Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Seeley Days had always been one of my favorite events growing up in Meadowbrook.
It was a two-day event where they shut down Main Street and set up games and food vendors from all over.
There were bands and performers scheduled every hour in the park, including the dancers from the dance school I worked at.
Tours of the Seeley Mansion ran all day long, and the whole event culminated with a fancy gala dinner and auction held at the mansion.
As a kid, it meant funnel cake and face painting and staying up past my bedtime to watch the fireworks from my dad’s shoulders. As a teenager, we’d sneak away from our parents to hang out with our friends, and sometimes get into a little bit of trouble.
Drew and I had our first taste of beer at Seeley Days—stolen from Colton Hughes’s older brother’s cooler while he’d been talking to a customer at his food stand. It had tasted terrible, but Drew had acted like he liked it so I’d swallowed mine out of pure stubbornness.
But I’d never experienced Seeley Days from this angle before. The behind-the-scenes, make-sure-nothing-catches-fire, why-is-the-band-setup-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-park angle.
Deirdre had left me a binder with color-coded tabs and a hand-drawn map of every vendor location, performance time, and electrical outlet in town, as well as all the businesses along Main Street who would help with setup, takedown, and other responsibilities they’d agreed to.
The woman was terrifyingly organized, and I had never been more grateful for another human being in my life.
But I was also convinced she needed a raise.
Because while everything was organized, I also felt like a chicken with my head cut off while I was supposed to be herding cats and teaching monkeys how to dance.
With every second that passed, I questioned why I’d ever agreed to take this on.
By eight a.m. on the first day, I was already at the mansion with a clipboard in one hand and an iced coffee in the other that I was pretty sure would need to be refilled at least twice before noon.
I’d already fielded six phone calls, redirected a volunteer crew who’d started setting up vendor tables on the wrong side of the park, and talked the kettle corn guy off a ledge when he couldn’t find his assigned electrical outlet.
“Miss Ava, Freddy says he needs a bigger space than what’s marked on the map.”
I turned to find Peggy Lawson, who was seventy-two years old, four feet eleven, and the most efficient volunteer I’d ever worked with, looking at me expectantly. Freddy ran the funnel cake stand.
“Tell him he gets the same ten-by-ten as everyone else. If he needs more room, he should’ve requested it when Deirdre sent out the vendor packets in June.”
Peggy grinned. “That’s exactly what I told him. Just wanted to hear you say it.” She marched off with the energy of a woman half her age.
Shortly after she walked away, two vendors showed up claiming the same spot, which I resolved by pulling out Deirdre’s binder and pointing to the assignment sheet, and one of them backed down just as Liam’s truck pulled into the gravel parking lot next to the mansion.
He climbed out in a faded gray T-shirt and jeans, sunglasses pushed up on his head, his gaze already hot on me. The grin that spread across his face when our eyes met made my pulse stutter.
“What are you doing here?”
“Heard you might need an extra set of hands,” he said as he approached.
“Who told you that?”
“Nobody had to tell me. You’ve been running around like crazy for two weeks, and I know what a huge event this is.” He stopped in front of me. “Put me to work.”
I wanted to kiss him. And if there weren’t a ton of people wandering around, I probably would have.
“Be careful what you ask for,” I warned him, but I wasn’t about to turn down his offer.
Instead, I pointed him to a stack of folding chairs. “The dance performance area needs another two rows. And the sound guy can’t find the extension cords. Can you take care of that?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He took the chairs and headed off without complaint.
With Liam handling the heavy lifting, I turned my attention to the rest of the setup.
He found the extension cords in the mansion’s storage closet buried behind a stack of boxes with linens.
Then he fixed a vendor’s sagging canopy.
He even managed to charm Peggy so thoroughly that she was blushing and wouldn’t stop smiling.
By noon, Main Street was packed with people. Families spread blankets on the lawn in the park and kids chased each other around the old trees. The smell of barbecue hung in the air, and everyone I passed seemed to be having a great time.
No matter how busy things got, my gaze always seemed to find Liam in the crowd. At one point, I watched him lift a heavy amp on the band stage and I absolutely did not watch the way his shoulders flexed under his T-shirt as he carried it.
Okay. I watched a little.
Every so often, our paths would cross and he’d brush his fingers against mine as he passed, or lean in close to murmur a question about where the extra ice was, his breath warm against my ear.
It was the most publicly together we’d ever been. And just like every little touch, it was a tease of what we could be if we weren’t hiding whatever we were now.
Even more thrilling than making sure the event as a whole went off without a hitch was watching my eight-year-old dancers nail their dance routine.
One girl forgot the second combination and improvised by spinning in circles, which the crowd loved.
The older students performed a contemporary piece I’d choreographed to a Johnny Cash song, and when they hit the final formation, I felt a swell of pride so fierce it nearly knocked me sideways.
I may not have been competitive enough to dance professionally, but God, I loved teaching it and watching my students crush it on stage.
And the praise I got from their parents afterward was the cherry on top.
The second day was just as successful as the first, with multiple people praising my leadership in Deirdre’s absence.
In fact, this was the first time at Seeley Days that I’d been the center of everything. It was also the first summer Drew hadn’t been in Meadowbrook at all, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what it was like to finally step beyond his shadow.
To be seen—not just as the other Dumontier twin, but as myself, and as an active member of my town.
At the end of the night, I found Liam leaning against the porch railing of the mansion, watching the crowd thin as the evening settled in. The sky had turned that shade of dusty rose that I swore only existed in Montana.
“Your kids were great,” he said as I climbed the steps to join him.
“They were.” I couldn’t stop smiling. “The whole event turned out amazing.”
I leaned against the railing beside him, our shoulders almost touching.
The grounds were still scattered with stragglers—families packing up, volunteers breaking down tables, and a few teenagers trying to squeeze the last of the daylight out of the evening.
From up here, it all looked like a painting.
Golden and pink light, dark green grass, and the tall indigo mountains standing guard over the valley the way they always had.
“You did a hell of a job today, Sunshine.” His voice was quiet and serious, but when I looked at him, his gaze was filled with pride. “Deirdre’s going to come back and wonder if she even needs to.”
“She definitely still needs to. I never want to negotiate with the funnel cake vendor again. He’s unhinged.”
Liam smiled, but his gaze stayed on me—steady and warm and full of a tenderness that made my chest ache. He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my jaw.
“I mean it. You were incredible the last two days.”
I held his gaze and felt the words I couldn’t say pressing against the inside of my ribs. I love you. I’m in love with you. Please don’t let this end.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, saving me from embarrassing myself.
He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and I watched the shift happen in real time. His jaw tightened, and the warmth that had been in his eyes only a second ago dimmed like a cloud passing over the sun. He shoved the phone back in his pocket and looked out at the mountains instead of back at me.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He flashed me a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Just my dad being…” He let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders, still not looking at me. “Just being himself, I guess.”
I nibbled my lip, wanting to ask more, but also not wanting to push when it was clear his dad was a topic he wasn’t interested in talking about.
We stood there a little longer, watching the sky deepen from rose to violet as the sun lowered in the sky. His hand found mine between us, hidden by the railing, and I let myself have this. No one would see.
And I held on to the fact that even when he’d shut down, he’d still reached for me.
“Thank you for helping the last two days,” I said, breaking the silence.
He glanced down at me, his lips lifting subtly at the corners. “Anytime.” He looked around us, but for a moment we seemed to be completely alone. He squeezed my hand and pulled me back until we were tucked against a door, partially hidden if anyone were to come around the corner.
He leaned down, brushing his lips softly against mine.
But a sweet kiss wasn’t enough for me. Grabbing the back of his neck, I pulled him closer, deepening the kiss and soaking in the feeling that only he could inspire in me—the one that made me feel reckless and a little invincible at the same time.
When we finally pulled apart, he rested his forehead against mine, his breathing unsteady.
“We should probably head out,” I whispered.
“Probably.” But he didn’t move. Neither did I.
We stayed tucked against the door, hidden away and watching each other, neither of us saying any words, but letting the silence do the talking.
I knew we’d have to have a conversation eventually, but I wasn’t ready to ruin the moment, especially not after today.
It had been a really good day.
I just wished I knew how many more of them we had left.