Page 50 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
When they neared, I noticed Mathias was carrying a box in his arms and they were both grinning from ear to ear.
“Hi,” Honey and I said in unison.
Gulliver smiled and kissed my cheek, sitting next to me while Mathias sat next to Honey. “We got dinner.”
I leaned over and indeed, inside the box was a whole carton of food and four bottles of IPA.
Mathias passed out the food, and we bit into our turkey legs, grilled to perfection, with juice running down our lips. Mojo peered at me longingly until I gave him a few pieces on the ground to keep him from shifting over to the guilt stare. When those pieces were gone, he moved on to the next person until they tossed him some turkey too.
“Wow,” Honey said, laughing as she wiped her face. “He knows how to work a room.”
“That’s because he usually doesn’t have a room to work!” I said, laughing. “It’s usually one and done, so he’s in heaven here. Mmm, this is wonderful,” I said, taking a swig of the beer. “You know how to treat a girl right,” I said, giving Gulliver a shoulder bump. With our height difference, it was always more like an upper arm bump, though.
Gulliver grinned and wiped his face with a napkin from the box. “I figured this might be right up your alley. The corn, you have to try,” he insisted, pointing at the ears in the box, still wrapped in their husks, crispy from the grill.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said, motioning at it. “Won’t all the silk get stuck in my teeth?”
All three of them laughed in unison. “They remove the silk,” Honey explained.
“You always know how to make me laugh,” he whispered in my ear as he helped me pull the husk down.
“Be careful, it’s going to be hard to hold in that miniature hand of yours,” Honey said, stripping the husk off her own piece. “You don’t want to drop it and have Mojo steal it.”
I glanced down at the dog, who was sitting impatiently, bouncing between his front paws with a whine in his throat. “I think Mojo wants me to drop it.” While everyone else laughed, I held the corn in both hands and bit into the juicy sweetness, butter spraying everywhere as I reveled in the summertime treat. “Holy man, this is eye-opening. I didn’t know corn could taste like this,” I said after I swallowed. “Cajun seasoning?”
Gulliver smiled with corn up both sides of his face. I used a napkin to wipe it away and gave him a wink. “I think she mixes her own spices, but it does have a Cajun taste to it,” he agreed, taking another bite.
“Honey knows exactly what’s in the mix,” Mathias said, wiping his hands. “She ran the booth last year.”
“Really?” I asked. “Is it run by different groups each year?”
Honey shook her head as I gave Mojo my corncob to gnaw on. His eyes lit up in delight, and he carried it away so I couldn’t grab it back. “No, Suzi runs it every year,” Honey explained, setting her garbage in the box. “She broke her arm last year right before the Fourth and couldn’t do all the work with a cast on.” She held up her arm. “Irony, right?”
We all chuckled and nodded at the irony of it indeed.
“This is one of her biggest festivals, so I didn’t want her to lose out on all the cash. I just did what she told me to do, and we made it through. In the process, I had to mix the spices for the seasonings, but I was sworn to secrecy,” she said, crossing her heart and zipping her lips.
“I won’t grill you for it then.” I winked. “See what I did there?”
“You got me,” she said, taking Mathias’s garbage and dumping that in the box too. “I suppose we better get going if we’re going to make Superior by dark.”
Mathias sighed, his gaze assessing the festival area with precision. “I’m still not comfortable having both of us out of the business tonight. I know my team is around the perimeter, but I’m still nervous.”
I glanced at Gulliver and back to Mathias. “He’s probably right, as much as I hate to admit it.”
Honey turned to Mathias. “Charity is a guest in the town. We’ll stay back. Everyone should get to witness the fireworks over the lake once in their life, and we’ve had the privilege of so many.”
Gulliver jumped in before he could say anything. “Go, Mathias. I know you need to check on both sets of parents. Charity and I will watch the fireworks from the beach behind Butterfly Junction.”
I nodded, jumping down off the bench. “He’s right. It doesn’t matter where we watch them from. You guys have plans, so we’ll stick close to the building tonight. Go, have fun. You don’t want to disappoint your parents. I know if I had a pair, I’d want to celebrate the big holidays with them too.”
Honey grabbed my hands and squeezed them. “Are you sure? We don’t want to ruin your night.”
I smiled brightly and then hugged her for good measure. “My night isn’t going to be ruined. I’m going to spend it with someone I care about while watching the fireworks over Lake Superior. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s behind the business or off on some super-secret shore. The place isn’t why I want to be there.” I winked, knowing she’d understand, and a smile did tip her lips up.
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“Positive,” Gulliver assured them, leaving his left hand on my shoulder while he shook Mathias’s hand. “Have fun and say high to your mom and dad.”
