Page 38 of Wood Riddance
I spun, finding Merry running toward me, with Mike and Alicia close behind her. I took off for her and grabbed her under the arms, picking her up so I could keep her safe while I assessed the threat.
“I feel so bad for him,” she said, squeezing my neck. “He’s scared.”
“He’s destroying the damn town,” I yelled, walking backward toward my truck. The crowd had dispersed, but there were still dozens of people watching in fascination as a bull moose tore through our small-town celebration.
Tables were overturned and food was thrown everywhere. And still, the damn net was tangled in his antlers. He bucked and tossed his head wildly.
How did no one realize how dangerous this was?
“Let’s go back to the car,” I insisted, nudging Mike as I continued moving slowly away from the moose.
“No way. I want a video of this,” Merry protested, grabbing my phone out of my hand.
“Are we sure that’s Clive?” Alicia asked at my side.
“Yes,” Merry insisted, throwing one arm out and pointing. “He has a big scar on his back leg. Wait till he turns around.”
Sure enough, a long, jagged scar cut across his hip. I shook my head. All this time, I was worried about my daughter adjusting to life in rural Maine, but if she could ID a moose at fifty yards, so clearly, then she’d be fine.
“Let’s get you home,” I said, eyeing Alicia and Mike over her head and lifting my chin, signaling for them to follow me to the parking lot.
“Dad, look.” Merry pressed a palm to my cheek and forced my face forward again.
Clive was near the pavilion now, and he was galloping straight for a huge display of blueberry pies. There were probably fifty of them, lovingly baked and displayed by Bernice, the official pie queen of Penobscot County.
Bernice herself was screaming as he barreled for her table.
The crowd stilled, letting out a collective gasp. It was one thing to take out a volleyball net and a few old picnic tables. But mess with Bernice’s pies? That was how vendettas began.
But the moose was undeterred. He ran full-on at the tent, bucking his head, sending the net swirling. And then it happened.
Impact.
Pies.
Antlers.
Blueberry carnage the likes of which this town would never forget.
And one tiny old lady screaming obscenities at a fifteen-hundred-pound moose. Clive had a reputation for not giving many fucks, but he’d messed with the wrong woman. I could practically see Bernice plotting his death from across the green. The rest of the townsfolk snapped photos and fell into fits of laughter, and the moose wandered off again.
“This is the best Fourth of July ever!” Merry giggled, squeezing me tighter and kissing my cheek as I loaded her into my truck. I looked up and saw Adele giggling with her family a few yards away. She gave me a nod and my heart clenched. I’d been so close to kissing her again. Figures that damn moose would ruin it.
Chapter11
Finn
“Pretty, pretty please.” Merry begged, tugging on my arm. “I need blueberry pancakessobad.”
She had her head tipped back and she was giving me the look she referred to as “sad puppy eyes.” The expression that I simply could not say no to, despite the insanity of the attached request.
“Fine. We can walk over to the diner. There may be a wait, though. Saturday mornings are busy.”
She pumped her fist in the air and bopped along the sidewalk beside me, happy to have gotten her way. Alicia and Mike were down on the coast looking at wedding venues, so Merry and I planned to hike, then settle in for a movie marathon. We’d start with her all-time favorite,A League of Their Own, as we usually did. I had seen the movie more times than I could count. I’d even dressed up as Jimmy Duggan last Halloween. I’d watch it a thousand more times if Merry wanted me to. Nothing made my girl so happy. We’d follow it up withBend It Like Beckham, another one of her favorites.
Dissecting Taylor Swift lyrics to find secret messages had been one of her suggestions for the night—and something I’d spent a lot of time doing in the last few years—but watching movies I knew every line of was far less taxing on my brain, so I had no interest in complaining. I smiled down at her. She was getting so tall and grown up. My heart clenched. I’d always seen myself raising a whole bunch of kids.
When I was a kid, our home was total chaos, but we loved it. With so many boys running around, we were never short of playmates, and this great wilderness was our playground. Merry was the most amazing thing to ever happen to me, but sometimes I ached for more. For a wife, more kids, barbecues with my brothers on the weekends and joint Christmases, where we wore PJs all day and ate too much.
