Page 46 of Fanboy in the Falls (Devon Falls #3)

There’s something about the air in Devon Falls. —Gabe Gomez

“Mario should have called by now.”

I mutter the words as I thump my way down Main Street, in between my two giant boyfriends.

Boyfriends. I wonder if I’ll ever get totally used to saying that, either out loud or in my head.

Then again, I also wonder if I’ll get used to this giant walking cast a doctor at the hospital in Fairlington installed on my leg this morning.

It’s supposed to make walking a lot easier, and I think it eventually will, but right now the weight is hard to manage.

Every step feels like a trip through mud.

Which is sort of how my thoughts feel right now too, if I’m being honest. It’s been almost forty-eight hours since I told off Dave at the winery, and the Devon Falls Leaf Festival is now in full swing.

The parade in an hour will be the big celebration of the weekend, and the streets are already filled with people: community members I recognize, strangers visiting from out-of-town, local TV stations setting up interviews with bystanders.

Three small children whiz by carrying giant cones of what looks like maple cotton candy, and a tired man chases after them.

“No more sugar if you can’t listen!” he yells down the street.

I blink back tears as I try to imagine what Lou’s doing this morning.

He loves this parade. I’m sure Jack and Benson will bring him to see it, but without the okay from Mario, I won’t be able to even wave or say hello to him.

And that fact feels a hundred pounds heavier than the boot that’s wrapped up around my broken leg.

We reach the edge of the town square, where Sam and Malachai are waving to us. They’ve got a line of camping chairs set up at the edge of the sidewalk, right in front of the giant poop emoji statue that isn’t actually a poop emoji. I salute it, the way I always do when I see that statue.

I’ve decided I like it when art can just be fully itself.

“We got prime spots,” Malachai said. “Amelia saved them for us.”

“The mayor?” Colin asks. “What did you two do to deserve spots right across the street from the parade announcers? I didn’t know Amelia liked you that much.”

Sam shrugs. “She said she wanted to make sure her neighbor got a front row seat to all the floats.” He passes over a bottle of water as I ease myself down into a chair next to Malachai.

“Don’t worry, those things get easier,” he says as he gestures toward my cast. “And I’ve got it on good authority that an excellent orthopedist will be at the wedding this week.

He wants to look at your x-rays and make sure everything’s healing as it should. ”

“Milo’s coming?” Tom beams. “Little one, you’ll love Milo! Sam and Jack’s other best friend,” he adds when he sees my confused frown.

“He’s so hot,” Malachai whispers in my ear from the seat next to me. “I swear, between Sam, Jack, and Milo, the hospital where they all did their residency had to have looked like something right out of one of those medical dramas they all claim to hate because they're not realistic enough."

I laugh and take a sip of the water. “And the wedding’s all set to go?”

Sam sighs. “Well, we lost the battle on not inviting the entire town.”

Malachai rolls his eyes. “They put the wedding on the last town meeting agenda. And then they begged.” He shrugs. “So we decided to keep the ceremony small, but then everyone’s invited to the winery afterward for the reception.”

“Softie,” says Colin.

Malachai grins as he looks around the crowds gathering nearby. He waves to someone across the street—one of the Ryker kids, I think—and shrugs again. “Well,” he says. “What can I say? I like how much everyone in this town cares about being part of my life.”

“Yeah,” I whisper. I’ve spent so much time in Devon Falls hiding my real life, my real self, from these people.

I spent so much time here being afraid. And even though I still don’t know exactly what’s going to happen to Lou, it feels great to be able to sit here in broad daylight, next to the two people who have changed everything for me, and know that I don’t have secrets from anyone here anymore.

And everyone’s still waving and smiling as they walk by.

I wonder if maybe it’s time for a new affirmation. I keep thinking of that line Colin tells me his brother used to say all the time.

There’s something about the air in Devon Falls.

“Friends of Devon Falls!” Amelia’s voice, projected loudly from the giant hanging speakers attached to the stage across the street, echoes across the park. “It’s time for the annual Devon Falls Leaf Festival Parade!”

Cheers and clapping flow up and down the street, and I can’t help but stare back and forth across the crowds as I search for a glimpse of Lou.

“Don’t worry, he isn’t missing it,” Malachai murmurs to me. “He’s with Jack and Benson and Jack’s parents. They’re watching from the porch of Lancer Family Medicine.”

I swallow and nod. That’s a good view, at least. Lou will get to see all the old antique cars up close. Those are his favorite part.

“And he’s… good?” I’m not supposed to ask, not really, but I don’t think Malachai’s going to tattle on me.

Malachai sends me a half-smile. “He’s doing okay. He’s strong. But he’ll be better when he has you back in his life.”

I blink back more tears as Colin snakes a hand into my lap to grip my knee.

“First of all,” Amelia calls out across the town, “I’d like to announce that we’ve had a slight change in theme this year.

Parade participants have changed their floats for a new theme, one sponsored by the LGBTQIA2S+ society here in Devon Falls.

This year, the society and the town have declared the parade theme to be… royalty!”

“Huh?” I say. I’m used to the usual floats and costumes in this parade, where everything and everyone is covered in paper leaves of some kind. Royalty? What’s she talking about? “Why would they change the theme?” I ask.

Then the high school band starts marching up the street, leading the parade, with the first float riding slowly behind them. And then I understand.

The band is playing the song “Let it Go” from Frozen. And on the float behind them, the town council’s float, every single person is wearing a Disney princess costume.

“Holy crap.” Tears are falling from my eyes now as the float goes by, with every member, male, female, or nonbinary, wearing a dress that looks exactly like one of Lou’s favorites.

The next float comes by filled with people wearing prince costumes, and then another one filled with princesses, and then I’m really crying as the marching band plays on and another float rumbles by us.

It's the LGBTQIA2S+ society's float, and I can't take my eyes off the banner on the side.

DEVON FALLS: WHERE EVERYONE ALWAYS BELONGS

“Was this…” I swallow down on the sentence I can’t finish. “Did they… I don't understand…”

Sam looks like he might be blinking back tears too. “We read the article,” he says. “Everyone in the society, I mean. And we thought it might be time for a big reminder to the world of what Devon Falls stands for.”

I stand up awkwardly on my walking cast, and Tom wraps an arm around the side of my body as Colin steps behind me to envelope me against him.

“Where everyone always belongs,” Colin whispers in my ear. “I like that. I like that a whole fucking lot.”

I do too. But there’s also a snake of danger eating its way through my stomach.

Is Dave seeing this? Will this parade make him want to take even bigger steps to get Lou away from Devon Falls?

From me? I close my eyes and let the band’s music flow through me, and I wish with every fiber in me that Lou were here right now, watching this with me, cheering for these princesses and princes and waiting for his favorite cars, and—

“Gabe!”

My eyes shoot open as a tiny voice I’d know anywhere echoes across the cheering. I turn toward it, determined not to let hope get too big of a foothold in me.

But there he is. Lou. He’s standing right in between Jack and Benson, holding each of their hands and beaming from across the green.

He’s wearing his favorite blue dress—Cinderella, I think—and all I can do is stand there, shocked, as Jack leans down to whisper something to him.

Then he drops their hands and runs, and I try to run too but realize pretty quickly that running in a walking cast isn’t really a thing.

It doesn’t matter though, because my little brother is fast, and I lean down awkwardly on my good leg so that I can wrap him up in the biggest, hardest hug ever when he finally catapults himself straight into my arms.

There are hands on my shoulders, hard hands I know all too well, and I lean against them as I cry even more and hold on tight to Lou. “I missed you so much,” I say into his ear.

“Bet I missed you more,” he says back.

Behind us, a swirl of applause and cheering rolls through the crowd. Maybe it’s for a parade float, or the end of a song, but in my head all I hear is the applause that everyone should get to hear when they’re totally and completely surrounded by the people they love most in the world.

It isn’t until hours later, after the parade, that Mario the social worker fills in the rest of the story of how Lou and I have been brought back together.

He’s sitting with all of us on the town’s green, at a picnic table covered in corn dogs and fried dough dripping in maple syrup.

Lou’s so high on sugar he might never sleep again, and he and George Ryker are racing around the playground next to the poop emoji statue.

“Dave signed custody over to you,” Mario explains. “Dropped all of the accusations that we’d already figured out were bullshit anyway.”

“Why?” I ask as Tom nudges a corn dog toward me. Judging by the pile of food he and Colin put in front of me, they’re both worried I’m not eating enough.

Mario passes me a sealed envelope. “He said he had his reasons, and he wanted me to give you this.”

Colin eyes the letter with more than a little apprehension, and Tom’s staring at it like it might be a snake. Everyone at the table has their eyes on me as I start reading aloud.

Because this message isn’t just for me. I’m not going to be raising Lou alone. And all the other father figures who will be in his life deserve to hear these words too.

“Dear Gabe.” I frown at the handwriting, which reminds me of birthday cards and refrigerator notes I haven’t thought about in years.

Then I start reading. “I want you to know that I heard what you said at the winery the other day. Mostly, I heard what you said about your mom. I’m not sure she’d be too proud of the choices I’ve made since she first got diagnosed. ”

“Not sure, huh?” Colin mutters. Tom nudges him.

I just smile and keep reading. “You’ve always had the best of your mom in you, Gabe.

You remind me so much of her. I don’t know if I ever told you that.

And Lou deserves to have a parent as amazing as your mom was.

” I clear my throat, determined to get through this without crying again, and Tom rubs a hand over my knee.

“So do right by him, kid. I know you’ll give him the life I didn’t know how to give you.

In the meantime, tell Lou I love him. I always will.

I’ll visit once in a while, and I’ll remind him that I love him myself.

I don’t want to abandon him the way I did you.

But you’re the one in charge of him now, Gabe.

I think that’s what your mom would want. ”

I fold the letter over, closing it. It feels like I’m closing so many other things too, but I can’t think about that now. Not without sobbing again. “Gabe!” Lou shouts from across the park. “Look how high I can swing now!”

“Great job!” I call back. I shake my head as I slide the letter into my pocket. “So this is all real?” I ask Mario. “I’m really his full guardian now?”

Mario smiles. “Yes. There will be some involvement on our part while the details are finalized, but yes. You have custody of your little brother.” He glances back and forth between Tom and Colin. “And maybe we should talk, later on, about whether you ever want to look at adoption opportunities.”

“Yes,” Tom says, before I can answer, and I realize Colin’s nodding aggressively from the other side of me. I wonder: are throuples allowed to triple-adopt a kid? But that’s not a problem for today.

I clear my throat and look down the table, to where Jack and Benson are passing pieces of fried dough back and forth. “Thanks,” I tell them. “For keeping him so safe. And so happy.” I point at Benson. “And you’re getting a hug the next time I get up from this table, whether you like it or not.”

Benson shrugs and rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “I suppose I’ll allow it,” he says.

The entire table bursts out laughing, Lou squeals across the park, and somewhere behind me a marching band starts playing something that sounds distinctly like a song from Cinderella.

Tom and Colin both lean into me hard from either side, and I take a moment to look around me: at this festival, these people, this community. This place we’ve all created, where right now, everyone belongs