Page 52 of Your Last First Kiss

“What the hell are they doing?” I’ve got my nose pressed to the window like a kid seeing snow for the first time.

We watch as a hot pink snowsuit blows snow from a bright red machine toward another plume of snow coming from the opposite direction.

A knock on the window startles me. An older woman with smiling eyes stares in. I lower the window.

“Abbie, what the hell are they doing?” Miller asks the woman.

She sighs and hands over a thermos and some paper cups. “James plowed Cassie’s walkway, but she doesn’t want any help from him, so she started snow blowing his sidewalk. Now they’re just blowing snow back and forth while cursing under their breaths.”

“How long have they been at it?” Miller sighs.

“Goin’ on an hour and a half now. Well, this time. James ran out of gas and had to run home to fill up. While he was gone, Cassie worked her way down the entire street.”

Miller curses under his breath, then jumps out of the truck. I watch as he walks first to Cassie, then to James, and then finally stands in the middle of them with his arms raised like he’s brokering a peace treaty.

Hell, maybe he is.

He holds up his fingers, and it looks like he’s counting to three. When his third finger raises, the noise from both snow blowers fades. The two enemies turn their backs and walk to their respective corners like it’s an old-fashioned pistol duel.

“What the he—ck just happened?” I mutter. A gust of cold air sweeps into the cab of the truck.

“My guess is Miller told them to grow up and gave them each a corner of the green to clear. In opposite directions,” the old woman to my right says. “He had to separate them like that over the summer at the Fourth of July party after James showed up. Unannounced.”

I shake my head at the nonsense of it all. “The green?” I ask.

“It’s what we call the town center. In the summer, it’s all grass,” Kai says.

Miller stomps his boots against the footrail of the truck, then climbs into the driver’s seat.

“What was that?” I ask.

“Life. Messy. Complicated. Life.” He grunts. Leaning forward and looking out my window, he asks, “Are the volunteers all set for the night at the firehouse?”

“All set. Two Reid brothers are on tonight. The other is manning the brewery,” Abbie says, her eyes catching on Kai before a silent conversation happens between Abbie and Miller in one look.

“I’ll drop these two off at home, then check on Three Brother’s Brewing,” Miller promises, and I suddenly understand the look. He’s going to look for Eddy.

“You’re a good boy, Matty.” She thumps the passenger door three times, then steps back, and Miller puts the truck in drive while I roll up the window.

“You see, living in a small town isn’t just about waking up and going to bed here. It’s about the people who know your business. The ones who show up with casseroles when someone dies and cakes for birthdays. It’s about the people who become your family,” Miller says to no one in particular. “Even when you think all family can do is let you down. Small towns have a way of proving even the most cynical wrong.”

His words could have been for Kai or for me. I think they hit us both in different ways.

At Heirlooms restaurant, I meet Lucas and Levi. After we help them clear a path to their barn and make sure the animals are fed and taken care of for at least twenty-four hours, we move on to the next item on Miller’s list.

Then the next.

And the next.

Miller introduced me to each new person as a TAC-in-training but wouldn’t tell me what it meant. Whatever it was, it seemed to put the community at ease around me.

It’s late afternoon before we head back to Penny’s house in silence. The scraping sound of the plow as it hits concrete picks at the scab around my heart. A wound I thought had scarred over years ago suddenly feels fresh and fragile.

I turn to look at Kai. I’ve done it a lot today. What would my life have been like without the influence of Mr. Westbrook? Where would I be?

I’d like to be that person for Kai. I just have to figure out how the hell to do it. And there’s the TAC and the plans that have hovered at the edge of my consciousness since Miller handed me that folder.

I can be that person for Kai and his brothers. I know I can.