Page 50 of How to Catch a Rockstar

“Dang youngsters, think they can push me around,” Mercury grumbles as he approaches me while leaning heavily on his cane.

I hurry to help him but he swats me away. “I don’t need no help.”

I hold up my hands. “Of course, you don’t.”

“She’s sarcastic like you, Mercy. She’ll fit right in.”

Indigo claps her hands. “Are we going to this festival or what?”

“Or what,” Mercury says.

“I can stay home with Mercury,” I offer.

Mercy wags her finger at me. “Nice try. Virginia’s old boss is on her way.”

“I think you mean former boss,” an elderly woman says as she climbs the stairs to the porch.

Virginia sighs. “Aurora, this is Gratitude, my former boss.”

I shake her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

She rakes her gaze over me before nodding. “The pleasure’s all mine.” She snaps her fingers at Mercury. “Let’s go old man. I have a bet to place.”

“A bet to place? On what?” I ask but no one answers me as we watch Gratitude and Mercury leave.

“Where’s Isla?” Leia asks.

“Jett has her,” Indigo answers.

Leia rolls her eyes. “Of course, he does. Those two are inseparable.”

“They are?” I ask. “Jett hates children.”

She shrugs. “He adores Isla.”

“You ready?” Cash shouts from the front lawn next door where he’s standing with Dylan, Fender, and Gibson.

“We’re coming,” Indigo shouts to Cash.

I decide to try and sneak away but I don’t manage to step toward the door before Indigo captures my arm and draws me away from it.

“You’ll have fun, I promise.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s a Winter Falls festival. They’re always a ball.”

“What’s the festival for?”

“It’s Yule.”

“A Christmas festival?”

Virginia groans. “You did it now.”

I look around the group as we walk toward downtown. “Did what?”

“Trust me. Yule isn’t Christmas. I got a lecture from my uncle when I mixed the two up this morning,” Mercy says. “For an old hippie, Uncle Mercury is sure opinionated.”

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