Auryn’s eyes were downcast, and Holly tried to relax her face.
“Hi, Auryn. Are you ready for this?”
“Ms. Claus, I’m so sorry. If I’d known anything like this could have happened, I would never have?—”
“Shh,” Holly said gently. “It’s okay, Auryn. You didn’t know. We’re going to fix it, all right? Has Lumi walked you through the process?”
“She has.” Auryn nodded, still not meeting Holly’s gaze.
“The only issue I can see is that there’s no snow around here. We need it to create the tunnel,” Lumi said.
Holly turned to Ash. “Do you think there’s still snow up at the higher elevations?”
“I think there’s a good chance, especially outside the city limits. This hyper-early spring tulip bloom seems to have only affected Emerald Hollow.”
Holly nodded. “Okay, so we need an excuse to bring Isaiah out of town. Maybe say we’re taking him to where we think he first started hiking.”
“That should work. Auryn, you’re posing as a memory-loss expert for now, so you’ll need to lead the conversation.”
Auryn’s eyes widened, and Holly thought she noticed movement under his hat, which was hiding his prominent elf ears.
“It’s okay. We’ll walk you through it.”
They spent about ten minutes practicing, then Ash walked away to get Isaiah.
Holly took a deep breath as she watched him.Here we go. Magic, don’t fail me now.
Chapter Fifty-Two
ISAIAH
Isaiah had been helping Sofia at her booth through the nonstop morning rush, which didn’t seem to be any less intense on the second day of the festival. It seemed that everyone wanted some Emerald Hollow Artisanal tulip jewelry as a souvenir.
At the sound of his name, Isaiah stood quickly from where he’d been searching through a box under the table. Ash was standing there with his hands in his pockets. “Hey, man. You ready?”
Isaiah had almost forgotten that he’d agreed to see the memory specialist that day. “Oh yeah, sorry. Lost track of time. Let me just…” He moved toward where Sofia was currently ringing up a customer.
“Hey, Sof. Ash is here, so I need to…”
“What?” Sofia glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Ash. “Oh right. Yeah. Of course. Um—” She seemed flustered, and he waited for her to finish her train of thought. “Just a second. Don’t go yet.” She finished ringing up the customer, then she knelt under the table, pulling something out of her purse. She passed him a white box the size of a book.
Isaiah looked at her in confusion. “What’s this?”
“Something I wanted to give you before you go. Open it.” She pushed the box closer to him.
He pulled up the lid, and his breath caught when he saw a sophisticated belt buckle inside. The buckle had been painted with a gorgeous scene of a sunset over a river. His chest constricted. It looked like the scene from the previous night.But she couldn’t possibly have…
“I made it for you last night. Just something to—” She seemed to change her mind on what she wanted to say.
Isaiah pulled her in and kissed her gently for several moments. “It’s perfect,” he said and was happy to see her beautiful smile light her face. He never wanted her to feel the way Noah had made her feel ever again and vowed not to take her for granted.
“Go on, then,” she said, inclining her head toward Ash.
Isaiah thought there was something strange in her voice, and he experienced a twinge of guilt in his stomach that he was leaving her, even if it was for a short amount of time. He couldn’t imagine how she had managed the booth on her own at previous festivals.
“Ready?” Ash asked again.
Isaiah turned away from Sofia and followed Ash across the festival clearing, dodging groups small and large who were posing for pictures with the tulips, exploring the vendor stalls, or purchasing food. He spotted someone eating pink cotton candy in the shape of a tulip.
