25. Jasper
JASPER
I woke early on the first day of the Fall Festival. I’d made my lists, checked them twice, and couldn’t wait to get through the last event on the calendar before I could have that heart-to-heart with Delilah that I’d been waiting for.
It was so obvious to me what she ought to do. Leave her mom in Dallas, move to Ido, and spend the rest of her life working with the kids she so desperately wanted to help, and loving on me.
But with all of the other curveballs life had thrown at her lately, I wasn’t about to add another. So I’d vowed to wait until the contest was over before asking her about the future. Maybe she’d even be willing to help me with the wedding barn if Ido won the title.
“Ready for today?” Dad asked as I entered the kitchen.
“I hope so.”
“Weather looks good.” Dad lifted his head from his habitual scan of the morning paper. “Did you see this bit about that damn dog-fighting ring? Says they think they’re getting close again to finding out who’s behind it.”
“Oh?” I tried to come off nonchalant. I hadn’t heard from Colin in weeks, not since the day he’d disappeared. With any luck he was long gone again, hopefully for at least another three years. “I thought that whole thing had settled down?”
Dad thumped the paper. “Says here there’s been some new activity. You’d best be careful out there tonight. Fall Festival can bring a lot of squirrels out looking for nuts, if you know what I mean.”
I eyed my dad, not really sure what he meant, but also not willing to ask for clarification. “We will.”
I’d promised to pick Delilah up and take her on a quick run-through of the day’s events. It was hard to believe that she’d be leaving the next day. I didn’t want to think about that yet. One day, one hour at a time, that’s how I’d get through.
She was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the trailer when I stepped out onto the front porch.
I’d filled a thermos with coffee and wrapped up a few of the blueberry muffins my mom made.
With a day packed full of events, I wanted to have her to myself for a bit before everything got underway.
“Good morning.” I would have swept her up in a kiss right then and there if we hadn’t promised to keep things on the down low. That was another reason I was ready to put the contest behind us. I wanted to be able to hug her and kiss her in public, not always be wary of who might see us.
She grinned up at me. “Good morning. Are you ready for today?”
“I’ll be more ready for the day after that gala.”
“I know. But it’s only another week away. We can keep up pretenses until then, can’t we?” She stood and brushed off her backside. “What’s in the bag?”
“Blueberry muffins.”
Her tongue darted out and swept along her lip. “For me?”
“Maybe.”
“What do you want for one?”
“What will you give me?”
Her eyebrows rose. “How do you do with delayed gratification?”
“Recently, I’ve been handling it fairly well, I think.” I held up the thermos. “I’ve got coffee if you want to walk with me for a bit.”
“Sure.”
I led her down, past Tie Dye’s pen, past the old barn where we’d relocated Abby’s horses, to the big barn I wanted to turn into an event venue.
“You brought me to the barn for breakfast?” she asked.
“I wanted to get your opinion about something.” I slid the big door open. “After you.”
We walked into the dim interior. I glanced around. It was going to take a hell of a lot of work to transform the interior, but it would be worth it.
“Smells like manure. Is that what you wanted my opinion on?” She held out her hand, beckoning for the brown paper bag.
“Not exactly. But you do have a valid point. Maybe we should wait on the muffins until we’re done here.”
Her eyes rolled and her hip bumped mine. “What kind of opinion did you want?”
“What would you think about us turning this place into a wedding barn?” I bit down on my lip while I waited for a response.
She didn’t answer right away, but took her time, letting her gaze drift up to the high peak of the ceiling and along the thick rafters that had held the barn up through years of daily use, hundreds of storms, and generations of Taylors.
“I think it could be lovely.”
“Really?”
“Really. Is that what you’ve been working on with Lacey?” She arched a brow. “I know the two of you have been up to something.”
I nodded. “Yeah. She thinks it would be a good complementary business to the Phillips House. She’s getting so many requests, she’s had to turn some away.”
“It could be beautiful in here.” She reached for my hand. I shifted the bag into the same hand as the thermos and twined my fingers with hers.
“Is this the kind of place you might want to have your wedding someday?”
Her eyes sparked. “My wedding? What makes you think I’m the marrying kind?”
“I don’t care what kind of kind you are, as long as you’ll be mine.” I pulled her against me and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I can’t wait for this contest to be over.”
“You and me both.” She held tight, wrapping her arms around me.
A soft whimper made me pull back. “Was that you?”
“No.” Delilah held perfectly still.
The noise came again.
“Is there some kind of wild animal in here?” Delilah asked.
“Hold on a sec.” I moved to the very back of the barn, to one of the stalls we hadn’t cleaned out yet. I peered over the edge. Six kennels sat inside the stall.
“What is it?”
I flipped on my flashlight app. “Oh, hell.”
Delilah
I sucked in a breath as I looked down on the crates filled with dogs. “What are they doing here?”
Jasper turned me toward the door we’d come through. “You know what? I bet Trent or Mitchell is helping Zina out again. Sometimes they deliver dogs for her when they get adopted out of state.”
“I thought Zina said she only adopted to local families. She told me she likes to meet them and make sure they know what they’re getting in for before they take one of her dogs.”
“Yeah, I think that’s how she usually does it. But if she gets a lot of dogs, sometimes she works with rescues in other states to do the legwork for her.” He pulled the door shut behind us as soon as we walked through. “Did you want one of these muffins?”
“Sure. Do I get some of that coffee, too?”
“You know what? Why don’t you take it? I’m going to follow up with Trent to make sure everything’s okay with those dogs and see how long he expects them to stay in the barn. I’ll meet up with you later?”
“But you wanted to walk me through the events for today, didn’t you?” He’d handed me the bag and the coffee. It wasn’t like him to seem so flustered. Maybe he was feeling just as off as I was.
“How about I drop you off in town and have Suzy walk you through things? There are a few last-minute details I need to work on and then I’ll meet up with you before it’s time to go?”
“I think you’re working too hard on this festival.” I cupped his cheek with my palm. “You know you’ve already impressed me, don’t you?”
“I didn’t know for sure until you just told me.” He rubbed his cheek against my palm.
“I’m not saying you’ve got the win in the bag, but if it gets you out of work so we can spend my last night in town together, I can tell you, you’ve got a really good shot at the title.”
“Shh.” He silenced me with a kiss. “We promised we wouldn’t let the contest come between us. I don’t want to get us disqualified because you’re falling for me.”
“Falling for you?” I sidled up against his chest, wishing my hands weren’t full of breakfast so I could use them for other things, more important things in the moment.
“Aren’t you?” His arms wrapped around me, his hands resting against the sliver of skin between my shirt and the pair of jeans I’d slipped on.
“I think I’ve already fallen.” Rising on my tiptoes, I touched my lips to his.
He deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into my mouth. The man sure knew how to kiss. And someday soon, hopefully my lips would get a lot more action from his.
“We’d better get back.” He let his arms drop from my sides.
I fell into step beside him, appreciating the way he always seemed to adjust his longer stride to match mine.
About twenty minutes later, Jasper pulled up in front of the gazebo in the town square.
I popped the last of the muffin into my mouth and drained my coffee.
Rows of white tents lined the sidewalk. Vendors were setting up their wares, and I spotted everything from fresh produce to homemade apple butter to midway games.
Jasper had filled me in on what to expect at the Fall Festival, but he hadn’t told me it was more like a carnival.
Suzy rushed over when she saw us, her arms full of miniature pumpkins. “Am I ever glad to see you!”
“You need some help with that?” I made a move to stabilize the pile of pumpkins.
“I’m good for now. But I could use some help with the pumpkin bowling station. I promised Lacey I’d finish setting it up before I can run home and get ready.”
“I was hoping you’d be able to take Delilah around and show her how everything’s going to go today,” Jasper said.
I didn’t miss the surprise in Suzy’s eyes.
“Um, sure. Do you have other plans?”
“There’s something I need to follow up on with Mitchell and Trent. I’ll be back before you know it. An hour, maybe two at the most.” Jasper put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll see you later, Miss Lovin’ Texas.”
Then he climbed into his truck and backed out of the space, not even waving as he sped off down the street.
“Is it just me or did he run off faster than shit off a shovel?” Suzy glanced toward the empty spot where Jasper’s truck had been.
“He seemed a little off this morning,” I admitted.
“How so?”
“After we found those . . .” Jasper had asked me not to mention it to anyone, at least until he had a chance to check with his brothers. As odd as that seemed, I trusted him completely. He had to have a good reason.
“Those what?” Suzy eyed me with suspicion.
I wouldn’t lie. After what Stella had done to Suzy . . . stringing Suzy along all those years . . . I’d never tell another lie as long as I lived.
“Dogs. He found a few dogs in the barn and said he needed to check in with Trent, or maybe he mentioned Mitchell. I still can’t keep all of them straight.” I shrugged. “What’s left to do for pumpkin bowling?”
Suzy screwed her mouth into a frown. “I just remembered I’ve got to run an errand. Think you can handle this on your own?” She began to pass the pumpkins to me, losing several in the transfer.
“But I don’t know what you have in mind. I’ve never even been bowling, much less pumpkin bowling.” My protests fell on deaf ears.
Unencumbered by the pumpkins, Suzy spun me around and pointed to a tent. “Just draw some faces on those bowling pins and stack the pumpkins over there. I’ll be back in just a bit.”
I stood by, helpless, while Suzy stalked down the sidewalk and disappeared around the corner. Something was going on in Ido. Something I needed to figure out, and fast.