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Chapter Forty ~ Zoey
When Gabe asked if I wanted to get out and explore downtown Cherry Springs, I’d jumped at the chance. Not just because his mom had freaked me out, although she did, but because I wanted to see the place he’d been telling me about, the place where he’d grown up.
That’s why we were walking hand in hand down Main Street, my head swiveling as I tried to take it all in.
Seriously quaint, the street was lined with colorful awnings and pretty, old-school signage. There was even a town square with a gazebo, and a small pond with benches looking over the water.
As I took it all in I squealed, “Oh! This looks just like the town in Gilmore Girls.”
Gabe’s head turned to me, confusion on his face.
“What?”
“You know,” I urged with a hand squeeze. “Rory and Lorelei …single mom who works in an inn while raising her super-smart teenaged daughter.”
“No,” Gabe answered emphatically. “That sounds like something I would never want to watch.”
I laughed at his dry tone.
“Well, the town they live in looks just like this one. And they have festivals for everything. Does Cherry Springs have festivals?”
Gabe’s lips twitched and he replied, “I wouldn’t say we have festivals for everything, but we do have parades and fairs to celebrate holidays. The Fourth of July, Halloween, Easter … you get the idea.”
Excited at the prospect of going to a festival like that, something I’d never done, had me hopping next to him.
“Oh, can we go to one?”
Gabe chuckled at my exuberance and said, “Yeah, babe, we can go to one.”
“Awesome! Do they have barn dances?”
“What?”
“You know, a barn decorated with twinkling lights, bales of hay set up as seats, a bluegrass band playing … maybe a banjo?”
“Uh, no … No barn dances.”
“Oh, that’s kind of disappointing.”
Gabe tugged lightly on my hand and we started walking again. He pointed out Reardon’s office, the General Store, and his parents’ bar.
“With the bar, the law office, and the sporting goods store, Cherry Springs has a lot of businesses with Lewis in the title.”
“Yes.”
“Do you guys, like, run the town?”
“What, like the mob?”
That made me giggle.
“No, I just mean, when people hear your name, they know who you guys are. You’re kind of a big deal here.”
Gabe shrugged, and I could tell I’d embarrassed him, so I couldn’t help teasing him some more.
“Maybe they’ll rename the town. You know, like Lewis Town, or Lewis Springs … oh, or, Cherry Lewis. You know, like Jerry Lewis, but with Cherry.”
It started with a sharp belly laugh, then Gabe’s face lit up and he started really letting go.
