AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Hello, River," Simon said. "Fancy meeting you here."
River almost laughed at how much effort he was putting into this display of casualness.
"Hey, River," Jack said, giving them a tight squeeze. "Just checking in to see if you need anything. You know. Because Rye asked us to."
Simon closed his eyes in my-partner-is-bad-at-this, and River could almost hear the conversation they must’ve had on the way here.
"Actually," River said, "I’m so glad you’re here and I could use your help."
Jack’s surprise was apparent. "You could?"
"That’s what we’re here for," Simon said quickly.
"So is that him?" Jack whispered too loudly as soon as they were huddled near the cats.
Simon elbowed Jack, then said to River, "I’m so sorry."
"Sorry for what? Sorry for me?" Jack asked.
Before River or Simon could reply, another familiar face appeared: Simon’s grandmother.
"Hello, dears!" she trilled. "I’ve come to offer some help. What can I do?"
Her gaze drifted to the left to take in Cassidy and his booth.
"Jesus, did you put out a press release?" River hissed at Simon.
"Ummm … It’s possible that I might have made a mistake …"
"Hello!" another familiar voice called, and Adam, Wes, and Gus burst through the crowd.
"I swear I didn’t tell them," Simon hissed.
Charlie Matheson, Jack’s older brother, was sauntering toward them from the other direction, towering over the rest of the crowd and looking like a younger, buffer Santa Claus.
"River!" he boomed.
"Oops," Jack said.
"Rye sent me to see if you needed any help with the cats," Charlie said. "Rye is my partner," he editorialized to Cassidy as if it was normal to announce such things to strangers.
Then he did a double take. "Oh, hey. You used to work with Dave, right?."
“That’s right. Cassidy.”
They shook hands and River and Simon exchanged looks.
"I didn’t know they knew each other," Jack hissed. "Plus I forgot the dude’s name when I was texting him."
Simon rolled his eyes and mouthed "Amateur hour" at River.
"Do you kill these animals?" Gus’ voice cut through the din.
Adam and Wes were three steps behind. Cassidy bent down to see her.
"No, ma’am. I’m an ethical taxidermist. That means I don’t kill anything."
"Are you a vegetarian?" was Gus’ follow-up.
"No."
"Then you kill things all the time," she concluded, and turned away from him.
Adam slid a hand over her mouth and said tightly, "Remember how we discussed not casually accusing people of being killers?"
Gus shrugged. "Yes."
"Sorry," Adam said to Cassidy, who didn’t seem offended.
"Oh jeez," Simon muttered.
River turned to see Zachary Glass and Bram Larkspur. Zachary was dressed in pressed blue trousers and a cream cable knit sweater—a casual outfit for him. Bram towered over him, a red and green knit hat pulled over his messy hair.
"Oh, hello, there, River. What a total surprise to run into you here, of all places."
Zachary’s delivery was stiff and overly formal and Bram pressed his lips together to hide a smile.
"We thought we’d come offer you a hand with the cats," Bram said, clearly pleased with himself for coming up with this excuse.
Then he looked around and saw their entire friend group clustered around the cages.
"Ahh, I see. Um. Well. We’re gonna walk around and look for, um, a Chanukah present for Zachary’s parents."
"What? We said we’re not seeing my parents for Chanukah," Zachary said as he was dragged off by the elbow.
River wished the floor would open up and swallow them whole. Barring that, perhaps another cat escape would create a diversion.
"I swear, I only told my grandma," Simon murmured in horrified shock. "Oh. I see what happened. Fuck, I’m s-so s-sorry."
With Simon’s first stammer, Jack’s arm came around him and pulled him close.
"It’s my fault," he said. "Shoulda realized these nosy assholes would—"
"Do exactly what we’re doing?" Simon finished, looking up at Jack.
Jack seemed to struggle to pull a frown and failed. He kissed Simon on the nose and seemed to forget about anything else.
River closed their eyes and pressed their face to the cage where Scream and Dream sat, tails intertwined. River knew without opening their eyes that Scream would be looking around her, wild-eyed, and Dream would have his eyes half closed, copacetic as ever. They let the purrs calm them for a minute, then re-entered the world.
"Thank you all so much for stopping by to help," they said, aggressively cheery. "Jack, you can go get me a coffee with milk and sugar. Simon, please break down and stack the boxes on the back wall. Grandma Jean …"
Simon’s grandmother looked up from the bag of cookies she was offering Cassidy.
“Please let her keep giving me cookies,” Cassidy requested.
“Grandma Jean, keep giving Simon cookies.”
“I will,” she said, making it clear that she would have anyway. “You don’t look well at all, dear,” she said to Cassidy.
She had to stand on her tiptoes to do it, but she put her palm on Cassidy’s forehead, checking for a fever.
