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“I’m glad you didn’t know. I was a nervous, closeted wreck back then.”
“And now look at you,” he said, standing up straight again and smoothing out his blue long-sleeved shirt. “Taking me out on the town.”
I threw my legs over the side of the bed, getting up. “Which we’re already late for,” I told him. “Let’s go.”
“Or we could stay home and figure out how many different patterns I can lick on your cock?” he offered.
“Yes. God yes. Later, though.”
“Fine,” he said, smacking my ass as I headed out of his room. “Spring Festival first. Experimentation later.”
We got into my truck and I drove us down to the Jade River town center.
Here goes nothing, I thought, tapping my thumbs on the steering wheel as I drove.
It was early evening, with the sun just starting to inch toward the horizon. Six little blocks downtown were closed to traffic and fully dedicated to the festival—the town always had one big festival in spring and another one in fall, with other, smaller events throughout the rest of the year.
After parking my truck, we walked over toward the narrow town center streets. The trees that lined the streets were in bloom, some of them with little white and pink flowers and others with tiny green budding leaves.
“These are new,” Rush said, looking at all of the paper lanterns hanging from many of the trees.
“The kids at the elementary school make those,” I said, looking around at all the little multicolor lanterns above the string lights that always wrapped around the tree trunks in town. “Wait until the sun goes down. They put fake little glowing candles in them and it looks badass.”
We turned the corner onto Spruce Street and saw the crowds beginning to form under the archway. From here, I could see the Fixer Brothers offices down the street, and Jade Brewery across from it, one of the bigger buildings even though it looked like a giant wooden cabin.
“Okay, the Spring Festival has definitely gotten better since we were kids,” Rush said. “Holy shit. That is a lot of food trucks.”
“They come up from Denver and Boulder,” I said. As far as we could see, the street was lined on either side with unique food trucks. “When we were kids it was basically a lemonade stand, funnel cake, and hot dogs if we were lucky.”
“Exactly.”
“Is that Rush and Shawn?” I heard a voice from behind us.
My heart rate kicked up a little as I turned and saw Mom and Dad. Tristan, Jack, and Lindsay were just a little bit behind them.
“Hey, party people,” my dad said as he came and gave us hugs.
“Where’s Nathan?” I asked them.
“He’s here somewhere. Said he had to go pick up your friend Charlie,” Mom said. “You two look cute. Love those jeans, Rush.”
I gave him a quick glance and raised an eyebrow as if to say see?
It was moments like these where I wished I could telepathically communicate with him. What I really wanted to say was you big fucking dummy, I told you that you look good in every single item of clothing.
“I think I’m starting at the beer tent first,” Dad said after we walked under the archway.
“Why the hell doesn’t Jade Brewery have a tent here?” Rush asked.
“I think your dad wanted people to come to his brewery, rather than him coming to them,” I told him.
“Hell, no,” Rush said. “I want to entice people with a beer here, make them fall in love with it, and then they’ll come to the brewery afterward. I’m going to talk to the planning committee about having a tent here next year. Maybe you guys could help me do a cool, stained-wood, DIY build for it, too.”
My heart soared hearing him say that.
Next year.
Rush wouldn’t be saying things like that if he still planned to sell off his house and the brewery. He really wanted to be here. And he wanted to be working with our company.
“And that’s why you’re so successful,” Dad told Rush. “You’ve got the instincts for business.”
“Honey, guess what,” Mom said to me, leaning in a little as we walked past a ridiculously good-smelling doughnut truck. “I heard they have a little speed dating tent here this year. Martha was telling me her son is back in town, and he’s going. He’s gay, by the way. Did you know that?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, holding back a groan. “Speed dating, huh?”
She gave me a little squeeze on the arm. “I’m just saying. Couldn’t hurt, right?”
I cleared my throat. “Actually, Mom, we have some news—”
“Ayo!” Nathan’s voice came from just ahead of us. He had his camera around his neck and each of his wrists were covered in stacks of glowstick necklaces. Maddy was beside him, and I could tell that Nathan wasn’t just in Dad Mode—he was in Fun Dad mode, especially because his daughter was here.
