Chapter 12
1697 Words
Twelve
Holly
Main Street is lined with people as floats big and small travel down the road, interspersed with the high school band, fire engines, and police cars. The Bailey Timber’s Founder’s Day Parade is as big as the Fourth of July parade back home.
“Holly!” Francie waves from the front row, Jack at her side.
I weave through people, a few saying their hellos to me. I smile and wave, although I’m not nearly as familiar with the people of Lake Starlight as they are with me.
“Hi,” I say, stuffing my hands in my sweatshirt pocket.
“It’s crazy, I know.” Francie looks at Jack. “You know Holly Radcliffe?”
He laughs. “I know her and of her.”
I smile, a tad embarrassed that I’ll always be known here for being in Austin Bailey’s backseat.
“I’m kidding. How’s your sink?” he asks.
“Good. Thank you.”
“Come closer. This is your first time here.” Francie steps in front of Jack, allowing me to squeeze in beside them.
“Thanks. I wasn’t sure if I would stay to watch the parade.”
Francie looks at me as though I just said that every man who owns a hardware store is a s****l deviant. “Oh!” Her hand lands on my arm. “It’s a must. You know how at Christmas parades Santa comes at the end? For this one, the Baileys come on the last float.”
I can’t help the chuckle that escapes. “Are they like the town royalty?”
Francie looks at Jack. “Kind of, I suppose. Way back, the town was floundering, then the Baileys started their business. Employed a lot of people, and the town began to flourish. They’re basically responsible for Lake Starlight being what it is. Everyone’s always looked up to them, but even more so since, you know…”
“I don’t. Austin hasn’t shared anything with me.”
Francie’s gaze veers to her husband again. Their smiles falter.
Jack looks my way. “He doesn’t like to talk about it.” He shrugs as though it’s understandable.
“It’s really none of my business.” I shove my hands deeper into the pocket of my sweatshirt. I notice that the guy next to me is in a long-sleeve Henley. Does blood really thicken depending on where you live? Is that an actual thing?
“It’s not that he’s sad. I mean, he is, they were his parents, but…”
Francie continues where Jack left off. “This whole town puts Austin on a pedestal for what he did, and although there are men who would love that, Austin isn’t one of them.”
The crowd’s sudden cheering interrupts us, and my eyes shift to the street, where the high school band marches by, playing a song I’m not familiar with.
“What song is that?” I ask.
Francie leans in. “‘Sea of Love’ by The Honeydrippers. It was Austin’s parents’ wedding song. The high school does it every year in tribute to them.”
Jack tightens his hold on Francie, and they sway with the melody. My eyes scan the other side of the street. Everyone has their arms linked and are swaying back and forth.
The band passes by, and a voice sings along with them. Either Phoenix or Sedona is on the top tier of the upcoming float, wearing a beautiful maroon dress that has multiple layers flaring out from the waist. Her hair is curled and loosely pinned back.
“She has such a beautiful voice,” Francie says.
“Is that…?”
“Phoenix. She’s always had a voice like that. Like the voice of an angel.” Jack smiles, his eyes fixed on Phoenix.
I agree—I can hardly stop admiring her or her voice.
A couple in a wedding dress and a tuxedo dance along the bottom tier of the float, giving the impression that it’s a wedding. Melancholy surrounds me as everyone focuses on them. Conversations stop to give their respect to a couple who clearly meant a lot to this town. Tears fill my eyes, and Francie links her arm with mine, as does the stranger on the other side of me.
It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed.
The song ends but starts up again as the float and the band head around the corner.
“How does she sing that over and over again and not cry?” I ask. I suck in a breath and compose myself as the mood shifts with the next spectacle.
The bystanders unhook their arms and clap as a line of muscle cars take over the scene. They’re all driven by men, with the logo of the tattoo place I walk past on my way to the diner every day on magnets on the sides of the cars.
“Now this is new.” Francie claps as “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen blares from the backseat of the first car, which is driven by a muscular, tattooed man.
A group of girls and guys walk along the edge of the crowd, handing out small American flags while everyone sings along.
“Figures. Liam knows exactly how to get the crowd going after Phoenix’s song.” Jack raises his hand. “Liam!”
The guy in the first car raises his fist and honks his horn. Francie and I wave our flags high, singing along with the rest of Lake Starlight.
“Told you, you couldn’t miss the parade,” she leans over and says. “Be careful, this town has a way of sucking people in.” She smiles and knocks shoulders with me.
I definitely understand the appeal, though I’ll keep that fact to myself.
“Here they come!” Francie screams.
You’d think it was a float full of A-list celebrities the way everyone leans over the barricades to get a glimpse. The Bailey siblings are all on the float—minus Phoenix—each holding a microphone. Austin stands in the middle, next to a blonde. An older lady sits in a chair one level up.
I don’t have a lot of time to take in the scene before Francie prattles on beside me. “Okay, I’m going to go fast, starting from the left.” She points at the float. “Brooklyn, Denver, Savannah, Austin—who you know—Juno, Rome, Sedona, Denver, Kingston, and we already saw Phoenix on the other float. I’m surprised to see Kingston here. He’s not around much. They probably had to wrangle him to come and my bet is he’ll blow back out of town as soon as the parade is done. Anyway”—her finger moves from person to person—“Denver and Rome are twins, and you already saw Phoenix who’s Sedona’s twin. That’s Grandma Dori. She’s the late Mr. Bailey’s mom. Got it?”
“No.” I laugh and shake my head.
“You will. They couldn’t be more different. Well, other than Denver and Rome. Those two are way too much alike.”
“In a bad way,” Jack adds.
“If I Ain’t Got You” by Alicia Keys plays over the speakers, and all the Baileys sing along, smiling as they wave to the people on each side of the street.
“Every year one of them gets to pick a song, but it has to be a song that says thank you to the town and all the workers.”
“Man, you’re an encyclopedia of knowledge,” I say to her.
“I’m a Lake Starlight lifer, what do you expect?” She smiles and waves, leaning over the barricade.
Children walk along the edge of the crowd with their parents, handing out seed packets printed with a label that has the Bailey logo and the words, “Thanks for letting us grow with you.” I thank the child and the mother smiles, moving down the line.
The siblings look at one another every once in a while, but the majority of their attention is on the crowd. Everyone screams a different family member’s name, as if they’re One Direction and everyone has their favorite. It’s insanity.
“Austin!” Francie yells.
Sedona knocks one of her brothers with her elbow, who knocks a sister, who knocks Austin. They all point in our direction.
“Great,” I mumble.
Austin’s eyes swallow me, and his smile grows brighter. At least I think it does. Am I hoping it does? How can one parade soften my feelings toward this man?
He nods to Francie, waving.
The sister on his other side follows his line of vision, knocking her shoulder with his.
“That’s Savannah. They’re close,” Francie continues giving me the Bailey intel like she’s written an US Weekly magazine article about the family.
As the float passes by us, Austin’s gaze follows me. My eyes don’t waver from his until the float turns the corner. I feel oddly bereft once he’s no longer in my sight.
“Come on. We’ll meet them at the end.” Francie pulls on my arm.
“No, I’m good. I’ll just head home.”
She tilts her head and studies me while the crowd disperses. “Why would you do that?”
“It’s a family thing, and I have some work at home I need to finish.”
She looks at Jack then back to me before wrapping her arm around my shoulders and turning us the way the float went. “Sorry, Bailey Founder’s Day is a no-work day.”
I allow her to lead me down the sidewalk, and Jack laughs as we round the corner.
Francie whispers in my ear, “Please don’t fire me.”
The parade, Francie, Jack, the Baileys, the town of Lake Starlight, and all its residents have a way of wrapping the softest, warmest blanket around my heart. I hope I’ll be able to shed it and say goodbye in a few months.
- Writer
