As he stood there, Evie scanned the crowd, and since she was facing Gwen, she could see him behind her. “Hey, Case.”
Gwen spun just as he got his feet moving again, and he managed to get a smile on his face. “Hello, ladies.”
“Hi,” she said, and she started to take a step toward him before she stopped herself. “Having fun?”
Wondering if she’d subconsciously intended to give him a kiss hello before she remembered they were surrounded by people had distracted him too much to do anything more than nod at first, but then he realized all three women were watching him, so he cleared his throat. “It’s a nice day for it, and the artisan at the tree service booth is amazing, so yeah, I’m having fun. Are you getting a lot of traffic?”
Gwen nodded. “Everybody can’t wait to try the beer.”
“Hey, it’s my turn to watch the booth,” Evie said. “You should go walk around with Case for a while and find some food.”
She said the words casually enough, but he saw Gwen give her sister awhat are you doing?look, which got a look of exaggerated innocence in response. Clearly he wasn’t the only one who thought Gwen should spend some time with him this fine day.
“I could use a hot dog,” he said in what he hoped was a casual, friendly way that didn’t give away theoh, please please pleasehe felt on the inside.
“And fries.” She gave Evie and Daphne a quick wave and started walking away, leaving him to catch up. Either she was afraid something would come up and Evie would leave again, or she wasreallyhungry.
They walked without talking for a few minutes, making their way toward the side of the square where the really good food truck was always parked. Throughout every year, the Old Home Day committee held fundraisers to pay for the food trucks, and one year when participation had been particularly low, they scrapped them. The only food available that year was the pulled pork sandwiches the volunteer fire department sold, cookies and brownies from the student council’s bake sale, and judging the chili contest. The food truck fundraisers had been a rousing success ever since.
Case was wishing he had the courage to reach just a little to the right and take her hand in his when he realized she’d slowed down. Her gaze was locked onto a rack of cotton candy and, as he looked, she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, looking a million miles away.
“Do you want some cotton candy?” he asked, expecting her to laugh and tell him she’d outgrown spun sugar on a paper cone a long time ago, but her cheeks flushed. It was getting hotter by the hour and she’d been standing at that booth for a long time. “Or maybe some lemonade and we can sit in the shade for a while.”
“I’m actually starving, so maybe some real food first.” She smiled, and there was a naughty gleam in her eye he didn’t understand, but was totally on board for. “Then the cotton candy.”
Once they each had a fully loaded hot dog and a paper carton of fries with extra salt, they found an empty picnic table in the shade. He went back to get them each a cup of freshly squeezed lemonade and then sat across from her. Considering her hot dog was almost gone by the time he got back, she hadn’t been lying when she said she was hungry.
“Have you seen Lane today?” she asked between bites.
“For a minute, earlier. He was heading back to the carriage house.”
“Did he say anything about Evie?”
Since his cousin hadn’t really told him anything, he supposed he wouldn’t be breaking a confidence. “I’m guessing probably the same thing Evie said about Lane.”
“Something happened. Maybe a fight.”
Case wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t know one way or the other, so he nodded. “Probably.”
“Hopefully it wasn’t too bad, because getting this brewery up and running is hard enough without having to navigate them not being able to be in the same room.” She held up a french fry, as if to make a point. “And speaking of being in the same room, Evie and I were talking last night, and we’ve been here for two weeks and haven’t been in the cellar yet. We think we should get to see what all the fuss is about.”
“That, you have to take up with Lane. For a laid-back guy, he’s very controlling and a perfectionist when it comes to the brewing room. Nobody can touch it but him.”
“Does he think we’re going to start pushing buttons and dialing things and pulling levers?” He made awell, maybeface—mostly joking—and she laughed. “Well, Evie might. Especially after whatever happened between them today. But I think we have a right to see it.”
“I agree. And since we’re on the topic, you should stop by the popcorn vendor. I was over there earlier and noticed he upgraded to a bigger setup, so I asked him and he’s looking to get rid of the machine he had last year. It would probably be a good size for the taproom.”
“Why would we have a popcorn machine?”
Case shook his head, sighing. “It’s like you’ve never even been in a bar, I swear. Having a popcorn machine is fun, plus it’s salty. People who eat a lot of popcorn need another drink.”
“I’ll stop over there before I go give Evie a break,” she said, digging into the fries again. “And I guess I should be the one who brings up the tour with Lane, rather than her.”
He nodded, and they finished the fries together. He was about to ask her if she’d seen the birdhouses yet, and suggest they go see them before finding some cotton candy, when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He hoped it would be nothing, but when he pulled it out to read the message, he wanted to hurl the phone to the ground and jump up and down on it.
“Judging by your expression, it’s not good news,” Gwen said, and he shook his head.
“One of the selectmen thought it would be fun to use a drone to take overhead video of Old Home Day, and now his very expensive drone is stuck in a tree.”
