“Good. Now get out. Go do your job so I can forget about this.”
“I’m not fired?”
“For now.” She waves me off with a hand. “And Russ, I have a million places to bury a body if you break her heart. We have acres you don’t even know about. They’d never find you.”
Jenna is kind of terrifying and I wholeheartedly believe her. “Noted.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
RUSS
Every day I think about the things I’m grateful for like Jenna told me to.
Most days it’s little things, like all the kids having fun or a good night’s sleep. I’m grateful when I check the group chat with my friends and see that they’re excited to see me soon, or when I see that another day goes by and I don’t have a cash request from my dad.
Every single day I’m grateful for Aurora, for getting to see how happy she is letting the kids push her into the lake for the millionth time, or hearing about the cat her mom may or may not have stolen from a neighbor. I’m grateful for the smile I get from her when she first sees me in the morning when I stop by at the end of my run or the kiss we manage to steal away from the group.
I’m grateful to Jenna for not sending us home and I’m grateful to Xander and Emilia for doing what they can to help us successfully continue to sneak around.
Taking the time to look at my day and appreciate what I have and what I’ll be taking away with me is helping me not be sad that it’s time to leave.
But today on the entertainment stage in front of everyone at Honey Acres, I’m grateful that the talent show is nearly over.
I’m used to hearing people cheering and applauding, but usually I’m on the ice surrounded by my teammates and it’s easy to zone out. It’s not that simple when it’s just me, Xander and the dogs on a stage where Xander is showing no sign that he plans to get off it soon.
I know my face is bright red as I hop down, whistling for the dogs to follow me, hoping that it’ll force Xander down. Without Aurora’s determination to do a good job, Xander and I didn’t attempt to put a plan together until yesterday. Now we’re done and I can stop worrying about it, I’m grateful that Fish, Salmon and Trout will do anything for bacon.
To their credit, they did every trick perfectly and I’m convinced nobody will know how unorganized and chaotic this thing has been all summer.
“Smashed it,” Xander says as we throw ourselves into our seats at the back of the seating area. “Told you we would. Tell me I was right.”
“You were right,” I grumble reluctantly.
All the Brown Bear kids smashed it and now I’m not the performer, I can appreciate how fun this is and what a good way it is to end the summer.
The cheering starts again as the rest of our group takes the stage to do their performance. Aurora is wearing the little sundress I love: the yellow one with little flowers and little straps that are easy to peel down. Her hair is curled and pulled back off her face with a ribbon and she looks beautiful.
Maya takes her place behind Emilia and puts her hands on her waist and when Clay takes his place behind Aurora and puts his hands on her waist, the music starts, but all I can hear is Xander laughing.
“I wish I could take a picture of your face right now.” He tries to stop it by covering his mouth, but when I give him the dirtiest look I can manage, it only makes him worse. We cheer along for support, but every time Clay’s hands are on her, Xander starts laughing again, irritating me more. “I’m sorry, man. It’s just too funny. Did she not tell you?”
“Would you have told me if you were her?”
I’ve asked how her practices were going a couple of times, but she just said, “stop trying to copy, Callaghan” and we’d move on. If it was anyone other than Clay I wouldn’t be jealous. Trout climbs onto my lap and up my chest, settling on my torso to sleep. He’s so big and heavy now, he covers a lot of my torso when he’s sprawled out. Another thing I’m grateful for, because it’s stopping me dragging Aurora off the stage like a caveman.
She looks like she’s having so much fun and I concentrate on that and how cute she looks trying to keep up with Emilia who is clearly the only person on that stage with a shred of professional training, or you know, rhythm.
The song comes to an end and the rest of audience is clapping and cheering, but Xander leans over from his seat beside me, wearing a smug grin. “They cheered louder for us.”
I know there’s no real reason to be jealous—of the touching, not the clapping—but the dance ends with Aurora in Clay’s arms and I’m officially feeling grumpy. She’s smiling ear to ear as she comes off the stage, heading straight for me. I force a smile onto my face as she approaches, but she immediately tries to smother a laugh when she spots me. “You good?”