Page 8 of Don't Clause a Scene

“Mickey Brewer.” I yanked off my wig.

Amos scrambled to his feet, which caused more tearing sounds. “Mickey? But you look so different. I guess I’m used to seeing you with long hair.”

“I cut it years ago and had surgery on my nose after breaking it in college.”

Amos ran his hand through his hair. “Oh. Wow.”

“Yeah.” I dropped my gaze to the floor.

“This is so awkward.”

I barked out a laugh. “You’re telling me. Shit, we’re going to end up onMaplewood Matterstomorrow.” I scrubbed my hand over my face. That was the last thing my dad needed. The busybodies getting up in arms over his son fucking around with the son of the rival diner. But hey, maybe it would boost sales.

“What’sMaplewood Matters? You referenced that before.”

“The local gossip blog. I swear they have a CCTV network in town. Or spies.”

“This place has changed.” He shook his head as he bent to retrieve his wig. “If you didn’t recognize me with this on, I’m sure others won’t either. My sibling never showed anyway.”

“That’s who you were waiting for? Sage?”

“Yeah.” Amos glanced toward the office door. “Is there a back exit I can sneak out of?”

My gut twisted, but I didn’t try to talk him out of it, which made me feel the size of a cockroach. I nodded and silently led him to it. After peeking out to make sure no one was paying attention, I exited. Amos followed me down the hallway to the back door.

Garth—Amos—paused at the threshold and turned back to me. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. I get it.” He let out a hollow laugh. “Trust me, if anyone does, it’s me.”

I appreciated that more than Amos would know, but for some reason, that statement made me so damn sad.

“Thanks. Uh, it was good to see you…”I guess.Though I had a feeling this would haunt me for a long time. Of course the first guy to spark my interest so quickly was Amos Flynn of all people. The literal one queer guy off-limits.

Amos laughed. “Memorable, for sure. I’ll be thinking about it later.” He winked and started to walk away. “You grew up well, Brewer.” Amos disappeared into the night.

I’m so fucked. The quicker Amos left town, the better.

FOUR

MICKEY

Armed with a hot coffee from Special Blend, I braced myself for the Holiday Hoopla meeting. My friend Bowie, or Bo as he preferred these days, was the most organized person I knew, and the way he ran festival planning meetings showed it. As Maplewood’s community development manager, he took his responsibility of making Maplewood an enjoyable place to live very seriously.

I walked through the Maplewood Public Library toward the meeting room. Normally, I would’ve arrived ten minutes earlier to chat with Andre, the head librarian. He was one of my close friends and part of our D&D crew, but ever since he’d coupled up with Ethan—another childhood friend—and temporarily relocated to Seattle for the year, I had no reason to show up early.

“Hey, where’s mine?” asked Clara, who was filling in as head librarian while Andre was away. She had bright-red hair, green glasses, and a warm smile. She aimed one of them at me as she arranged books on a children’s display about Thanksgiving and local indigenous history.

I laughed. “You sound like Andre.”

“I’ve got to make sure people don’t forget him while he’s out west. Not that anyone would.” Her smile was fond.

I loved that Andre’s colleagues adored him so much. He poured his heart and soul into this place. Thinking of him reminded me of the handful of times I’d nearly texted to tell him about what happened with Amos on Halloween two weeks ago. I figured he or Ethan were the safest to talk to since they weren’t currently in town, but I couldn’t make myself actually say the words to anyone.

“We definitely won’t. It’ll be great to see him and Ethan at Christmas. I’d better get to the meeting. Good to see you.”

“You too.” She returned to her work as I walked away.

I was still getting used to not having Andre at D&D nights. Ethan was only in Maplewood during his hockey off-season, so it was normal to not see him this time of year. I missed my friends, but more than that, I was thrilled they’d found their way to each other, despite my envy.

The eager chatter spilled from the meeting room as I approached.

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