Chapter 10
FRIDAY
CHELSEY MANNED THE auction booth again, but this time, at the carnival, wedged between the guy who made chimes and the lady who made wooden flutes. To say the least, her time was melodic and noisy. She only had a few more minutes before Janice, Heather’s sister, swapped her out.
She shielded her eyes as she searched the area for a bite to eat before she headed back to Juniper Gathering Place. She had a few fried choices, but none sounded appealing. She could really go for a salad or sandwich.
As if by magic, a sandwich appeared in her vision. “Heather said you’d need sustenance,” Janice said.
“Bless her. Again.” Chelsey quickly unwrapped the food and took a big bite. Ham, Swiss and raspberry jam—her favorite.
Janice sat in the empty chair next to Chelsey. “You are not going to believe the rumor I just heard.”
Chelsey didn’t even look up. “Naugle’s pig got out again?” More like a boar; the animal was huge. It was an undocumented tradition that Kevin Bacon escaped his pen once-a-year.
“Nope. That happened last week.”
Chelsey paused mid-bite. “What? How’d I miss that?”
Janice held up a hand. “Focus. We’re talking about the golf tournament and how Mason, Taylor and the mayor were all playing.”
Chelsey swallowed. “Taylor agreed to golf? Voluntarily?”
“From what I heard, there was a lot of trash-talking going on.”
Chelsey stifled a laugh. “That checks out. Those two trash-talked all the way through high school.”
Janice leaned closer, lowering her voice like they were discussing more than town gossip. “How are you holding up? With him still here.”
Chelsey hesitated, eyes scanning the crowd.
“I don’t know,” she said finally as she rubbed her forehead. “It’s like every time I think I’ve got him pegged, he turns around and surprises me. He’s helped almost daily at the GP and now he’s golfing in the charity tournament. What next? Is he going to adopt a puppy?”
Which would be totally cute.
She shook her head to dispel the picture of Taylor with a Labradoodle.
Janice blinked at her. “It shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s helping you.”
“Not me, the town.”
Janice hummed. “Come on, Chels. You’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“But he’s only here for a short time,” Chelsey replied, voice softening.
“Maybe he doesn’t even know what he wants yet.”
“I don’t know what I want yet, either.” With that revelation, she gathered up her things. She didn’t want to think too much about she said out loud. These last few days had been confusing. “Do you have plans for tonight?”
“I think Gage is meeting me here, and we’ll go on a few rides and eat too much sugar.”
“That’ll be fun.” Chelsey stopped something, or someone, caught her attention.
From across the carnival, Chelsey spied Taylor standing next to his parents, sunglasses pushed up into his hair, laughing at something they said. Then, like magic, again, he glanced up—directly at Chelsey.
He smiled. Not the flashy, confident smile he gave other people. It was the softer one he’d reserved for her when they were dating. The one that felt like the space between heartbeats.
Chelsey blinked, startled at the insight, and cleared her throat.
Did she hurry away before he came over? Or did she meet him halfway?
She straightened her shoulders and waved at the whole Compton family to play it safe.
She shouldn’t linger in the park; she had to get back and help set up more twinkle lights for the auction.
You can never have enough twinkle lights, or so Heather said.
Janice called her name as she turned away to leave. “You know what I think?”
Chelsey braced herself. “What?”
“I think he’s trying to figure out if he’s going to extend his stay.”
A tingling shot from Chelsey’s head straight through her body to her toes. She liked the idea of him staying longer. But what would come of more days together?