Page 1 of The Great Maple Mistake

Chapter 1

Alex

June: Nine weeks until the Cook-off

“Alex!”

I lower my camera and turn my ball cap brim-forward to cut the glare of the midday sun. There are so many people in the square for the Pride Festival. Way more than city council anticipated. How I hear my name through the blaring music and noises from the parade is a miracle. Spinning slowly, I scan the crowd, but damned if I can tell who shouted at me.

“Alex!” I snap my head to my left and see my best friend Finn weaving through the masses of glittery, rainbow-bedazzled festival-goers.

Grinning, I shout to him once he’s close enough to hear me. “Hey. I thought you had patients to see.”

“I did.” He sidesteps a group of middle schoolers who are too caught up in laughing at something on their phones to pay attention to their surroundings. God, was I ever that young and oblivious? He dodges around a family of five and jogs to a stop next to me, wiping the sweat from the side of his face with thesleeve of his scrubs. It gets rid of the moisture but leaves a clump of fur at his temple. “They’ve all been seen, and if there are any pet emergencies, Nova will call me.”

I pluck at his other non-sweaty sleeve. “Scrubs aren’t usually Pride attire, even if they are purple.”

He bats my hand away. “Ran late at work and didn’t want to miss any more of the festival just to change. And these are comfy.”

“Oh? You were so excited about the Pride festival that you didn’t want to stop and change? Or were you too excited to see me?” I playfully bat my eyes at him.

He smirks and shoves my shoulder. “Yeah, it was all you, sexy.” His gaze moves around the crowd. “Drake’s meeting me here.” Finn’s expression turns sheepish as he runs his long fingers through his shaggy brown hair. “I hadn’t expected so many tourists, though. Townies won’t pester him for autographs now that they’re comfortable around him. But hiding beneath his hat doesn’t always work, and if the tourists get a hint that he’stheDrake Derry of Melodious Moon—” He doesn’t finish the thought because we both know what that would look like.

Finn’s attention snaps to the fanny pack around his waist and he fumbles with the zipper before pulling out his phone. The call or text is almost guaranteed to be one of three people; Nova, Drake, or Charlie, Finn’s kid.

He swipes to answer. “Hey, Drake. What’s up?” Finn winces as he listens, glancing at the parade route while shaking his head. “I can get you, but the parade’s in full swing. I’ll have to wait until it’s over to cut across the street to get my car. Canyouwait that long?”

I’m not sure why Drake needs to be picked up, or from where, but I have an easy fix. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my keys and offer them to Finn. “Here.”

“Hold on a second, Drake.” He takes the keys from my hand. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I’m parked two blocks that way in front of my dad’s office.” I gesture to a part of town that’s in the opposite direction of the parade route. “Tell Drake you’re on your way. If you decide to come back to the festival, I’d love to hang out with you guys, but I get it if you bail because of the tourist crowd. If that happens, stop by the house later and hang out, or just drop off the keys. Or hell, for that matter, you can give them back tomorrow morning when we go running.”

He side-eyes me. “You’re sure you won’t need your car?”

“Nah. I’m working from home for the next few days. The only thing I have going is an appointment with Chief Brennan to talk about an idea I have for a firehouse fundraiser. But that’s not until Wednesday. I’ll see you before then.”

Finn drops the keys into his fanny pack and zips it closed. “You’ll never get him to agree to anything but his beloved pancake breakfast and the spaghetti dinner. He lives for those events.”

“He does.” I wink at Finn. “But he hasn’t heard my brilliant idea yet.”

“Alex!” Finn and I turn as my brother Luke jogs toward us. He holds out his hand and slaps his palm against Finn’s, then pulls him in for a bro hug. He hauls me in next, slapping my back before throwing his arm over my shoulders. “Hey. Mom’s looking for you. She wants you to get pics of Dad getting dunked in the dunk tank.”

I snort. “I’m assuming she’s pitching? How in god’s name did she get him to agree to that?” My mom was a star softball pitcher for her high school team back in the day and hasn’t lost her touch.

Luke shrugs. “It’s for charity.”

We turn toward the game booths, but Finn stays put. He jerks his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of my dad’s office. “I hate to miss the dunking, but I gotta get Drake. I’ll text you after and let you know if we’re hanging out here or going to the compound.”

I roll my eyes just to give him a little shit, because we both know they’ll probably opt for some alone time at the compound. But I can’t blame him. Things between Finn and Drake are still new. They’d much rather be alone and naked than at the Pride festival. And who can blame them? AssumingIhad a boyfriend, I’d want to be naked with them as much as possible too. Hey, we’re still in our mid-thirties, and naked time is important.

God. I miss naked time. Well, co-naked time. I have all thesolonaked time I want. Can you have too much? What am I thinking? Of course not. Thankfully, I live with my single older brother and bachelor father, so they totally get the need for long showers and early bedtimes. We try to give each other space and keep the noise to a minimum. And since there’s only the three of us living in the three-story, Victorian style house I grew up in, it’s not that difficult.

Luke shoulder bumps me and jerks his head toward the games area. “C’mon. I don’t want to miss it.” We weave through the happy, laughing crowd, passing food booths selling a variety of maple-flavored options. Everything from glazed ribs and chicken to maple fudge and maple cotton candy. It’s guaranteed in Maplewood that if there’s a festival happening, everyone will try to out-maple each other. As we hustle by, I lift my camera and take several shots of the town’s favorite local celebrity band, The Rocktogenarians, fresh off their recent victory at this year’s Maplewood Amateur Music Competition. They’re serenading the crowd with the family-friendly version of Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill. They’ve been playing together since the seventies and have gone through several name changes. About four years ago, theysettled on Rocktogenarians when their front person, Rae Moan, finally joined her other four bandmates in their eighth decade of life.

Luke grabs my arm, ducking behind the Take a Picture with a Drag Queen booth and heading for the dunk tank. “You doing anything later?”

I shake my head. “Nope. I planned on hanging out here and then going home.”

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