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“And engage in open dialogue with Noah if you feel worried.”
“We talk a lot.”
Susan gave me an approving smile, and it made me feel so much lighter.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Noah
“Doyou know why the town is called Whisper Ridge, Dad?”
I glanced up from measuring out the rolled pastry. “Sure, something about standing-on-the-ridge and shouting your name and getting a name back.”
“Yep, Clarke told me the story and another one about that Spring Rains thing the town does.” I’d already given thought to the festival—about honoring the tradition of a Pride theme at Lily’s diner, and I was so down for that.
Fox wriggled on the stool, then sneaked another bite of the cheesecake square. I didn’t have it in me to disapprove of his snacking at the moment, not when my head was full of pastry and cakes.
“You mean the festival, right?” I still needed to work up some ideas of what I’d do for my feature food—something easy to eat, not too sticky, or flaky, but something that spoke about what I could do, about the diner… Croissants might be good, with different fillings, sweet and savory, as many colors of the rainbow as I could, but then, they might be too flaky. Only, if I got some napkins printed with the diner logo, not that we had a logo, it was just the word Lily in cursive, and maybe a rainbow design… I added that to my mental list and?—
“Dad? Are you listening?”
I snapped back into the room. “Sorry, yes. Go for it.”
“So, there was this woman, right? And she was up on the mountain in spring, and she was singing a sad song because her husband had gone away to war. I don’t know which war, but one of them. Anyway, when her voice echoed in the valley, the spirit in the mountain cried, and that is the rain that falls in spring, which is why we have the Spring Rains Festival.” He made jazz hands. “Ta da!”
“I didn’t know that.”
He rested his chin on his hands. “And there’s food and drink, and we get to play a baseball game in town.”
“Really?”
“It’s a thing. We play the Merton Vale Mooners.” He rolled his eyes. “They’re shit, though.”
“Fox!”
“Oops, sorry. They’re uhm… not good, but we get to play them in their spring thing, which isn’t half as cool as ours. They don’t have the trail, all they do is have this quiz night thing, and the game, and Mr. Sheridan said that in ten games, we’ve beaten them eight times.” He puffed up a little at that, already proud that he was part of the team, even if they hadn’t played their first game. “Maybe you could be there?” He sounded wistful.
I nodded quickly. “I’ll be there.”
“You will?”
I made a show of taking the family calendar down from the wall and pointed at the date. It was three weeks away, which meant my Pride planning needed to kick up a notch, also it was way past time to hire in some help on that temporary contract I contemplated; otherwise, I’d have to shut the diner. “See, I wrote it down.” I’d scribbled in ‘Baseball game’, and he seemed satisfied as I placed the calendar back on the hook.
“Daaddd…” Fox wheedled a little, and I waited for whatever ask he was going to make. “Can you make special Team!Rockets cupcakes for the game?”
I reached to ruffle his hair, and he went for the duck again, but I caught him in a gentle headlock and noogied him as he tried to get away. By the time the scuffle broke up, him having gotten out of my hold and hip-checked me into a wall, we were laughing so hard my sides hurt.
“Of course, I will.”
“With the logo and everything?”
“Sure.”
He bumped elbows with me, and grinned. “You’re the best, Dad.”
“I’m a cupcake enabler,” I deadpanned.
“That’s why you’re the best!” He went back to his book and his cell vibrated, and after checking it, he let out a whoop. “Can I go to Clarke’s tonight? Stay over? His mom is ordering in pizza.”
