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Delaney sighed. “Like you had a few too many and danced your heart out. But beautiful, Bethy. Always beautiful. And happy. You look happy.”
Beth waited for her sister to insinuate this happiness was tied to a place, this place, and pressure her to stay. But she didn’t say anything else.
Beth was happy. Happier than she’d been in a long time. But a strange ache in her chest began to quietly pulse. It was as if the alcohol had unlocked something she’d forgotten was there, or maybe it had unleashed something new. Either way, her happiness blurred at the edges, unable to fully come into focus.
“Okay,” she finally said. “Let’s go out there. I promise to act surprised.”
Delaney grabbed her hand. “You’d better,” she warned, “or I’m in big trouble, and I need Eli in a good mood when I tell him on Monday that we just took in a pregnant goat at the shelter who is due any day now.” She tugged her sister toward the door.
“Why do you need him in a good mood for a goat delivery?” Beth asked as they made their way to the front of the bar.
“Because the last one we had bit him right in the—” A gust of wind cut her off as Delaney pushed through the tavern door, and then there was Eli, standing in his navy crewneck sweater, hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans as he rocked back on his heels.
He grinned when he saw her, the biggest, most beautiful smile she’d ever seen on any human. It knocked her off-balance, so much so that her sister had to grab her elbow.
“Someone needs another glass of water,” Delaney said under her breath.
Beth didn’t bother protesting. It wasn’t as if her sister needed to know that something as simple as a smile had the same effect on her as one too many pints.
“I’m fine,” she whispered and yanked her elbow back to her side.
She expected to be accosted by a sky full of stars, but instead of looking up, her eyes were drawn to the word HAPPY written vertically in yellow neon script down the side of a lamp post to her left. The one farther down the sidewalk to her right read BIRTHDAY in blue, and even though it was all the way at the end of the block and her vision wasn’t exactly as crystal clear as it usually was, she knew the last one in pink said BETH. What wasn’t so clear was the figure beneath her name that flashed on and off, seemingly dancing a circle around the post.
Dancing around the post.
Her breath hitched.
“Go ahead,” her sister told her. “I’ll go inside and grab that second glass of water.”
Beth nodded absently and moved a few paces in the direction of the far post, slowly at first but then with increasing speed as she got closer until she was almost running by the time she made it there.
At first, she could only stare at the bright-pink outline of the ballerina as she seemed to pirouette around the post. Then she reached for it, fingers brushing over the tubes of bent plastic that formed each individual outline of the dancer as she spun.
Her throat tightened, and her eyes burned.
“According to your sister, I’m early.” Eli’s voice sounded softly behind her. “But I wanted to be the first to wish you a happy birthday.”
She spun to face him, and there he stood, backlit by the bright windows of the Meadow Valley Inn, the empty porch swing softly swaying as if it had only been vacated moments before so the two of them could have the quiet street to themselves. He looked like something out of the pages of a Meadow Valley guidebook, if such a thing existed.
Come to our town, and all this could be yours…whether you planned on it or not.
Whether you planned on him or not.
“You did this?” she asked him, heart in her throat. “But how? When? I didn’t even tell you…” She couldn’t form a complete sentence, not when she was drowning in feelings she’d never intended to feel.
She rubbed her hands together and blew into her palms. Goose bumps blanketed her flesh beneath the sweater that had only minutes ago been too warm to wear.
Eli wrapped her in his arms and pulled her to his chest, resting his chin on her head.
“I did make you fill out that temporary employee paperwork for the clinic,” he reminded her. “I might have sneaked a peek at your birthday when I photocopied your driver’s license.”
She laughed softly and burrowed into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Ah, yes,” she replied. “Paperwork is always the start of any epic romance. But the lights? The dancer?” She leaned back and peered up at him. “I still don’t understand. You didn’t know until this afternoon that we were coming here together tonight, and I don’t remember you sneaking off to town before we left.”
He kissed her forehead, his lips lingering for several long moments before he brought his attention back to her observation and the unasked questions within.
“I had some help from Delaney and Casey. I came up with the idea last week but needed them to execute it.” He shrugged. “And if we’d shown up separately like we’d originally planned, then it would have been your gift from them only.”
Her mouth fell open. “You were just going to give them credit for your idea?”
