Sheryl: Mabel is raiding her store for vintage dresses.
Laurel: Any excuse for a clothing montage.
The carnival had wound down. Vendors had broken down their tents and returned unsold inventory to their stores. My feet ached. Despite being a small town, I had walked miles helping. Just when I thought I couldn’t go any further, somebody said thank you for not giving up on the carnival. Seeing the faces of happy kids made the sore feet worth it.
I laid back on the picnic table, staring at the stars. We had dimmed the lights around the green to prepare for the fireworks. The committee wanted to ensure they could beseen across the town. I checked my phone, swiping past the committee’s texts. Still nothing from Tyler.
“Where are you?”
Everything had gone off without a hitch. The carnival. The reveal. The expression on Tyler’s face. A grin worked its way on my face as I imagined our second-chance romance as a movie on the Romance Channel. I wonder if Chris or Tessa knew somebody? That’d be the icing on the cake. Then we’d be able to rewatch it on the anniversary of our… first kiss? Reunion? Wedding?
As I thought about the future, the butterflies fluttered, excited about the prospects ahead of me. To think this all started with a dreadful phone call. I could be sad about the circumstances that brought me here. I missed Mimi and her boisterous laugh. Firefly made it feel as if she were still here. They told stories, continuing her legacy. With Evie ready to turn the house into a bed-and-breakfast, she’d never quite be gone.
My eyes watered as I thought about it. Not the missing her, but how my fiery grandmother, even a world away, had guided me on this journey. Because of her, I had Evie… Tyler… Jason and Amanda. Her last gift had been filling my heart with love.
“I was hoping to bump into you.”
I wiped my eyes, bolting upright. Turning, Tyler stood on the other side.
“Wait…” His fingers grazed the wooden picnic table. He squinted in the dim light. When he reached the corner, his eyes widened. “Is thisourpicnic table?”
He must have found the spot where Amanda carved her name. If he searched long enough, he’d find Jason and mine etched into the bench. Damn, those foolish kids for vandalizing public property.
“Jason found the old tables in the mill.” It had been Amanda who insisted that if we were going to get reacquainted, it needed to be perfect. In the dark of night, we lugged them across the green, all for this moment.
“I wanted it to be perfect,” I said.
“Is somebody feeling a little nostalgic?”
Tyler took a seat next to me, the wood groaning. I prayed it held up, or the night was going to end with a trip to the hospital. When he rested his hand on my knee, the world quieted. I had thought about what I wanted to say, but all the rehearsing in my mind turned into a jumbled mess.
“It’s hard to believe we were sitting here twenty years ago.”
“It’s amazing how much has changed,” I said.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m still sitting next to the most handsome man. Still getting a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking about kissing him.”
“You’re a much better kisser now,” I laughed.
“Hey! You were the slobbery one.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you!” Had I remembered it wrong? Did my pride rewrite the narrative? “Not that I’ve thought about it much.”
“Same.” I lied. “Except when I’m lying in bed going tosleep. Or first thing in the morning. Or those hours in-between.”
“That much, huh?” His thumb ran back and forth over my knee. “I guess I think about it from time to time.”
Had we turned into those awkward teens? I couldn’t help but laugh hard enough the table groaned in reply. Our first encounter had been a passionate exchange in the bathroom of a bar, and now we tripped over our words as we tried to be coy.
“What’s so funny?”
“Just thinking about how nervous I was then versus now.” He rested his head on my shoulder, and I wrapped an arm around his back, pulling him tight. “Tyler Bailey, it feels like somebody had a master plan for us. We went through the motions, living life. Somehow, it brought us back to where it started.”
“Not fate,” he said. “Hazel.”
My chest tightened. It was one thing for me to think she had a hand in our relationship. Knowing he shared my thoughts reminded me that her memory lived on.
