“If you say so,” he grumbled as he settled into his chair for the trip across the street.
“Don’t make me drag you back to bed, get you in a better mood.” Rain’s tone was anything but threatening. “And if you truly hate the party, we’ll simply slip away early, come back here and make our own fireworks.”
“Now that sounds like a plan.”
“Of course, I’m kind of digging this whole small town Fourth of July thing too. The parade was fun.”
“Yeah?” Garrick had lived here his whole life, so the old-fashioned parade and festival was comfortable and familiar. He’d figured Rain would be bored though, but to his surprise, Rain had been into it, waving at the floats of kids and civic organizations. “I’ll save enough energy for the town firework show tonight then. You’ll like that.”
“I will. But Cookie won’t.” Rain laughed, then frowned as they encountered Cookie lurking at the door. She had a baleful look for them, as if she sensed she was about to miss out on some fun. “Wish Grandma would let us bring her to the party. Her dogs can deal.”
“Her house, her rules.” Garrick shrugged as he pointed and ordered Cookie to her living room bed, a big flowered cushion Rain had found at one of the shops that carried his grandmother’s textiles. “And she was nice enough to invite my dad too. She doesn’t need Cookie adding to the chaos.”
“Did you tell your dad that the burgers are black bean?” Rain followed him out the door and down the driveway.
“I promised him a steak next week.” The presence of his dad made this even more of a meet-the-family thing. Not that he had an issue being a couple with Rain, but he also felt a certain...pressure to make sure the party went well.
“Rain!” Two tall curly-haired guys with Rain’s brown eyes exited a hybrid SUV. The older one had glasses and a spiky-haired, shorter friend hanging on his arm. “Come here.”
“You drove on your own?” Rain hurried over.
“Three hours or more in the Prius’s back seat listening to one of Mom’s self-help audiobooks?” The younger brother did a comical shudder. “I think not. You’ll note too that we beat their drive time.”
Brotherly hugs and introductions were exchanged, and Lark, the older one, introduced his friend as Harper, while the younger one, Skye, studied Garrick with undisguised speculation. Skye was full of stories about summer college classes while Lark and Harper were both nursing students with summer internships at the same Portland hospital where Garrick had initially been treated for his injuries. All three—or okay four, Rain included—made Garrick feel even older.
Rather than navigate the front steps, they went around to the side gate where the backyard was decked out for the party—tie-dyed table linens, a beanbag toss game for the younger kids, coolers with drinks, various types of lawn chairs scattered around, and a truly impressive array of food. A fair number of people were already there—neighbors along with some of Shirley’s fabric arts community and a few assorted cousins. Her yappy dogs were underfoot as usual, but Shirley herself looked rejuvenated in a rainbow-dyed dress and twin gray braids down her back.
“My boys!” She handed Garrick her phone so that he could take pictures of her beaming with all three brothers. As he was giving it back, Rain’s parents arrived. His dad was shorter than Rain’s mom with Shirley’s longer nose and sharp features, while the mom was almost as tall as Rain’s brothers with a riot of curly hair held back by a woven band. Her lean muscles gave the impression that she must live at the yoga studio. She brought carob hemp seed cookies and an appraising stare for Garrick.
“So...this is your new friend, Rain? The one we’ve heard so much about?”
“Uh-huh.” Rain nodded enthusiastically and made the introductions, heaping on the praise for Garrick’s rescue of Cookie and his work with the forest service.
“You know I read the most amazing article recently about clinical massage and cannabis and chronic pain in spinal cord injuries. Fascinating stuff!” Rain’s mother enthused, bending to be more on Garrick’s level.
“Mom. He can’t do cannabis. Drug testing for work.” Rain rolled his eyes.
“Yet another reason it needs widespread acceptance.” Far from put off, Rain’s mother spent the next few minutes making an impassioned case for alternative healing including CBD oil and acupuncture.
“I think I’ve seen enough needles,” Garrick demurred.
“Just say no to her brownies,” Rain whispered in Garrick’s ear when his mom got distracted by a question from Skye. “Also, this is how she shows love. When she met Harper, she was full of nonbinary resources. When she volunteers to run a 10k race for spinal injury awareness, that’s when you’ll know she really likes you.”
“Noted. And she’s nice. But I’m still not trying acupuncture.”