Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

DUSTY

The police might have won the football game, but only because Chad was cheating scum. It didn’t help that they had more younger guys willing to play. It certainly didn’t help our chances at winning this year’s Battle of the Badges. In direct man-against-man boxing rounds, the firefighters won every time. In flag football? You could do things to make it harder to pull flags, and I was fairly certain Chad had done that. But how would I prove it, short of finding his flags and testing them? I wasn’t going to let Chad’s childishness ruin this day for me.

There was still a chance we could take home the trophy.

I stood beside Brody at the grill after everyone had gotten their plates, doing my best to keep my eyes from straying Nova’s way. Alice and Ben were sitting with Gigi at the picnic tables eating, and Nova was alone, plating her dessert. I’d done a strawberry shortcake bar so I wouldn’t have to plate anything after the football game, and they’d turned out pretty good. You couldn’t go wrong with a shortbread crust.

“These are delicious,” Tucker’s dad, Roy, said, coming through my line a second time .

“Did my grandpa get enough to eat?” I asked, sliding a hot burger onto his prepared bun.

“He ate,” Roy said. “Not much, but some.”

“Okay. Thanks for taking care of him. I’ll try to join you soon.”

Roy held my gaze. “You say that like I’m doing you a favor. I love that man.”

My chest constricted.

He reached over the table and clapped me on the shoulder. “You’re doing great, son. You got my vote, and not just because you’re like one of my kids.”

“Glad to hear it.” My cheeks flushed, overjoyed at the praise and the kindness. “Don’t forget dessert from both tables.”

“You didn’t hear?” Roy’s face crinkled, the lines deepening. “Ants got into the police’s dessert. They’re just serving berries and cream. It’s good, but I don’t think it’s quite the same.”

My stomach fell. “Shoot.”

“Don’t worry. You would have won either way. These burgers are cooked perfectly.”

I nodded, but it felt hollow.

“Gonna join us?” Roy asked.

“Yeah, in a minute.”

He walked away, and I let out a quiet groan. Brody moved the finished sliders to the warming rack while I stewed.

“Girlfriend drama?” Brody asked.

That comment did not deserve a reply. “Grab a plate and eat while they’re hot.”

Brody looked out over the tables full of Arcadia Creek constituents, then back at the grill. “Nah, I’m good.”

When I tried to see the groups of people through his eyes, I found plenty of his friends eating with their families. For one of the popular kids in school, he didn’t seem to have a place. Or maybe he did, but he was getting in his own way about it. He needed a Tucker and Roy to pull him to their table .

Or maybe what he had was me.

“Come on. Let’s get food, and you can meet my grandpa.” It was a thin excuse, but it was the only way I could invite him to eat with me without embarrassing the kid or making him bolt. Some days he felt solid, steady, like he was the king of Arcadia High and knew it. Other days, he was more like a rabbit in the forest with a coyote lurking somewhere in the trees.

Today was definitely a rabbit day.

I didn’t wait for him to agree. I grabbed two plates and handed him one, then started filling mine with sliders, chips, and fruit.

“Are you gonna try the cops’ food too?” Brody asked.

“We have to or we can’t vote. And we are voting.”

Chad wasn’t at the grill anymore, so I took a slider from the table and moved on to dessert. “Heard about your ant problem,” I said when we reached Nova.

She stood at the table, folding her arms over her chest. “Here to gloat?”

“Don’t try to blame the ants when y’all lose,” I said. “My burgers beat Chad’s fair and square.” I hadn’t had a bite yet, but they were obviously dry just from looking at them.

Nova tucked her chin. She didn’t have time to reply when a voice boomed behind me.

“What are you trying to say?” Chad asked, his voice in my ear. Where had he even come from? “You calling me a cheater?”

I mean, he was one, but I wasn’t about to start something. This was a family event and I would swallow my pride.

“No,” Brody said, coming to my side. “He’s saying your burgers are burned, so ours are better.”

Chad looked ready to deck me, but his gaze fell to Brody’s defiant stare and seemed to think better of it. “I got you a plate, Nova.”

“Oh.” She looked from Chad to the picnic tables. “My aunt got one for me already, but thank you. ”

Chad hovered. He didn’t seem to want to walk away while I remained. My little yappy guard dog was giving him the evil eye, though, so he relented and retreated.

Nova stepped around the table, keeping her arms crossed. “Did he really burn the sliders?” she asked Brody.

“Yeah, they aren’t very good. Wanna try?” He lifted his plate toward her.

“That’s okay. I’ll grab a fresh one from your table.”

“What about the plate Gigi made you?” I teased.

She shot me a look. “I need to learn how to let people down firmly, I guess. That wasn’t even gentle—it was a straight up lie.”

My face screwed into incredulity. “You’ve let me down firmly many times, and I have only known you for a few months.”

Nova’s face split into a grin. “True.”

“I want to eat,” Brody said, walking away.

“Coming.” I turned back and lowered my voice. “Hey, my grandpa is here. I’d love to introduce you if you get a minute. Just come find us.”

She looked at me for a beat longer than usual. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeated, somehow feeling like I’d scored a major win today that had nothing to do with the Battle of the Badges.

My win slowly deflated as the event petered to a close and Nova didn’t come to our table. Had it been too forward to tell her to come meet the last member of my family? No, my parents didn’t count. I had no idea if they were even alive. Nova had seemed to consider my invitation, so I knew she’d given it some thought. She hadn’t answered blindly.

Great, now I was overthinking. That wasn’t normal for me.

Someone had given Captain Bowman a mic, which everyone knew was a bad idea. Our fire chief was a man of few words, but Cap never knew when to stop talking.

“Police won the football game,” Mayor Dunmore said into the mic as he wrested it from Cap’s hand. “Fire won the ticket sales. We’ve tallied the votes on food and are pleased to announce that, when added to other wins, the Battle of the Badge trophy this year goes to…drumroll, please.”

People pounded on their tables, including Grandpa across from me, his wrinkled eyes twinkling. Great, had he voted for the cops again?

Randy sat hard on the bench beside me and scoffed. “They’re gonna take it.”

“We don’t know that,” I said, but I had a feeling he was right.

“The winners are the police crew!” Mayor Dunmore said. Cheering and shouting went up all over the picnic tables, but our section stayed silent. Grandpa frowned, which was something of a relief. Guess he’d voted for us after all.

I looked where Nova was sitting with Gigi. They were clapping, but a line formed between Nova’s eyebrows. She was just as confused as I was. Yes, her berry compote and cream were delicious, but their burgers weren’t. Not to be cocky, but no part of our meal had been messed up.

“Looks like we were destined to lose anyway,” Randy muttered. “Hard to beat a cheater.”

“Watch it,” I said softly. “It won’t do any good if you’re overheard.”

Randy lifted his eyebrows. “You know it’s true.”

“He’s right,” Grandpa called across the table, his voice carrying over the cheers. “Those flags weren’t coming off during the game. Must’ve glued them on or something.”

Glue was a bit dramatic. Time to get Gramps out of here before he landed me in trouble. “I’ll clean up really quick and then we can go. Come on, Randy. ”

He groaned. “I knew I should have sat with Jill. She doesn’t need to be the first one up and cleaning.”

He was kidding. Or so I hoped. He followed me to the grill, where we passed Chad and his buddy Travis. “Maybe next year,” Chad said in a way that made me think he was already planning a way to guarantee another win.

“In the ring?” I called back. “Can’t wait.”

“To wipe the floor with them,” Randy muttered, finishing my sentence.

Man, he had a mouth on him today.

“What was that?” Chad asked, following us.

I stopped walking immediately and put my hands up. Clearly, emotions were riding high. It was just a little town function. It didn’t matter who won. If they wanted it badly enough to cheat, they could take it.

“Nothing,” I said, hoping my tone would de-escalate the situation. “We just like boxing.”

“I could take you, Dusty,” Chad said, his blue eyes gleaming. He was looking for a fight. Maybe he just wanted to prove he deserved the win he’d somehow schemed for. Either way, he must have been forgetting how quickly I had taken him down last year.

“I guess we’ll find out next year,” I said, shooting him a smile.

“Why wait?” he asked.

I turned to leave right as he stepped forward and clocked me across the jaw. Pain reverberated through my face, stars sparkling the edge of my vision. I looked back at him, anger pulsing through me at his cheap shot.

“Not cool, man,” Randy said. His face was thunderous.

I had to agree.

Chad shook out his hand, bouncing on his toes. “Let’s finish this.”

“It’s not the time or the place,” I reminded him, waiting for the pain to ebb. I had taken a step back to get to cleaning up our tables when he rounded on me again. His fist was poised to strike, coming at my nose, so I lifted my arm to block the blow. My forearm took the brunt of his hit. I shoved him back. “Stop, Chad.”

“Why? You’re just going to let me win?”

“We already have twice today,” I snapped. “What’s once more?”

Anger flashed in his eyes, and he advanced again. I put my arms out and shoved him hard. He fell back into the table of Nova’s berry and cream remnants, sliding off the other side and falling in a heap, covered in dessert and wrapped in the cheap tablecloth.

I stepped back in utter silence. The crowd had noticed, watching us with wide eyes. I swore. Nova and her kids had a front-row seat next to their aunt. Gigi’s disapproving expression hit me in the gut, fed by the concerns she’d had months ago when she told me to keep away from Nova. Even worse, though, was Grandpa standing in the row behind them, gripping his walker and frowning at me. I felt sixteen all over again, getting in fights because I had a hole in my sneakers or I kissed the wrong girl at a party. His disappointment felt layered in years of stupid mistakes.

I wanted to take the mic from wherever Mayor Dunmore hid it and explain I’d been acting in self defense, but that wouldn’t exonerate me. Grandpa pressed his mouth into a firm line.

Anger pulsated through me. I turned to the table and started cleaning up the dessert mess. Chad was on his feet, wiping whipped cream from his clothes. He seemed to have noticed the audience too, which cooled him off enough that I didn’t think the other half of my face was in danger of getting a matching bruise.

“Leave it,” Nova said behind me, reaching for some plates of dessert that had flown on the grass. “I’ll take care of this. ”

“It’s my mess,” I said sharply.

She grew still, holding three stacked dessert plates and a fork.

Great. Could this get any worse?

Nova glanced at Chad’s retreating back. “Dusty, we both know this wasn’t your fault. I’ll handle it. You go take care of your family.”

By family, she meant my grandpa.

Was it pathetic that I wanted to cry? Nova immediately trusted that I hadn’t asked for the fight. Her kindness bowled into me like sunlight in the early morning, blinding me with gratitude and an overwhelming surge of appreciation.

Nova seemed to sense my thoughts, because she took a step closer. “Go. I have this.”

I nodded, at a total loss for words. Grandpa was quiet when I reached him. Together we weaved through the crowd to head back to my truck. Once I got him situated and his walker tucked safely in the back, I climbed in and rested my hands on the wheels. “Want to grab a Frosty before we take you back?”

“I’m a little tired,” he said.

I glanced at him before pulling onto the road and noticed that he looked weary. I turned up his favorite country radio station and leaned into my seat. I’d disappointed him, and he didn’t want to discuss it.

Well, upon further consideration, neither did I.