice with electronic recordkeeping and a laundry service. There wouldn’t be any breathing space between appointments at work, or time to cuddle with kittens, or people dropping by with cakes and cookies. But, on the plus side, there would also be no clients turning up on my doorstep in the middle of the night, no door on the treatment room that stuck closed unless you hit it just right, and no feral geese.
I told myself I wouldn’t miss any of those things and wondered why that felt like a lie.
CHAPTER 14
CASH
Igot a text from Chase on Sunday morning.
Are you coming for spaghetti night tonight?
Chase didn’t usually do the passive-aggressive thing. He liked to keep it simple by sticking with aggressive-aggressive. But maybe I wasn’t the only one of us growing and learning new things about myself.
I finished loading the dishwasher, wrote Mason a note because he was still in bed, then clipped a leash to Dog’s collar and took him for a walk to Main Street. Main Street was pretty quiet at this hour on a Sunday. The only places doing business were Gobble de Goose and, a block or so down, the church, and I bet that Gobble de Goose’s customers were a lot happier.
I tied Dog’s leash around the end of the newly installed bench outside Gobble de Goose and crossed the sidewalk to the entrance. The bells on the door jingled when I opened it.
Tyler, Gobble de Goose’s second baker, was serving behind the counter. He looked up when I stepped inside. “I thought you were—” And then he realized. “Cash, right?”
I nodded and lifted my hand in a wave.
“Chase!” Tyler yelled. “Your brother’s here!”
Chase came striding out from the back, tying his apron on. He glared at Tyler, glared at me, and then glared at the display case for a moment before grabbing a pair of tongs and shoving something in a paper bag. Then he came around the counter, held the paper bag out to me, and announced, “I’m taking five.”
