Jo woke to a rolling sound she first mistook for thunder while lying in Sebastian “Sasha”’s arms. Realizing the noise did not fade like thunder, she and Sebastian hurried outside as Gigi, Mitch, Jo’s parents, and others gathered, drawn by the approaching clamor.

Jo remembered the tradition she had forgotten amid the storm: on the first hurricane-soaked day of August, wild horses galloped through Vienna Shores. In normal years, the town prepared like a parade, closing roads and shops and watching from rooftops; this time, in the storm’s aftermath, only the locals at the Revelry waited under the marquee.

The herd arrived in a burst of color—brown, white, black, and spotted—manes and tails streaming as they surged down Main Street and turned toward the beach. The moment lasted less than a minute, but Jo tried to brand it into memory: her mother laughing and kissing her father’s cheek, Gigi and Mitch imitating horses, the fading rain, the Elvis act listed on the marquee who never made it into town, and Sebastian beside her, disheveled and dear.

As the group drifted back indoors, Jo and Sebastian lingered outside, noting the streets were only slightly flooded and acknowledging how fortunate they had been. When Jo asked if something was wrong, Sebastian said no and took her hand.

They stood under the Revelry’s marquee, contemplating the venue’s history of music and the promise of more to come. Jo recognized that although past melodies would never return, new ones awaited, and she wanted to create them here, with Sebastian and the people she loved.