Chase was really starting to detest being calleddude, and it was tempting to lecture the kid on respecting his elders. But that meant Chase would be calling himself an elder, and he already felt old enough because of the upcoming alumni game, thank you very much. Hanging around teenage athletes was hard on a man’s ability to fool himself into thinking he was still young.
He felt anything but old, though, when he pulled up to the curb and saw Kelly at the corner of the town square. They were trying to hang a tarp, presumably to offer shade for the baked goods and lemonade stands, and she was on her tiptoes with her arms raised over her head.
The way she was stretched out made her legs look even longer, and her T-shirt had lifted enough to leave a gap between its hem and the waistband of her shorts. That teasing glimpse of skin made his mouth dry, and he found himself hoping she’d have to reach just a little bit higher.
“Dude, you’re holding up traffic.”
Busted.Keeping the curse limited to an under-the-breath mutter because he was trying to set a good example when around the kids, Chase hit the gas and drove around the square until he found a parking space that wouldn’t mean carrying the stuff in the bed of the truck too far.
Once the last item—a rocking chair with cushions he guessed had been made during the Carter administration—was deposited with the rest of the donated furnishings, he wiped a light sheen of sweat off his forehead and stretched his back.
“You guys might want to have a few workout sessions before the big game,” Kelly said from behind him, and he groaned.
He turned around, shaking his head at the grin on her face. “Don’t remind me. I think the Eagles Fest coordinators should take pity on us old folks and make it flag football.”
“You know how Coach feels about football. If you’re going to play, play it all the way. And you’re not old because then I’d be old, too. And I’m not.”
No, she certainly wasn’t. “What do you want me to do next?”
“I think we’re all set. The signs are out letting cars from both directions know there’s a town yard sale ahead, and the early bird shoppers are out in force.”
“I see that. It’s a little ironic, isn’t it, that almost the entire town has turned out to support the team when they obviously must have voted to cut the funding at the meeting?”
“I guess it looks that way.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t personal, though, and very few peoplewantedto cut the team’s funding. But something had to give, and it’s hard enough to keep good teachers, so we can’t and won’t make cuts there. Bottom line, it came down to prioritizing academics over athletics.”
“Tough choice, but nobody can argue it was the right one, I guess.”
“And now we’ll try to make up the difference.”
He nodded, looking around. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
“I saw a paint-by-numbers horse on black velvet on a table over by the big maple tree. It would make a great Christmas gift for somebody special in your life.”
He grimaced. “I’ll doalmostanything you need me to do.”
Kelly laughed. “Mrs. Smith donated some Tupperware. It’s slightly spaghetti sauce stained because she didn’t clean it with baking soda like Mrs. Donato told her to, but it’s still a bargain. Everybody needs Tupperware.”
“I’m pretty sure I saw a tools section,” he said. “Maybe I’ll do a little shopping there.”
“Just a heads-up, the reciprocating saw has a bad cord that’ll zap the hell out of you. Coach is waiting for its donor to stop hovering, trying to drive up the price, so he can make it disappear.”
“Sometimes I forget how much I love this town.”
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic.”
He shrugged, not sure himself. “A little bit yes and a little bit no, I guess. It’s weird because I feel like a visitor, but as soon as you said her name, I remembered the day Mrs. Donato forgot to put her car in park before she got out, and it almost crashed through the front window of the drugstore.”
“You’re not a visitor. You’re one of the golden boys of fall.”
“You almost said that with a straight face.” He liked the hint of mocking in her voice. It mirrored how he felt about the whole thing. He wasn’t a golden boy, by any means.
“Go get a coffee, golden boy,” she said. “And grab one of Mimi Dodge’s muffins before the bake sale table runs out. They’re that good.”
She walked away before he thought to suggest they have coffee and muffins together, which was probably for the best. Since he was having one hell of a time keeping his eyes off her legs and they were surrounded by most of Stewart Mills, it was best if he kept moving and found other things to look at. Like horses painted on black velvet.
—
Kelly lost track of time as she moved through the crowd in the town square. Sometimes she was helping to drive up prices in a friendly way, even managing to start a bidding war over a DVD player with a missing remote, and sometimes taking turns behind the tables so their volunteer cashiers could have breaks.
