The Unmasking of Kelly James (Tavern Boys Book 1) by Belle Chapin

Author:Belle Chapin [Chapin, Belle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Danvers Writing and Publishing, LLC
Published: 2023-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

“Time for a lesson in fun, my friend,” Kelly announced as they walked into the main hall of the Field Museum in Chicago the following Saturday. “Throw yourself into a hobby.”

“I’m not sure this is a hobby for Nora,” Jonah said, glancing down at the wide-eyed eight-year-old clutching his left hand. “I think this is a religion.”

“Daddy,” she breathed out, walking forward as if she were being called into some holy light. “He’s here. Máximo is here.”

Jonah grabbed the back of her shirt to tug her back to him, but her eyes wete trained past the ticket booths. “We haven’t even bought our tickets yet. Máximo isn’t going anywhere. I’m not sure he fits through the front doors.”

He paid for the tickets and guided Violet and Nora through the entrance, while Kelly pushed Maya through in the stroller. Occasionally, he tilted the stroller back as if he were doing a wheelie, and Maya shrieked with delight.

“Come on, come on, come on!” said Nora, pulling Jonah forward past tourists and shelves of brochures until they were standing right in front of the great Máximo himself.

“Oh, Máximo,” she gasped, as if greeting a wriggling puppy and not a cast model of the largest dinosaur skeleton ever discovered.

Máximo said nothing back, of course, but even if he could, he wouldn’t be able to get a word in edgewise. Nora burst into a detailed monologue about Argentinian sauropods that would stun the most seasoned of paleontologists. When she stopped to take a breath, she clutched at her heart and gazed up at the titanosaur’s neck, absolutely entranced.

Kelly was right. Indulging in hobbies, or at least the children’s, was fun. That sparkle in Nora’s eyes was priceless.

Maya, ever the succinct child, pointed up at the dinosaur and roared.

“That’s right, honey,” said Kelly. “Dinosaurs say ‘roar.’” He knelt down next to her in the stroller, and together, they threw their heads back and bellowed at the skeleton. Not one to be left out, Violet sprinted over and joined them, and Nora followed soon after. The four of them roared their greetings to the extinct creature, not caring who was watching them, or how their voices carried.

A dull but not unpleasant twinge hit Jonah’s chest. It intensified when Kelly threw him a big smile from his crouched position.

“Jonah,” called Kelly in a sing-song voice, waving his hand to beckon him over. “Come roar with us.”

Jonah shook his head. “Absolutely not.”

“Come roar with us, Jonah,” he repeated, mimicking the creepy twins from The Shining.

“Daddy, please,” joined the girls. “You have to roar. You just have to.”

“I don’t have to do anything of the sort,” Jonah said, but he was already halfway to them, and ended up crouched next to Kelly by the stroller.

“I feel ridiculous,” he grumbled, holding on to the stroller to keep balance on the back of his heels.

“Best way to be,” said Kelly, and then he let out a comical, overdramatic roar that was echoed by a chorus of three little girls—and Jonah.

And it felt pretty good.

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