Valerie smiled and cut her eyes toward Ken. “I wish I could say the same thing. You have Auntie Rosie and me just dying of curiosity. Ken never dates, and Auntie Rosie remembers you from church. Somehow, I don’t remember you, but I do remember your parents.”
Daisy really appreciated her directness, even if it made her laugh a little nervously. “Since Papi led the youth boys, they spent a lot of time at our house during my formative years.” She put a hand on Ken’s arm. “I would love to know some stories from when he was younger. I understand you have all the scoop on that.”
Valerie threw her head back and laughed. “I have so much scoop. You can come to me and get it all.”
Ken said, “Hey now. Let’s save the dirt for a little more time to go by, can we?”
Valerie shrugged, and her eyes gleamed with amusement. “We’ll see how it goes.”
For the rest of the evening, Ken stayed by her side. He introduced her to friends and family and coworkers and made her feel like the most important person there. As the sun went down, he helped her onto the flat wooden raft. She fastened her life preserver and helped him untwist a strap on his. “You’re going to want these,” he said, holding out a pair of headphones.
It surprised her how much noise just went away once she slipped them on. She could even hear herself breathing. She slipped them back off and let them hang around her neck. The din of the crowd and the sound of the music immediately returned.
“Those are for the shooting range. But they work great here.”
Once he secured the raft, he showed her his sequence of order for lighting the fuses. Jon manned the music they had choreographed for the fireworks. He pulled out his phone and accessed the stopwatch.
“What can I do?” she asked.
“Just have a seat. They’re already set up in order. I just have to light them. So, the hard work’s over. Time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.”
She sat down, feeling surprisingly steady on the flat craft. During their short journey, the sky had gradually darkened. “Here we go,” he said, then hit a button on his phone. Seconds later, he said, “Thirty seconds.” He hung up without saying anything else and started the stopwatch.
Thirty seconds later, she slipped the headphones back on while he lit the first in the line of rockets. Seconds later, fireworks lit up the night sky with glorious white and red colors. All around her, the water reflected the explosion, and it felt like she bathed in the light.
A grin covered her face as the show encompassed her. The fireworks exploded overhead, filling the night with color and flashes of pure light. For fifteen minutes, Ken lit fireworks in sequence to his stopwatch. He focused entirely on his job, allowing her to watch him as much as she could in the flashing, dancing, reflecting light.
As soon as the last rocket flew up into the air, he sat down next to her so close that his arm brushed against hers. “Grand finale,” he said loud enough for her to understand him through the headphones. She smiled at him and leaned against him. Soon his arm came around her. Nothing had ever felt more perfect than the weight of Ken’s arm. She leaned into his chest as the last of the embers dissipated into the sky that suddenly seemed so very, very high.
Daisy slipped the headphones off and let them rest around her neck. She and Ken sat like that for several moments before he pulled her close and hugged her. She felt as if she soared higher than any of the rockets that had just raced high overhead. The air felt crisper, and the world vanished except for the feel of Ken Dixon’s arms around her.
“You did a great job,” she said.
He waved a hand dismissively toward the spent explosives. “I do this every year. Once you plan it out, it’s not so hard.” As they slowly maneuvered their way back to the dock, Ken said, “I really enjoyed the dish you brought. What meat did you use?”
“My family’s tradition is goat, but I couldn’t find any, so I used lamb. Similar flavors.”
He nodded. After a moment, he said, “I think I’d like to try the goat.”
Pleased, she smiled. “I think I’d like to make you some.”
When they approached the dock, Brad and Ken both helped secure the raft, then Brad held his hand out to help her up onto the dock. She stepped back as Ken hopped off the raft.
“We’ll leave them on the raft for now,” Ken said. “That way, they completely cool before we throw them away.”
She looked at her watch. It was already well after ten. “I’m going to start heading back.” She lifted her hand at his brothers and said, “It was so good to see you guys again.”
After they said their goodbyes, Ken held out his hand. “I’ll walk you to your car.” It felt natural to slip her hand in his. It took several minutes to work their way through the crowd of people wanting to thank Ken for the fireworks. Eventually, they made it into the house, and she grabbed her empty dish that someone had already washed. She found the basket and slipped it into the dish, then set the lid on it.
“Looks like it was a hit,” Ken said, taking the empty slow cooker from her.
“It always is with my family.” By the time they made it out to the yard, more than half of the vehicles had gone. She looked at a pup tent in a nearby clearing.
“A lot of folks will just camp out here tonight.” He set her slow cooker into the trunk of her car. “I couldn’t convince you to, could I?”
She didn’t think he meant that in an underhanded way, but she still giggled a little nervously. “No, I’m afraid I have to go. But I bet it’s fun to camp out here.”
He used his head to gesture toward the house. “I have a bed there. It’s built into the wall. That lets me use that main room as living, dining, or bedroom without having my bed out in the open.”
