Chapter 62

“Wait.”

“Are you going to be a party pooper?”

I set Wilbur down on the floor. “Not at all.” I’d had an idea. “I can do you one better. Follow me.” I took off at almost a run, with Wilbur hot on my heels and Patrick not far behind

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“You’ll see.”

I took Patrick down the center aisle of the store, way to the back. From there, holding his hand now, we went past the Employees Only section.

“We’re being naughty, Goose Tucker.”

“We’ve only just started, Patrick O’Hanlon. It’s like a snow day when we were kids, all rules are meant to be broken.”

“You had way more fun on a snow day than I did, by the sounds of it,” Patrick lamented.

We stopped just past a pair of orange swinging metal doors, where I turned to face him. “Don’t tell me this carefree, fun, and playful man who stands beside me now was the kind of kid who did homework on a snow day.”