Holly let out a short laugh. He noticed her hand go to her wristwatch, then both hands disappeared into the kangaroo pocket of her sweater.
“It was fun,” Holly said simply, looking around the clearing.
Ash shook his head and scratched the back of his neck, perplexed, but couldn’t help being thrilled with the outcome. He let out a deep breath, releasing a load he’d unconsciously been carrying since receiving the cancellation text. Holly had really come through, and he didn’t know how to repay her.
“The whole town is gonna love it. If I start telling people you decorated it, they’re never going to let you leave.”
A strange look played on Holly’s face at his comment, but it quickly disappeared, and she beamed at the clearing again.
“So, what happens now?”
The clearing was starting to fill up around them. Visitors were walking into the space, pointing, their eyes wide. The locals waved at or fist-bumped Ash on their way in.
“Now, you enjoy yourself. Oh, and I was actually going to ask you to be my partner for the potato-sack race. I was going to race with Sofia, but she said she drank too much wine last night, and now she has a headache.” He laughed. His eyes met Holly’s emerald-green ones and settled on them for a moment. “She also said she had a really fun time with you at the concert.”
Holly seemed to process everything he had said. “You want me to be your partner for the potato-sack race?” Her expression was full of confusion.
“I mean, if you want to. It’s pretty fun. There are different age categories for the kids, then there’s the adults-only heat. It gets pretty competitive.” He was suddenly eager for her to be his partner, to join in another Emerald Hollow tradition.
She seemed to perk up at the word competitive, her posture straightening. “Okay,” she said slowly, looking toward the dying grass that covered the clearing and nodding resolutely.
“Okay? You’ll race with me?”
“Sure, but do we get to practice first?”
Ash laughed as they turned and walked toward the booth labeled Emerald House Hotcakes.
ChapterThirteen
Twenty pairings entered the potato-sack race, and Holly studied the others with the eyes of an eagle—or of an elf when someone had stolen their hot cocoa. They all gathered at the starting line, and she glanced toward the sidelines, where Sofia gave her a little wave. Ash jogged over to her.
For the last few hours, he had been busy flitting from booth to booth, checking on vendors and occasionally speaking into a microphone as he acted as the MC for various activities. The potato-sack race was the first event he was actually going to participate in, and Holly felt honored to be his partner.
She realized more and more that Sofia hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said Asher Hayes was a big deal around Emerald Hollow. And she had to admit the competition aspect intrigued her. Holly had never thought of herself as competitive, at least not with humans. She had no one to compete against. But each Cheer cycle, she constantly competed against her last best time and Cheer level. She thrived on a challenge.Why not see if that same spirit applies here?
“Are you ready for this?” Ash appeared at her side, grabbed a burlap potato sack from a nearby stack, and offered it to Holly. “Would you like to put your leg in first?”
Holly took the sack and stepped in with her right leg.
“At least some of the teams are more mismatched in height than us. That should help.” Ash nodded toward a couple in which the man appeared to be almost a whole foot taller than the woman.
“Those two women over there are almost exactly the same size,” Holly said, indicating competitors at the end of the row. “They might present a challenge.”
Ash put his left leg into the sack. Holly’s watch buzzed erratically as his arm brushed hers. Her brain flashed to the moment on the sidewalk when she’d tripped into him, and her stomach did a little flip that might not have been entirely related to the impending race.
“Don’t worry about them. We just need to focus on that tree. Whoever gets to it first wins the harvest potato.” When Holly looked at him quizzically, he grinned. “It’s a potato stuffed animal made by a local knitting group. It’s quite the honor, but I’ve never won one before.”
“Maybe this will be the year,” Holly said, locking her eyes on the tree.
A man dressed in dark jeans and a bright-orange pumpkin shirt stood to the side of the large field in the clearing and raised a silver whistle above his head. Ash had told her his name was Luis.
“Potatoes, take your marks!” he shouted, and the crowd cheered.
Ash slipped his arm around Holly’s waist, and that time, Holly ignored any sensations in her stomach. She put her arm around his waist, as well, gripping him securely. With no time to think about her watch in that moment, she was solely focused on their destination.
Luis blew the whistle, and suddenly, they were off.
The first few steps were a little awkward, but Holly paid close attention to Ash’s rhythm, and soon, they were in sync. She ignored everything else around her, focused only on the tree ahead, which was beautiful, one she had adorned with festive harvest ornaments, like a Christmas tree but dressed for fall.
