The sun didn’t disappoint on the Fourth of July, shining brightly without a single cloud to mar the perfect blue sky. The Flip Side was closed for the day and I was able to spend my time enjoying the beautiful weather, preparing for the barbecue, and hanging out with my mom and her fiancé, who’d come over from Seattle for the holiday. In the late afternoon, Brett and Chloe’s family began to arrive, and before long everyone was there, including Brett’s parents, his cousin Jourdan, and his aunt Gwen. Even Ray was there, out of uniform and looking relaxed.
While the food was grilled and eaten, Flapjack settled on the porch railing to watch the festivities, and Bentley—his leg still on the mend—made the rounds from person to person, putting on his best sad puppy-dog expression, hoping for a few tasty morsels to come his way.
At one point, Chloe pulled me aside and spoke to me in a low voice. “I told my family about Matthew, and about the blackmail.”
“I’m so glad, Chloe,” I said with a sense of relief. “How did they react?”
She blinked as her eyes grew damp. “They were angry on my behalf, both at Matthew and Sheryl, but they don’t seem to think any worse of me.”
“Of course they don’t.” I gave her a quick hug.
“I feel better now that I’ve told them. Ray’s investigating Sheryl for blackmail, but I’m hoping I can put it all behind me before long.”
“I hope so too,” I told her. “You know, Sheryl told me she never collected any money from the park.”
“Somebody must have found it. I walked by the day after I left it under the bench and it was gone.”
“It could have been Ida, since that was her favorite spot.”
“I’ll probably never know who took it,” Chloe said. “It doesn’t really matter. I just want to move on.”
“That’s the best thing to do,” I agreed. “Does Brett know that I knew you were blackmailed?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. I told him I got you to promise not to tell. He’s not mad at you.”
That was a relief, and we were both able to rejoin the others with smiles on our faces.
As the afternoon slowly melted away into evening, Brett and I lit a fire in the fire pit between the back porch and the top of the beach. Flapjack retreated indoors for a nap on the couch and the rest of us gathered around the fire, sitting on rough-hewn wooden benches. Bentley settled at Brett’s feet, and we passed around a bag of large marshmallows, using sharpened sticks to toast them over the open flames.
I tried not to get my marshmallow too close to the fire, wanting it to end up evenly browned instead of charred, but somehow it still caught fire.
“Oh no!” I quickly blew out the flame and frowned at my blackened marshmallow.
Brett grinned. “All these years and you still haven’t got the hang of it.”
I elbowed him in the ribs, but he was right. When I’d known him in our teens, all my marshmallows ended up charred, and nothing had changed since then.
“I’ll eat it,” Jourdan piped up. “I love charcoaled marshmallows.”
“Be my guest.” I let her pull the burnt sugary treat off the end of my toasting stick.
“Here.” Brett removed his latest marshmallow from the fire and offered it to me. “Have this one.”
It was perfectly toasted, evenly brown all around.
“How do you do that?” I asked before savoring the marshmallow.
“What can I say? When you’ve got the knack, you’ve got the knack.”
From that point on, I left the marshmallow toasting to him.
The sun slowly sank toward the western horizon, and after it had disappeared from sight, the first firework shot into the air and burst into a shower of sparks with a loud bang. Bentley’s head shot up and he let out a worried whine. The fireworks were being set off closer to town, but near enough that the show would be a loud one.
Brett got up from the bench, the end of the dog’s leash in hand. “I’m going to take Bentley inside. I don’t think he’s going to like the noise much.”
“Good idea.”
I followed Brett into the house, leaving everyone else outside. I shut the French doors and paused by the couch to give Flapjack a scratch on the head before joining Brett over by the family room window. Bentley settled at Brett’s feet, leaning against his legs and looking up at him with worried eyes as more loud bangs went off down the beach.
“It’s all right, bud,” Brett assured him with a pat on his golden head.
I stepped up next to Brett and he put an arm around me. Together we watched the colors erupting in the sky. As the show went on, I moved closer to Brett and he kissed the top of my head. I let out a contented sigh and leaned into him.
Here in the place I loved, with people and animals I cared for dearly, everything seemed perfect. And despite the fireworks exploding in the sky, I felt more at peace than I ever had before.