Page 19 of Making New Plans

I worked until the last minute, as usual. Glancing through the kitchen window, I considered saying goodbye to Hunter. But one look at his tense shoulders and fierce frown as he scrubbed pots and pans, and I chickened out.

Instead, I dutifully attended both committee meetings and doodled in my planner when my mother wasn’t looking while other members argued for the umpteenth time over which weather forecast would be right for tomorrow.

The next morning dawned sunny and in the 40’s like my weather app had been promising me for the past week. Too bad I hadn’t put money down last night like the rest of the committee had. But you never knew with Minnesota season changes. Late March could mean 65 and sunny one day and two feet of snow the next. Thankfully, today was a good day.

Until I arrived at the park. Utter mayhem reigned before me. Apparently, everyone had scrapped our careful planning and diagramming from previous meetings.

Cheryl from the local grocery store, Cheryl’s Pantry, had tried to set up her snack booth where Sarah’s coffee cart was supposed to go, and a squabble ensued. Someone hadn’t constructed the animals pens properly, and two dogs were throwing themselves at Cheryl and her homemade dog treats. Owen and his brother Louis were trying their best to corral people and animals, but they were severely outnumbered.

I set my bags down, put two fingers to my mouth, and whistled sharply. Both dogs immediately plopped their butts on the ground, and every pair of human eyeballs swung toward me.

“Okay, people, listen up! Louis, grab those two dogs while they’re holding still and pen them up. Owen, double-check all the animal pens. Cheryl, I’m sorry, but Sarah’s cart needs to go there because it’s closer to the electrical hookups. Everyone else, I’ve got the banners and bunting. Let’s do it!”

Like good soldiers, everyone hurried to follow my orders. Within the hour, the blue, yellow, and white decorations fluttered around the square. The booths sat in their proper places, ready for customers. And the animals waited in their pens for somebody, anybody, to walk by with treats and pets. Monty manned his grilling station. Perched on a stool under a tent, Rose organized her stack of paper and pencils for drawing people with their pets.

I planted my hands on my hips, surveying our work, and nodded proudly. Seeing a project come together was one of my favorite things. Now it just needed to be a success. But Tangled River never let me down. If there was an event going on, you could bet, come blizzard or hordes of mosquitos, the Tangled River residents would show up. Hell, we had a major event at least once a month because we enjoyed it so much.

Sure enough, people trickled in right on time to donate, pick up a bumper sticker, snack, and coo over the animals.

My part done, I made a beeline for Sarah’s coffee cart. She chuckled as she poured me one of the larger cups. I plunked double the fee in her jar since all proceeds went to the animal clinic. Taking my spoils to a nearby park bench, I eased onto the cold wood.

As I wrapped my hands around my cup, a horribly familiar voice spoke from behind me, “I’m starting to see a pattern with you and coffee.”

Crap, what was he doing here? Slowly, I turned to face Hunter who was dressed in a sage-green button-down and dark gray slacks.

“Why are you wearing that?” I blurted.

One eyebrow went up. “Oh, I’m sorry, is this a flannel-only event?”

I tried not to commit the biggest eye-roll in history. “No, but those clothes aren’t exactly pet-friendly. I’m assuming that’s why you’re here at a town event.”

“Then you assume wrong. A habit where I’m concerned, it seems. And shockingly, I didn’t pack for an outdoor animal outing when I came here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you here then?”

He shrugged, his impassive gaze sweeping over the park. “Owen told me to meet him here. Do you know where he is?”

Shocked was an understatement. He’d actually made a connection with someone here? Not that Owen wasn’t a great guy, but what made him so special?

“Sure, yeah, I can show you.”

Clutching my coffee cup, I led him over to where Owen was handing out Furry Family bumper stickers to people while Louis introduced them to his animals. The two brothers didn’t look much alike with Owen’s golden hair and Louis’s dark brown, Owen clean-shaven and Louis sporting a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. But they both had similar builds and bright eyes, except Louis wore dark-framed glasses over his.

Owen grinned as we approached and, miracle of miracles, seemed happy to see Hunter.

“Hey, you two! Chloe, thanks for the incredible work you put into this.” He reached out to shake Hunter’s hand. “Good to see you, man.”

Hunter looked as surprised as I felt at the warm greeting but shook Owen’s hand anyway.

“This is my brother Louis,” Owen said, pulling his brother forward. “Louis, Hunter.”

The more reticent brother, Louis simply bobbed his head at Hunter and said a soft “hello.” Hunter responded with a friendly nod.

Without further ado, Owen turned back to Hunter and demanded, “Well, what did you think?”

I frowned in confusion. Did I miss something?

A corner of Hunter’s mouth quirked. “Seeing as how I stayed up until three a.m. to finish it, I’d say it was pretty good.”

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