of the Whispering Key Bridge Fundraising Committee closed! And I’d hereby like to open the Whispering Key Welcome Party in honor of Toby-Trey Elford!”
The entire bar erupted in a chorus of “Surprise!”
My cousin, Fenn, appeared from somewhere, along with Lety, Bubba, Scotty, Jeremy, Barbara, Carolyn, Taffy, and Orry—more Whispering Keysters than I could even count—and all of them came over to tell Toby how glad they were that he’d picked up stakes in New York and moved down here.
Honestly, it had been a near-run thing as far as I was concerned. When I’d packed Marjorie up and brought her to New York, I’d had the idea in mind that if I somehow got Toby to take a chance on me, I’d happily stay, even if I had no idea what that would look like.
But when I’d told Toby so, he’d looked at me like I was several sandwiches shy of a picnic. “Permanently? Under no circumstances, Beale Goodman. Jonquil would fly up and smack us. Since you’re here, it’d be great to show you around this weekend, but I talked to my boss today and told her if all went well, I’d be moving to Florida. We can sublet the apartment and maybe sell it eventually.”
And all of that had sounded really, really good, but the best part had been the we.
Maddie McKetcham ran up to our table carrying an enormous banner that read TEALE 4EVA! in bright purple glitter.
Toby reached for my hand and gave me a look that said, What the fuck is going on?
I gave him a return look that said, Around here, baby? Who the hell knows?
“Madeline,” Toby said, staring at the sign. “What a truly… triumphant work of art. Thank you.”
Maddie beamed. “I knew you’d like Teale better than Boby for y’all’s ship name.”
“Our ship name.” Toby closed his eyes and nodded. “That’s… yes. Remarkable.”
“Littlejohn had us vote.”
Littlejohn nodded. “Ronnie here thought ‘Boby,’ but I wasn’t so sure.”
“Veronica,” his girlfriend, who was probably not going to be his girlfriend for very long, reminded him.
“That’s right, honeybunch. But you’ve gotta admit Ronnie’s catchy.”
Veronica looked like she didn’t “gotta” do anything of the sort.
“We have presents for you,” my dad shouted into the microphone, loud enough to startle any dolphins in the vicinity. “But Doc Mason said you wouldn’t be ready to entertain at your place yet, so we decided to surprise you here!”
Toby mouthed the words “Thank you” to Mase across the table, and Mason winked.
Dale Jennings placed a hand on Veronica’s and Littlejohn’s chairs and leaned in. “Betcha can’t guess what I got you,” he said with an eyebrow wiggle.
Toby blinked. “Is it a seashell-covered toilet seat?”
Dale grinned and nodded slowly. “Aw yeah. You know it. And? Don’t tell Doc Mason, but I got both you boys a year’s supply of ferrymones, for to help your prowesses.” He paused, and when Toby and I stared at him, he elaborated, “Your sexual prowesses.”
“Gotcha. Yeah. That’s… I can’t even…” I shook my head. “Wow.”
“Well said, soul mate,” Toby said, shooting me another one of his speaking glances. “Wow, indeed.”
“I’m literally sitting right here, Dale,” Mason said. He shook his head.
“And my cousin Marian knitted you a bed for your little one!” Dale continued, pretending he couldn’t hear Mase.
I wrapped my arms around Toby, buried my head in his neck, and pretended I couldn’t hear Dale.
At some point Bobo came over and asked Young Rafe about Gage’s road trip. He mentioned his nephew was coming to town and asked about our plans for the tour business, but I didn’t pay much attention. The man in my arms was so intoxicating, it wasn’t hard to tune everything else out…
Except my dad with his microphone.
“Okay, everyone, we’re gonna start the dancing soon—”
That got me to lift my head because dancing with a guy I loved was something I’d never done before, and suddenly I really wanted to.
“—but first, the Bridge Fundraising Committee has just taken a very quick secret vote—”
Toby looked at me, I looked at him, and we both looked at Mason, who grinned and shrugged.
“—and we’ve decided to name the new bridge after our Toby! It will be called the Toby-Trey Elford Memorial Bridge!”
Toby gave me a wide-eyed look that said, Memorial? at the same time Gloria leaned over to whisper something to my dad.
“Er. I mean. It’ll be named whatever Toby would like to name it,” he corrected.
All eyes turned to Toby, who floundered for half a second. He looked at me and then fingered the bracelet