As most of the audience filed out, Grandma Malone turned to me. “It’s much cooler here. Do you think they’d mind if we just stayed here for a little while?”
I shrugged. “I can’t imagine it being an issue. Are you sure?” Sitting here was fine with me. It was a good ten degrees cooler in the shade, and—
“Good,” Grandma Malone said. “Then you and Lulu go off and have fun. You can come find us later.”
“Oh.” I blinked and glanced over at Lulu. “Um . . .” There was no polite way out of this, was there?
“Are you sure?” Lulu’s eyes were concerned as she leaned toward them. “It’s hot today. We can go back to the hotel if you want.”
“Not yet.” Grandma Malone sipped her water. “I thought I could sit here and look pathetic, and maybe those kilted boys will come out.”
I choked on my sip of water, but Lulu just rolled her eyes and Grandpa Malone tsked. “I’m sitting right here, you know,” he said.
“I know.” Grandma Malone spoke to him but looked at me, dropping a wink, and I fought to keep a straight face.
“Come on.” Lulu pulled me to my feet, and I forced a smile. “Show me the joust.”
Okay, that sounded like fun. I hadn’t been over that way yet this year. “You’re on.”
On our way out we stopped by the merch table to say goodbye to Stacey. She was talking to some patrons, and while we waited I noticed a rustle at her feet. Her black-and-white cat, Benedick, wearing a harness with little dragon’s wings attached, was leashed to a leg of the table and he rolled in the dirt, batting at a leaf with murderous intent. Everyone was enjoying their day at the Faire. Except maybe that leaf.
Finally alone, Stacey beamed at us. “Good show, right?”
“Definitely.” Lulu shook her head in awe. “You travel with those guys? Damn, girl.”
Stacey sighed dramatically. “I know. It’s a hardship. I’m still working on getting Daniel into a kilt. He won’t do it.”
“Wait, which one’s that?” Lulu tilted her head. “They’re all in kilts.”
“Oh, those guys, yeah.” She waved a dismissive hand. “I’m with their manager, though. Daniel. He’s not a kilt kind of guy.”
“There’s more to life than kilts,” I said. Which felt like blasphemy at a place like this, but oh well.
“You are so right,” Stacey said. “Believe me, he makes up for it in other ways.” Her smile turned wicked, and I didn’t want to know. There were things about my friends that I didn’t want to picture.
I cleared my throat. “I’m taking Lulu over to the joust. Is it okay if they stick around?”
Stacey followed my gaze over to the grandparents. “Of course. We have a break for a couple hours, but I can keep an eye on them. They okay?”
“Oh, yeah,” Lulu said. “I think they got a little overheated during the chess match.”
Stacey nodded in sympathy. “It gets hot over there. Full sun and all that.”
Lulu looked over her shoulder at her grandparents. “I’m gonna take them back to the hotel in a little bit. I don’t want them out here in this too much longer.”
“Sure.” Stacey waved a hand. “I’ll text April if I need to get hold of you, okay?”
“Sounds good.” But as we watched her grandparents, the men of the Dueling Kilts strolled back onto the stage, then hopped off to the ground, clearly on a break. Soon they were grouped around Grandma Malone, who looked positively delighted. Grandpa Malone looked . . . tolerant. Good man.
“Yeah.” Lulu rolled her eyes again. “They’re gonna be fine. Let’s go find some fried food on a stick or something.”
“You got it.”
But a few steps down the lane Lulu glanced over her shoulder, as if to verify her grandparents had stayed put. Then her smile faded, and her shoulders sagged with a sigh.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Sorry. Grandma goes nuts if we’re looking at our phones when we’re hanging out with her. Like I’m playing Candy Crush or something, not getting seventy-five texts from work.”
“On a Saturday?” My eyebrows crawled up my forehead.
“Saturday, Sunday. Eleven o’clock on a Wednesday.” Lulu shrugged. “No rest for the wicked. Or lawyers.” She scrolled through her phone, frowned, and tapped out a few replies. “Sorry,” she said again as she pocketed her phone. “I probably shouldn’t have come today. But Grandma was determined to see this, and I was worried about them being here all day in this heat. There was no way to talk her out of it, so here I am.” She glanced around, and I imagined her sizing up the whole Faire, wondering if it was worth her while.
“Hey.” I tried not to sound defensive on behalf of the Faire, on behalf of Mitch, but as a representative of both I had to say something. “I think it meant a lot to Mitch that they came. And that you’re here too. This is important to him.”
“Oh, I know!” Her expression was chastened as she looked back at me. “I didn’t mean . . . no, this is a great thing he’s doing, and I see what you mean about him being such a draw.” A small smile touched her lips. “He seems happy. I’m proud of him, that he’s found that.” She nudged my shoulder. “I bet you have something to do with it.”
“Me? No.” I shook my head. “He’s been doing this Faire thing longer than I’ve known him.”
“Not that. I mean about him being happy.”
“Oh.” A wave of guilt washed through me, and all I could do was shrug and slip back into the grand lie. “I . . . I suppose?”
“Don’t sell yourself short. He looks so happy with you. With his whole life. I’m glad he’s got it figured out. More than the rest of us, I think.” Her sigh was wistful, almost jealous. Which seemed strange for someone who was about to make partner at her law firm. The frown crept back on my face. There was something going on here. Lulu wasn’t as happy, didn’t have it all together, the way Mitch—and probably the rest of her family—seemed to think. And we were just close enough to being friends that I hated that for her. I wanted to help.
If I couldn’t help, I could do the next best thing: take her mind off it. “Come on.” I hooked my arm through hers, the way she’d done for me earlier. “Another cider on the way to the joust. And feel free to check your phone if it makes you feel better. Turn it off if it doesn’t.”
Lulu’s smile was stronger this time, on its way back to the patented sunny Malone expression. “Sounds perfect.”
* * *
? ? ?
I wasn’t an expert at being a Ren Faire patron, but I’d been Ren Faire adjacent for long enough that I knew the highlights that we needed to hit. Consulting the map showed us that we had almost an hour before the joust started. Plenty of time to swing by the tavern again. Emily passed us two more ciders across the bar.
I slipped a couple of bills into the tip jar and pointed a finger at Emily in warning. “Don’t you dare.”