Page 118

THE GATES OF VALHALLA

Tyler: Sorry, I’m running late.

Tyler: Somebody called the library asking about our next calendar.

Amanda: The Annual Studs of Firefly calendar.

Jason: Are we getting naked again?

Simon: I’m already naked.

Bobby: I’m going to make August so sexy.

Chris: You already do.

Jon: Mabel wants to direct.

Tyler: I’m in.

Amanda: Get ready, boys.

Amanda: This is going to be a production.

“Can I get some peace and quiet?” I shouted.

“Not even a little,” Amanda said. She wore overalls with a tool belt cinched around her waist. Unlike Bobby, she might dress the part, but the pristine tools and lack of wrinkles in her clothes suggested she had yet to get her hands dirty.

Without a doubt, she used volunteering as an excuse for the costume.

If I couldn’t beat them, I might as well join. I fired off the email with my latest cover design. It was my second mermaid romance this last week. With the way my work flowed, I’d receive a request for another dozen of them within the month. It might not be my favorite, but it paid the bills.

“Jonny!” Evie shouted from the front of the house. There must be a small army working under this roof. “We need a hand.”

Amanda grabbed me by the hand. “Just suck it up. Remember, you’re half the reason this is happening.”

Pulling me down the hallway, I spotted Bobby and one of his friends lugging a toilet up the stairs.

The living room furniture had been covered with plastic while another stranger cut crown molding.

It stopped being Mimi’s house and had become our house.

Every decision made it a more polished version of the house we visited in high school.

I’d like to think Mimi would be proud of all the work we accomplished.

By we, I meant Bobby and his team. I picked paint colors.

“What is it now?”

“We need your help,” Evie repeated. When Amanda got me onto the porch, I spotted Laurel and Evie covered in dirt. The sun had slid behind a cloud, giving our yard workers a brief reprieve from a hot summer day. They stood on the walkway to the street, staring at freshly rooted signposts.

“Hurry up so I can get started.” Marigold’s head popped up from in front of the porch. When I leaned over, I could see her tending to newly planted shrubs. With dirt smudged across her cheeks, I think she might look even more radiant than standing in her flower shop.

“These flowers aren’t going to plant themselves!”

Gladys barked at Jason and Simon as they lugged a wooden headboard from the back of the U-Haul.

Even Chris had a can of paint in his hand, touching up the chipped spots along the porch columns.

Half the town must be in the yard, while the other half worked at installing a bathroom on the third floor.

I was about to ask what they needed when I saw Harvey and Walter staggering along the sidewalk. “Help them before somebody breaks a hip,” I said. Pushing Amanda down the stairs, we ran over to the men holding the sign. Three feet tall and four feet wide, it weighed more than I assumed.

“Not so easy, is it?” Walter said.

“The whipper snappers thought they’d save the day.” Harvey helped Amanda while Walter pitched in on my end.

“Get it on the hooks!” Instead of helping, Evie and Laurel jumped up and down like excited schoolchildren.

We moved into position, and with one last heave, the grommets slid into place. The sign hung on its own, ready for everybody to see. Evie beckoned me over, also with the patience of a child.

When I joined her, she put her head on my shoulder, admiring our handiwork.

We had designed the sign together, and after much arguing, we had finally decided on a font.

I couldn’t understand why she didn’t like my idea of Mimi riding a winged horse with a bow and arrow. It’d have been the talk of the town.

“It’s amazing,” she said.

Etched in massive Nordic-looking letters: Valhalla Bed and Breakfast. More important than the name was the ‘Family Owned and Operated’ underneath it. I had thought it cheesy, but with Evie squealing, it made all the difference. This had become a family operation… family by blood and by choice.

“You did it,” I said.

“You’re just saying that, so I’ll say, ‘No, we did it, little brother.’” She gave me an elbow to the ribs. “I suppose you helped.”

“We need pictures!” Amanda shoved a hand into her overalls, producing her phone. “Olsen siblings.” She said it to make me smile. She and Jason knew how much this meant to me. “Get in front of the sign, we need?—”

“Wait!”

Everybody turned to see Tyler in a slow trot down the sidewalk.

He held something large and rectangular covered in brown wrapping paper.

I had wondered where my favorite resident had been hiding.

I assumed he had been teaching a literacy class, reading to kids, or updating his card catalog.

That was something librarians did, right?

“Sorry, Tyler,” Amanda said, holding up her phone. “This photo is for the owners.”

“Simmer down,” he said. I snickered at the statement. He had been spending too much time with Mabel. My boyfriend had developed a sassy streak. When Amanda pouted, I didn’t hide the smile.

“This is important.” He crossed the grass. Half the town stopped their chores and gathered to see Tyler’s delivery. Bobby had taken a chair on the porch, and when I spotted his grin, I knew something was amiss.

“They’re all in on it,” I whispered to Evie.

“How do you?—”

“It’s Firefly.”

“Point made.”

There was no way Tyler presented us with a gift without informing the whisper network.

Evie had trouble believing that gossip traveled faster than the speed of light.

They had proven me right time and time again.

Even the helping hands today had showed up without us asking.

Somebody had sent a message out, and every able-body…

and some not-so-able-bodies came out to help. I loved them all for their zest.

Tyler walked across the grass, proudly presenting the present, complete with a Christmas bow. “Sorry, I’m late. I had a book emergency.” That’s what he said whenever he had to turn a casual browser into a reading fanatic. “I thought this might be… I don’t know… a reminder of what started Valhalla.”

“Tyler, you didn’t have to,” Evie said.

The awkward thrust forward would be something I’d do. Maybe he spent too much time with me and needed to attend more of Mabel’s swagger classes. The pride on his face, the absolute joy, melted my heart. Tyler didn’t need a swagger… my boyfriend had more heart than any one person should be allowed.

“Thanks,” I took the present. “Evie, want to do the honor?”

The curiosity didn’t last long as she tore at the paper. At this point, everybody had gathered on the lawn. The knowing glances gave them away. Firefly knew everything about everybody. Boundaries here were more like loose suggestions. However, they knew how to keep a secret for a big reveal.

“Oh. My. God.” When she tore off the last of the wrapping paper, I realized I held a frame. Her jaw dropped, and it was as if she won the lottery.

I spun it around and gasped. Tyler had framed my sketch of Mimi.

She sat in her favorite chair, knitting needles in hand, making a pair of mittens.

He had stolen the page from my sketchbook without me knowing.

The abundance in my life forced tears into my eyes.

My heart had never been this full, and sharing it with Evie and our friends was too much.

“Family owned and operated,” Tyler said.

Evie reached around my chest, squeezing me. “We did it, Jonny.”

Glancing at Tyler, I could see him wiping his eyes.

He mouthed “radical love” while stepping backward.

I had said it a hundred times as I dropped pages around town.

Having it repeated to me made it feel as if those words were having an impact.

It was indeed radical, love without boundaries or conditions.

Seeing the people in my life gathered for no reason other than supporting their own… this was radical love.

“Stop your crying, and let me take a photo.”

Evie gave me a gentle shove in front of the sign. We stood tall while I held the portrait of Mimi. With her head on my shoulder, I could feel the looming potential in my bones. Turning Mimi’s house into a bed-and-breakfast might sound like an adventure… but it was the jumping-off point.

“Smile.” Amanda snapped a photo, changing the angle and grabbing a few extra.

“Evie, could we?—”

“Enough of that,” Evie said. “We need a photo of the people who started this. Marigold, can you get a photo for us?”

She waved Amanda and Jason over. These were the people who started our story twenty years ago. I loved that Evie acknowledged our origin. Mimi. Jason. Amanda. Me. Evie. We were?—

“Tyler. Get your butt over here.” Evie waved him over.

“You’ve been part of this since the beginning.

” When he stepped up, she pulled his arm, shoving him between me and her.

This might have been the family at the start of our story, but it continued to grow.

Every person here had become an honorary Olsen.

Tyler wrapped an arm around me and Evie, squeezing us together.

While Marigold took photos, I wondered how much longer before me and my sexy boyfriend would be more than just boyfriends.

For the first time in years, I couldn’t wait to see what the future held for us.

I kissed Tyler as Marigold snapped a photo.

Who knew, maybe this would be the last photo with my boyfriend? The next might be with my fiancé?

This is where the real adventure began. Our adventure.

“Hugs are over. Back to work!” Amanda shouted.