Page 173 of When In Doubt

“I know, honey. You don’t ever have to prove a thing to me.”

Epilogue

FREYA

“What are you talking about?” Elsie squawks, batting away Joyce’s hands. Joyce lunges again, surprisingly spry for a woman in her eighties as she tries to wrestle the brush from Elsie’s hands.

“You have to go with the grain!” Joyce hisses. “Otherwise you might as well be backcombing, and that’s just manufacturing false fluff!”

“I am going with the grain!” Elsie turns away, trying to stop Joyce from seeing what she’s doing.

“Let me do it!”

“No! This is my cat, I’ll brush him any way I please!”

I’m about to step out from behind the booth I’m setting up when Oscar jogs over to see what all the commotion is about. Elsie and Joyce are at a folding table in the corner of the apparatus bay as Elsie is giving her cat a final brush before judging starts in an hour.

“Ladies, can we please take it down a notch,” Oscar says as he nears them.

Joyce huffs, scowling at him. “You know, this wouldn’t be a problem if you would just implement the regulations that I suggested.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “Birdie sets the rules, we’re not changing them.” His voice is grave. “Now, can you cut it out before she comes back, I’m not having you ruin this for her.”

At the mention of Birdie, the women straighten, expressions sheepish. This cat competition looks like it’s going to be the biggest one in Cedar Creek history, and it’s easy to know why. Birdie and Joni moved back into town four months ago after living with Joni’s sister for most of the last three years. This is the first time either of them will be attending the Open House and everyone is determined to make it as good as possible for them.

Joni chuckles from next to me as she lays the tablecloth across the front of our booth. Oscar had invited her as the guest of honor today, but she declined. Instead, she’s here in her capacity as the newest employee of Malcolm Yarn and Crafts.

“Birdie would probably love the drama,” she whispers to me.

After I knitted the blanket for Birdie, she asked me to show her how I made it. The two of us stayed in touch, with Joni texting me knitting questions until she had nothing left to ask. Then, we just swapped project ideas, yarn recommendations, and last year she came out to Denver with me to help out at the convention. When she said she wanted to come home, I couldn’t offer a job fast enough.

“Right?” I giggle back. “That kid lives for this kind of stuff.”

Oscar walks over to us, ducking around the makeshift wall of our booth. “Remind me to ban those two next time,” he huffs as he wraps an arm around my waist and tugs me to him.

“Be nice.” I press up on my toes to kiss his cheek, leaving a smudge of lipstick that I have to wipe away with my thumb. There’s been more than one occasion where the crew have noticed red stains on his skin when he shows up in the mornings.

“I’m always nice,” he grumbles.

“You’re always nice to me.” I quirk an eyebrow. “Everyone else…”

“Hush.” He stops me with a kiss to my lips. As we break apart, my hand on his chest brushes the captain’s insignia.

After he stepped down, the department sent a new acting captain from a neighboring town. Oscar had been so worried that the crew was going to hate him, but it couldn’t have been less true. Everyone rallied together to support each other, and a year and a half later when Oscar was offered the job as captain outright, they couldn’t have been happier for him.

I’m so proud of him, it still makes me want to burst. He worked so hard in therapy, opening up about his dad. He’s been talking about him more to me and his mom and it’s been incredible to see him stop hiding himself away.

“You doing alright?” he asks. “I’ve got extra headphones in my office if you need them.”

“I’m fine.” I roll my eyes at him, even as I’m smiling.

“How's the set-up going?”

“Nearly there!” Joni chimes in from where she’s adding the last few skeins to the pegboard.

“Awesome.” He presses one more kiss to the top of my head. “I’d better go, doors open in thirty.”

Just as I peel myself away from him, Ryan appears next to us. “Hey, Cap,” he says to Oscar, sounding a little breathless. “There’s something up with the dunk tank.”