CHAPTER 15
Harper
“I don’t want to agree with the Dark Lord buuuut…” Janie starts, happily agreeing to one of my nicknames for Aiden.
“Then don’t,” I try to cut her off.
She goes on, “Seriously, though, you guys are having an Easter market that’s closed on Easter Sunday?”
I level a glare at her, “Everyone will be in church, remember?”
“Oh, I do,” she says, “But you’re thinking about the townies, tourists will come in and they’ll come in on Sunday.”
I shrug, “They can still find Easter eggs and use the photo apps—opps. Photo opps.”
Her face softens, “I knew what you meant.”
I inhale and look around. We are ready. And, damn him to his dark, fiery home, I’m listening to the devil’s advice. Everyone is. I don’t think he planned to help all the shops but he’s evil and dumb if he thinks I’m not going to tell everyone exactly what he told me.
It can’t just be word of mouth and samples and decor.
We’ve upped our prices. Steven and I came up with special menus—you’re welcome, Cadbury, for my giant chocolate order—and a million activities for kids and families.
We thought beyond just the physical Easter eggs around town and added the digital QR codes hidden for grown ups.
We’ve got various types of photo opps for influencers.
We started a low-key competition with Cedar Point and Pine Bluff to draw more tourists to the region.
Hopefully people will road trip in from the city and hit all of us tomorrow and Saturday.
The weather is supposed to be lovely.
It’s all coming together.
And it’ll be so amazing I won’t need the extra sales on Sunday. Our small town closes completely for Easter, as it always has, because God forbid we don’t honor Resurrection Day. Literally, we’re pretty sure He forbids it.
And, Janie can tease me about being hokey all she wants but I kind of love it.
I need the day of rest. Dad does too. I like the comforting traditions of church, the hopeful story.
The aunts will be in the front row whispering, until one of them falls asleep.
And it never fails, either a baby poops in their diaper or an old man farts.
For the last part of service, the whole chapel smells foul.
Not unlike the cabbage at the Shamrock Falls Fest.
Ugh.
Janie knows I’m more stressed than usual but she doesn’t know why, exactly.
So far I’ve had a town that smelled like butt crack, three trucks stuck in the mud, and no actual profits.
This event, though, we’re really leaning into the family angle. We should’ve done that more with the Maple Tap, touting how kids could tap the trees themselves and learn how syrup gets made.
Parents pay a pretty penny to entertain their kids. Kids eat snacks, go inside stores to potty, and whine for mom and dad to buy all the little tchotchkes they see.
So, tomorrow will be different.
This time, I really worked through every single thing.
_____
“You didn’t think about the weather!?” Someone screeches at me. Could be a horrified parent. Could be Shelly. There’s a crowd, so it’s hard to tell.
“It’s never this warm!” Steven tries to defend me.
“What’s everyone on about?”
Oh no.
That voice I’d recognize in a freaking stadium. Which is weird, actually. And very unfortunate for me right now. Wish I could just pretend he doesn’t exist.
The crowd erupts to answer Aiden’s question.
“Whoever did this is going to hell! It’s Easter!”
“It’s hilarious, already a thousand likes!”
“We’re going viral?”
“Like an STD! Get it!”
“Thanks to the idiot baker and her inappropriate—”
“Hey,” Aiden cuts through the crowd with his tone. “Do not call her an…oh.”
Yeah.
I cover my face with my hand.
But I know what’s happening. Aiden has arrived at the big central ice sculpture beside me and is looking at it, then me, then it, then me.
“Harper,” he starts. I just sigh. He goes on, almost whispering, “Why’ve you got a big statue of a knob in the middle of town?”
“Ugh!” I growl under my breath, “For the millionth time, it was a bunny with two big Esther eggs on either side! It was cute!”
“What are Esther eggs?” Someone asks.
Another voice asks, “Wait, is Esther in the Easter story?”
“Obviously she meant Easter not Esther and I can confirm it was skillfully done, hella expensive and very cute!” Steven says.
“I promise it was,” I try softly.
“Yeah, well, that was twenty degrees ago, lady. Now my kid just keeps taking pictures next to your big ice dick!”
Half the crowd grumbles, half laughs.
“Perhaps get a hold of your kid, then!” Aiden snaps at him. “Everyone! Move along. We’ll get this sorted.”
As always, Aiden speaks, and people obey. Freaking Dark Lord, indeed. This time, though, I’m grateful for his freaky magic powers.
I’ve yet to uncover my face or open my eyes.
“It’s…not that bad,” Aiden tries.
I finally drop my hand and open my eyes to glare at him. It’s absolutely that bad.
“You’re right. It’s bad,” he says, clearly fighting a smile. I lift my eyebrows, waiting for him to give me the lecture that’s on the tip of his tongue. He makes a show of looking around and asks, “Well, how was the market going before the cockup?”
I snort.
I can’t help it. He said the oh-so-British term for screw up on purpose and I can’t hold it in anymore. I throw my head back and laugh. Really laugh for the first time in maybe months and—
Holy Good Friday!
Wow.
Aiden laughs too. He’s got a wide, bright smile of perfectly white, straight teeth. His tanned skin crinkles by his dark eyes. His irises shift from midnight black to a warm brown. His face transforms right before my eyes like when Beast turned into his human form, but hot.
Then I see him shut it down, the transformation.
Like he doesn’t like laughing?
He clears his throat and straightens, but I still giggle anyway. He’s still smiling a little bit as he takes a step back. He looks up at my latest huge mistake again. It’s already a lot less phallic. Soon it’ll be a puddle.
He looks at me and starts to frown. It’s like his smile sours as he says, “Right. Your many wins continue, well done, again.” Then he gives a weird salute and says, “Until the next one.”
I open my mouth to say something, probably call him a name or just growl in frustration, but he’s gone. He turned and pulled a Harper, almost running away.
Weird.
_____
Ding!
The little crowd in the store turns to look at the doorway, then deflates.
“Awww,” someone even says.
“Happy Tuesday to you too, guys,” Steven huffs as he comes into the shop.
But he’s not really angry, none of us are.
We’re still on our high from the market.
It was the best weekend any of us have had in a long time.
While we missed each other—since it turns out in the past we did spend a good deal of time just chatting and getting free product from each other’s booths, though we’ll never admit it out loud to him—we had a ton of tourists.
We did blow up online for a little bit with the ice sculpture mishap, but that only helped. The Roasted Chestnut account went viral all on its own, thanks to some foodie gal tagging Cadbury in her reel featuring my Creme Egg Cookies.
And not one of the visitors balked at my higher prices! Not one! I couldn’t believe it.
So…I’m not sure what to say to Mr. Money Bags. On the one hand, I could thank him for his very blunt, helpful feedback. On the other, he is so rude! This was a win and I’d like to shove it in his gorgeous, frowny face.
But he didn’t come in for coffee yesterday.
And, since it’s late enough that Maxine’s already leaving to go open her shop, looks like he won’t come by today either.
I should be relieved. He makes me nervous and when I’m nervous I misspeak and when I misspeak I feel stupid again. I hate that feeling more than anything. Save maybe being left behind. They’re tied, probably.
I should be freaking pumped he’s stopped coming here.
Aunt Bobbie said she thinks she saw him leave in the chopper, though her eyesight is less than reliable. Maybe he’s not coming back until July. Maybe he’s not coming back at all. That would be great! I should be excited!
But...I’m not.