She held out her hand and didn’t pull back when I hesitated. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out slowly. A gay man handing over his phone to somebody ranked high on the scale of trust. “Careful what you click. Some things you can’t unsee.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Considering we have the same taste in men, I’m tempted.”
Poking at the phone, I leaned forward to steal a peek. She pulled back, hiding the screen as she typed away. I waited patiently as she paused. Her lips pursed as she pondered what to type next. When her eyes went wide, she typed furiously. It ended with a familiar swoosh of a text message being sent.
“There you go.”
She spun the phone around and handed it back to me. I was almost terrified to see what she had sent.
Jason: Simon, your extremely talented, thoughtful, AND beautiful ex-wife says we have things to talk about. Would you do me the honor of getting cupcakes?
“Cupcakes?” Even the mention of the word sent me back to elementary school. I could hear Bonny laughing. Istill couldn’t think about the baked goods without hearing her cackle.
“Sweet, and the perfect bite. Trust me, there’s no way he says no to that.”
Lucy got off the couch, pulling the hoodie over her head. I had considered tonight a loss, and a waterlogged precursor to the convention. Never in a million years did I think I’d be having a heart-to-heart with Simon’s ex-wife. In no universe did I foresee her encouraging me to date Simon.
“I’m rooting for you, Jason. Outside of the kitchen, I haven’t seen his face light up like this in years.”
I stood, and she gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek. A minute later, she was out the door, dashing across my yard to her car. Despite the downpour, I had a ray of sunshine to look forward to. Tomorrow might be a complete disaster, but I was going to face it with my head held high. Right now, not even Mother Nature could spoil my mood.
RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY
I woke, hoping the storm had passed. It had not.
Pulling my jacket tight, I stood on the porch, trying to fathom how any good would come out of this day. Part of me wished Amanda hadn’t posted about the convention on social media. Then the reporter wouldn’t have shown up. At least then, I could blame myself for its failure. How could I berate a storm cloud?
“Stupid rain.” Nope, it didn’t have the same effect.
I checked my phone again to see if any more texts had come in. Amanda had left a cryptic message about being queen of the universe, but that was nothing new. I had hoped Simon had responded to Lucy’s text. Lying in bed last night, I couldn’t help but laugh at the woman’s tenacity. I also couldn’t ignore how much I beat myself up over something that could have been solved with an open andhonest conversation. Mom would be saying, “I told you so,” for weeks.
I threw my backpack, filled with dry clothes, over my shoulder. At least if I was going to be at work, I’d be comfortable. With a final deep breath, I darted off the porch. I flung open the truck door and dove in, drenched despite the running. Popping the clutch and pressing down on the gas, I pulled out of the driveway and headed toward my fate.
It hadn’t gotten much better than last night. At least now, the downpour came in waves. It’d let up just enough that I needed to turn down the windshield wipers and then speed them up again. The first person who said, “We needed the rain,” would feel my wrath. By now, the green would be closer to quicksand than grass. We’d be better off getting cafeteria trays and turning it into a slip-and-slide.
“What is going on?”
A row of orange and white barrels blocked off the road. The tiny lights on top flashed, arrowing, signaling to turn down a side road. We hadn’t called the Department of Transportation for the convention, had we? It might have been something Amanda undertook to help take the pressure off. Though, I couldn’t figure out why they’d be forcing me to drive along the green instead of blocking it off.
“Something’s not right.”
I crawled along the street to the north side of the green. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a couple walking withumbrellas. They could have been anybody from Firefly except for the capes fluttering into the rain. I expected to see some brave convention goers but to see a couple dressed up, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Maybe this won’t be so bad.”
The green was lined with cars, more than our best Saturday. It was as if the entire town had come out for the convention. For all the vehicles lining both sides of the street, I couldn’t find their drivers. There must have been hundreds of cars, but… I spotted a license plate.
“New Hampshire?” Then another, and more than a few from Massachusetts. It was one thing for the locals to get rained out, but driving six hours to find out the event had been canceled? I couldn’t imagine their disappointed faces. Wait. I didn’t have to imagine them because there were none to be found.
“It’s aliens. It’s always aliens,” I muttered.
I was halfway down the green when a couple of teenagers darted across the road with their jackets pulled over their heads. I slammed the brakes. They had dashed out of Twice-Told Tales and ran toward the mill. I had my fingers crossed Amanda had opened the store early.
“No.”
I gasped.
Another gasp, this time with a shiver down my spine.
