Isaiah whistled. “Think you brought enough stuff?”
“You won’t be laughing when I sell it all and buy you dinner with the profits.” She reached for a fold-up wagon from the top of the stack and started to assemble it on the ground, ready for loading.
“Can’t argue with that one,” Isaiah admitted. He grabbed a folding table and looked toward the clearing. “That way?”
Sofia nodded. She finished loading her rolling wagon then followed him. A smile spread from ear to ear as she stepped into the clearing. Her memory flashed to the previous fall, when Holly had created a gorgeous harvest arch to welcome people into the clearing for the fall festival.
For the tulip festival, there were giant barrels filled with flowers surrounding the entrance on either side. Connectingthem was a massive arched trellis that had been laced through with brilliant bright flowers. Straight through it, on the far side of the field of tulips that covered the clearing, was a miniature version of a Dutch windmill.
The whole scene was straight out of a magazine. Sofia could already picture the line that would form to get a picture with that view as the backdrop. She made a mental note to get a picture there for her business social media accounts before the festival started.
Isaiah already had the table in place in one of the empty vendor stalls, and Sofia paused to watch him as he took in the massive field of flowers. Her heart leaped when he turned and caught sight of her.
“Is this stall okay? I grabbed the first open one I saw.”
“Yep,” she said, dragging the wagon the rest of the way. They unloaded it together, then Isaiah went to get another load while Sofia began to set up her stall. She tuned out everything, barely stopping to say hi as another vendor began to fill the stall next to hers. She was meticulous about setting up her display.
It took nearly an hour before she’d placed it all exactly as she wanted. Isaiah had brought over the last few loads, then he’d seemingly disappeared, probably noticing that she preferred to get in the zone and set everything up herself. Once it was ready, she snapped out of her near trance and looked around for him.
She caught sight of his tall frame near the arched trellis entrance as he talked to Holly and Ash. Holly cast a glance her way and smiled when she noticed Sofia looking at her.
Is this how it could be?Sofia thought as she watched the three of them.The four of us, like this?She smiled at the thought and began to walk their way but was interrupted by Matilda, a local woman who sold handcrafted soy candles.
“He’s sure a handsome one,” Matilda said, eying Isaiah.
Sofia grinned. “You think?” She couldn’t help fishing.
“First that beautiful Holly shows up last year, and now we have this young man. Emerald Hollow doesn’t usually attract folks their age, but I’m glad it has. They’ve both brought a lot to the town.”
Sofia turned to Matilda, confused. “What do you mean?” She knew what Holly had brought to the town, with her miraculous decorations and constantly helping with town events, but the tulip festival was the first time Isaiah had helped at a town event.
“Ben says he’s been a huge help at the museum, digitizing all the town’s old maps, and claims he has quite a knack for it. And Henry’s fond of him. Apparently, his navigation skills are better than my husband’s.” Matilda laughed.
Sofia’s eyes widened. Isaiah had told her about his first time going to the museum and how he’d ended up geocaching with Ben and Henry, but she hadn’t known he’d been back and was helping with a project there.
Isaiah looked over and must have noticed she was done setting up, because he said something to Holly and Ash then began to walk toward her. Matilda gave Sofia a wink and went back to her stall.
“What were you and Matilda talking about?” Isaiah asked when he reached her.
“Oh, so you admit you know her?”
Isaiah raised his eyebrows. “Am I not supposed to?”
“I was just curioushowyou knew her.”
“Oh, uh—” Isaiah ran a hand through his hair and looked away for a second. “That day I went geocaching with Ben Hadley and his son, you remember how I told you that I was familiar with the mapping software he was using? It was the closest hint I’d had to my identity, and I really enjoyed doing it, so I offered to continue helping Ben with the project of digitizing their old maps. He showed me their process, and now I drop in a couple of times a week to help while you’re working. I’ve been ableto make their system much more sophisticated than it was. It hasn’t sparked any new memories yet, but I’m hopeful.”
Impressed, Sofia said, “I’m sure Ben appreciates the help. Do you think you used that software in your job?”
“It’s possible. Or maybe in school? I obviously learned it somewhere.” He shrugged and turned to look at her display. “Wow, this is incredible.”
“Thanks. I really leaned into the tulip theme. I hope people will love it.”
“They will,” Isaiah said so confidently that Sofia grabbed his hands and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“So, what were you, Ash, and Holly talking about while I was setting up?”
“Oh, that. They want me to meet a friend of theirs tomorrow. Something about helping me get my identity back. He’s a specialist in that sort of thing or something. I didn’t totally understand, but I figured I should meet the guy.”
