Page 36 of What Maple Heard

“Hey Maple!” he said.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” I asked, genuinely surprised. He never mentioned coming to meet River after the dance rehearsals. Was he going behind my back to cozy up to my brother and get him on his good books?

Cade opened his mouth to reply, but River jumped in. “When I got here today, Cade was already here for some other meeting.”

I looked at Cade.

“I had some stuff to sort out with the fall festival coordinator,” Cade said. “Sponsorship things. I didn’t know River was assigned to this wall until I got here and saw him.”

“And then,” River continued, cutting Cade off, “we started talking about the wall, like what it even looks like, and what were we even thinking when we tagged it, and what I was going to do with it, and I started saying how it would be cool if instead of just painting it one color, I could actually — Maple, what if I painted a mural?”

I looked at him, not realizing my mouth was open in surprise. Since when did River get so excited about a punishment?

“A real mural, River,” he said. “Like, an actual one. Of the fall foliage. The maple trees, the covered bridge, the festival. All of it.” He pointed at different sections of the wall. “The tree line here, the bridge in the middle, and then the festival lights along the bottom.”

He looked at me. “Cade talked to the coordinator right away, and he said yes.”

I met Cade’s eyes.

What was happening?

“The coordinator was very open to it,” Cade said. He kept his voice easy, like it was nothing, like he hadn’t just turned River’s community service from a punishment into something River would remember. “A mural is better for the wall long-term anyway. And River’s vision for it is—“ He paused. “It’s really good, Maple.”

“It’s only because of Cade that the coordinator even said yes to the mural idea,” River said. He looked at Cade like he had personally hung the moon. “And he’s also going to help me with the proportions. Like, how to actually scale the images properly on a wall this big.”

“It’s just construction basics,” Cade said, with a shrug. “That was the least I could do.”

“Of the four of us who got in trouble,” River continued, turning back to me, “me and Brody got assigned to this wall. The other two—“ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

I looked around.

On the other side of the venue, two boys were moving through the grounds with large black trash bags, picking up leaves and litter. One of them was Noah Walker, which gave me a very weird sense of satisfaction.

“We start the actual mural tomorrow.” River continued. “But tonight I want to get the base coat on so we have a clean surface.” He held up the paintbrush. “Cade showed me how to mix it so it covers the graffiti properly.”

River gave Cade a grin — genuine and completely unselfconscious — and then looked back at me.

“I’ll be over there working if you need me,” he said, already moving toward the paint tray. He walked away and picked up his brush and got to work.

Cade and I stepped back. We stood side by side watching River paint.

“I haven’t seen him like this,” I said, “In a long time.”

“I know.” Cade kept his eyes on River. “There’s a spark in him today that I hadn’t seen before either.” He was quiet for a second. “Maybe Aurelia Maplewood, Keeper of the Autumn Leaves, really does exist. Maybe she sent me to the community center at exactly the right time so I wouldn’t miss it.”

We stood in silence for a moment. It was not an uncomfortable silence. That was the thing with Cade. Even now, even after everything, the silences with him had never been uncomfortable. They had always felt like a place where both of us were just allowed to be.

I hated that.

“Why are you doing all of this?” I said.

He didn’t answer right away.

“I mean it,” I said. “It’s all very sweet of you, Cade, all of it. But I don’t want to mislead you. I don’t think I can look past what I heard that night. I really can’t.”

“I know,” he said.

“Then why—“