“Hands off, mister. That’s all mine.”
I saddled up next to Jason as he flipped through the pages. Amanda squealed each time we moved to the next month. When we stared at Logan Senior, all three of us let out a low whistle. Our Mr. November had a silver platter with a roasted turkey, which might be disturbing enough on its own. But the way he stared into the camera, holding the baster, I couldn’t tell if it was threatening or hot.
“He puts the hard in hardware,” Amanda said.
“There’s a pipe-cleaning joke in there,” Jason said.
Jason flipped between November and January. Logan Junior, it seemed, inherited his father’s… genes. “There are going to be some crazy fantasies after this,” Jason said.
“The notes are a nice touch, Jon.” I had stared at the photos plenty long enough as I designed the calendar. Underneath each of the photos, I included someinterestingfacts about the men. Maybe not so much a fact, but more like suggestive fantasies.
“Does Simon really cook in the buff?”
We both turned to Amanda. “Yes.”
Jason shot me a quick side-eye.
“Look, I was just returning the pie tin. Not my fault he answered in nothing but an apron.” We were far too familiar with one another. That now extended to significant others. Simon always seemed to pop into our stories, even before he came to Firefly. Our trio might betoofriendly at times, but we didn’t exclude, and Jason’s boyfriend had learned to roll with our antics.
“You two keep gawking. I need to check something.”
Jason handed the calendar to me as he went behind the counter. While he clicked away at the computer, I hesitated flipping.
“Just do it,” Amanda said. “I know you’re dying to get an eye full.”
While I put the calendar together, I had spent a good long time admiring Tyler. Unfortunately, the picture of him with puppies hadn’t made the cut. They had brought in a desk from Twice-Told Tales and covered it in old books. While we might have scored points with the adorable pups, I liked seeing him in his element. Bonus points for the nudity.
When I turned to him, Amanda gave me an elbow to the ribs. “I hope you carry lube for that.”
He had a book open in one hand and a pair of glasses in the other, the end tugging at his bottom lip with a seductive expression. Tyler looked incredible. The photos with the puppies had been saved for my personal files. He had blushed when he first got on stage, but when he picked up the book, he tried to tell everybody that he had a firstedition ofMobyDickin hand. Even while naked, he spread his love of literature. It made our embarrassment worth it. If we could help support the library, I’d suffer an entire town giving me awkward glances.
“Holy shit,” Jason said.
His eyes were wide, and he had his hand covering his mouth. He flagged us over. I stepped over a stack of comics and around a box of action figures. When I spotted the screen, I recognized the webpage Amanda created for the calendar. She had done a great job?—
“What the hell?” At the bottom, in big, bold numbers, the total number of calendars sold. “That can’t be right. Is that a decimal or a comma?”
The squeal started in Amanda’s belly. As it climbed, so did her pitch. By the time she opened her mouth, she was just shy of screaming in my ear. Then the jumping up and down started.
“I did it! I did it!” She stopped, seeing Jason and I giving her a dirty look. Nope, it wouldn’t deter her. She continued hopping about. “We did it! We did it!”
11,872.
I knew there were profit margins and operation costs. I had no idea what it meant for a final dollar amount. It didn’t matter; 11,872 people had taken up our cause. Whether they wanted naked men on their fridge or they wanted to save the library, they had bought into our small-town antics.
“I don’t?—”
Jason refreshed the screen. 11,874.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Had we saved the library? We proved Firefly could weather any storm. When one of us was in trouble, the entire town came?—
Us.
I couldn’t help but smile. The feeling could have been the excitement of seeing the sales or Amanda cheering like a fan at a basketball game. Did it matter? My biggest hindrance since coming here was the idea it served as a temporary home and in a few weeks, I’d be back in Portland. I fought tooth and nail to prevent Firefly from getting its hooks in me. I needed to figure out what kept me from running to Firefly with open arms.
“We did it!” I clapped while jumping up and down. “I can’t believe we did it!”
11,877.
