Chapter Fourteen
The time between spending the day in Millers Creek and the day of the big fundraising festival had pretty much blown by.
Aiden had worked hard with Boots and Colleen to improve his gait and his ability to last on a dance floor with her next Saturday night.
Of course, he wasn’t going to tell Colleen that in order to do that he’d been pushing himself harder than she probably wanted him to, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her—or him.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Colleen looked down at Romeo in his harness.
“Honestly,” he glanced at the dog he’d grown accustomed to having at his side, “I haven’t a clue.”
The way Colleen’s brows dipped into a cute frown had him smiling. Pretty much everything she did made him smile. “If you haven’t a clue, then perhaps an event with the entire town mulling about isn’t the best first outing for Romeo.”
Aiden shrugged. He’d pondered and debated with himself for the last two days.
Every time he decided it would be better to wait, Romeo did something unexpected.
Whether it was accepting a treat from a different family member, or allowing someone other than Aiden to scratch behind his ears, or just last evening when Aiden came outside to give Romeo a leftover steak bone only to find him playing fetch with a new ranch hand the dog had not previously met.
It was like Romeo went from hopeless to playful, having skipped over multiple milestones in between.
“You’re doing that thing again.” Head slightly tipped, she smiled that sweet smile that made his stomach do somersaults.
“What thing?”
“Thinking.”
“Excuse me?” He must have missed something. Wasn’t thinking something normal for humans?
She chuckled and gently brushed her hand against his shoulder before letting it come to rest on his forearm.
“Whenever you’re thinking about something important—or at least important to you—you get a sort of glazed look in your eye, one brow dips just a smidge, and your lips do a partial pucker, like you’re debating whether or not you want to kiss someone. ”
Immediately, he blinked, raised both brows and did his best to ignore the words want to kiss someone. “Sorry. Was just thinking of all the reasons why bringing Romeo should be all right. If he starts to show any signs of stress, I’ll bring him back to the ranch ASAP.”
“Fair enough.” She continued to smile. Not a forced smile or a skeptic smile, but a smile that told him she trusted his judgment, and didn’t that make his heart puff up in his chest.
“What time does this shindig get on the road?”
“Excuse me?” Colleen raised both brows at him.
“Sorry. Too much time with my grandparents. What time do we leave for the festival?”
“If you’re not too sore after your session, we can leave now. There will be lots of food trucks—”
“Which explains why there isn’t a ton of food on the stove or counter with notes on how to heat it up for lunch.”
“Exactly. Miss Alice is at the high school helping set up the field.”
Aiden nodded. Clipping the leash onto Romeo’s collar, he waited to see if there was any adverse reaction. Nothing. Just an expectant face staring up at him and a bushy tail doing a great job of sweeping Alice’s floor. “Then we’re off.”
Somewhere in his mind he had concocted a little event suitable for a small town.
A few park games, maybe bocce or the corn hole he’d heard so much about, or horse shoes.
It wouldn’t have surprised him to see a few booths, vendors, or crafts, or some home made event.
What did surprise him was a setup that could have made any of the Feast Day festivals back in the Bronx whimper with envy.
He’d thought those events were elaborate, even if the kids’ favorite part were the fried zeppoles, the rides and games were a big draw for the entire neighborhood—Catholic or not.
The minute he saw the setup in the middle of the track field, he nearly had to lift his jaw off the floor. “What are we fundraising for?”
“The same thing we always do. The schools.”
“You have a lot of these festivals?”
She shrugged. “We have a lot of fundraisers. We have an outstanding school system with an even more praised sports program, but not enough local tax dollars to compete with the big cities, so we do fundraisers. I think this one is for updating the football stadium but I honestly don’t remember.”
“So the town comes to support all these fundraisers?”
“The town, the county, and when it’s the annual corn hole festival, the whole state comes to participate.”
Boy did he have a lot to learn about West Texas, especially if he was giving serious thought to what it would take to convince Colleen to give him a shot at forever.
No matter how many different festivals Honeysuckle held, Colleen loved and missed them all. Today, being here with Aiden made the return even sweeter.
“This is amazing.” Aiden stood at her side, Romeo to his other side, his gaze staring up at the Ferris wheel taking center stage.
“Colleen.” Her mother came scurrying over from across the walkway. “Isn’t it wonderful.”
“Looks better than I remember.”
“The Ferris wheel was a new addition last year. Cost the town a pretty penny, but the return on investment was worth it.” Her mother turned to Aiden.
“The floors look fabulous in the garage. If you have time when you’re finished with the conversion, I’d love to talk to you about a few projects inside. ”
“Mother.”
“What?” Her mom smiled innocently. “You know I’ve always wanted to update Daddy’s office. Make it a real den like in all those rich movies.”
Aiden chuckled. “I’d be happy to look at it for you, ma’am, but I can’t make any promises. My time is still dependent on Uncle Sam.”
Though her mother looked a bit forlorn for a moment, she lifted her chin and smiled. “Of course. Thank you.”
“Peggy.” From across the way, Abigail Fine called to Colleen’s mom. “You’re late.”
“Have to run, dear. Abigail’s honeysuckle wine is always a big hit. Every year she has to make more than the year before and I promised I’d help this year.”
“Go, Mom.”
Her mom hurried away and the growing crowds closed in around her.
For the next hour or so they made their way through the different booths, tasted homemade muffins, cupcakes, and bread that actually made a person salivate.
They rode the Ferris wheel—twice—and then the Tilt-A-Whirl and even the merry-go-round.
They were having a blast. Laughing, joking, and eating.
A lot of eating. She was about to bite down on the crispiest sweet potato fries she’s ever eaten when a woman’s scream shattered the fun-filled moments.
“Where?” Aiden’s spine straightened. Even Romeo went on alert.
The crowds began murmuring, turning, pointing, when another scream came. This time a woman could clearly be heard screeching “my baby” loud enough to be heard in East Texas.
A second later, Romeo must have spotted something because he jerked free of Aiden’s hold on the leash and galloped across the field.
In a heartbeat, Aiden bolted after the dog and the lady screaming.
Instinct she didn’t know she had kicked in and with no idea what she would do when she caught up to them, she ran after Aiden and prayed the woman didn’t mean a real baby.
Colleen’s heart raced like a thoroughbred.
Aiden had run full speed ahead like a running back with the touchdown football under his arm and a clear field ahead.
It didn’t take long to find the source of the trouble.
A hysterical mother stood by an empty baby carriage.
People around her were doing their best to console her.
Police were speaking on their walkie talkies, Iris Hathaway had her arms wrapped around the distraught mother.
Even now that she’d gotten close, Colleen had no idea who the woman was.
Maybe someone from out of town. Aiden was in deep conversation with one of the police, his gaze scanning the surroundings.
She had no idea what to do. Approach him, wait, what?
Another minute and Aiden strolled towards where she was waiting. “Apparently the woman’s daughter, an eighteen month old, was in the stroller one minute and gone the next.”
Her racing heart suddenly stopped. Things like this didn’t happen in Honeysuckle.
“The police are stretched thin. I’m going to take Romeo and…” Aiden stopped, his gaze darting left then right then back. “Where is he?”
Now Colleen was stressed for a whole different reason.
“I have to find Romeo.” Aiden started to move forward then paused. “I’m sorry, I have to run.”
Before she could say a word, the mother’s voice could be heard once again screaming, “My baby,” only this time, the loud screech held a different tone.
Both of them turned in the direction of the distraught mother only to see the cutest little blonde girl in a frilly pink sundress and white sandals walking toward them, her arms wrapped around Romeo’s neck.
Aiden bit back a chuckle. “Well, I’ll be.”
“Romeo to the rescue,” Colleen added. The two started toward the woman who looked torn somewhere between delighted to have her daughter back and terrified at the massive dog escorting her home when another shrill shriek sounded… “My baby!”
Aiden turned, extended his hand to Colleen and taking off at a full gallop, muttered, “Here we go again!”