Page 44 of I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life

But I wasn’t scared anymore; I’d let him do what he loved. When our expiration date hit, and I still felt like it’d be sooner rather than later, I wasn’t going to force him to make that choice.

Even if right now he was convinced there wasn’t one. I wanted to believe him, but if I was right, I wouldn’t stop him. I knew “if you love them, let them go” was one of the stupidest clichés in existence, but I got to have Kam for a little while. And it meant more to me than never having him at all.

I’d missed the lead-up meetings for the New Year’s Eve Festival. Kam always assured me I hadn’t missed much, and based on how many times I’d volunteered, I believed he was right.

I didn’t have to sit through the fights on what should go where, before everyone decided on using the same map we did every year. I didn’t have to focus on getting people to sign up to make something for the bake sale, though I had a feeling Peri was scaring people into submission. I knew most of the information that was going out.

But I couldn’t miss the last one. Not if I was wanted to be able to volunteer at future events.

And as Kam and I walked into the room for the meeting, it was clear I'd missed much more than I'd expected.

I didn’t realize how many volunteers lived in my old complex until I saw how few of the regulars were here — I couldn’t blame them for dropping out, not when everyone was trying to figure out how to get their lives back together. Posters for the festival looked like they were hosting a RaineFall reunion, instead of a fun way to usher in the New Year.

“Maya said she had a teacher account for some graphic design website and could make things,” Kam explained through gritted teeth, “Believe it or not, this is more lowkey than the posters used to be.”

“We’re just judging karaoke, right?” I asked, and he nodded, like he couldn’t believe there was this much attention on him for something so simple.

“Nalini. Why are you here?” I heard a voice behind me, and we turned to see Maya giving the world’s fakest smile.

“Maya. Why is Kam’s face everywhere?” I shot back, “You realize this is a New Year’s Eve Festival, and not a concert, right?”

“I’m honestly not even planning on singing,” Kam nodded. “I’m there to judge, handle the crowd, maybe MC? Nothing special.”

“Please, it’s not every day we have an actual celebrity in Briar Hill,” she said, adding what I thought was supposed to be a flirtatious giggle — despite the fact Kam lived here. And therefore we did have an actual celebrity in Briar Hill. Every. Day. “And since we’re going to be partners…”

“We’re not,” Kam interrupted, “As I told you. Multiple times.”

“I’m still working the festival,” I added.

“Oh,” she scoffed, “I just thought since everyone else from the fire dropped, you had too.”

“Nope, still here. Still helping with karaoke,” I said, “And I promise, I can handle listening to bad singing for a night, won’t affect my stress level too badly.”

“Whatever,” Maya grumbled as she walked towards her friends.

“What are these signs?” I heard Frank say as he glared at Kam. I wanted to protect him, especially when the only reason he signed up was to be accepted by the town. But it seemed he had it handled.

“It’s a bit much, right?” Kam said to the bookstore owner, “I’ve been trying to get my picture off the posters the whole time. I don’t think it shows off the spirit of the festival very well.”

I watched as the old man looked over his glasses frames at Kam, before he glanced back at me. I gave him a nod. Frank looked back at Kam, obviously debating whether or not to trust him. It took a few seconds before the older man gave him a nod and grunted something which sounded like approval, before going to complain to some of the other volunteers.

“Was that the right thing to say?” Kam asked, as I watched the group seem to look less annoyed with Kam, their gazes turning to Maya.

“Perfect,” I answered, and I had a feeling the meeting was going to become one for the books. Tension was clearly brewing, with Kameron in the middle of it.

Mary-Marigold quickly brought the meeting to order and started through what she thought was the last of the volunteer meetings.

“Can we talk about how terrible these posters are?” I heard someone yell, and I turned to see it was Cathy, the lady who ran the flower shop. “Nobody’s going to come if they think we’re selling out. No offense, Kameron.” To his credit, he shrugged in agreement.

“Excuse me?” Maya yelled, clearly offended, “How is it selling out if we actually have a celebrity with us? People will want to see Kam Raine. It’ll help us raise so much more…”

“Nobody but you cares about him,” Frank interrupted, “No offense.”

“Again, none taken,” Kam chuckled, “Honestly, I’d really rather not even be considered a celebrity for this. I just wanted to help out, not be a spectacle.”

The room exploded with everyone talking over him after his admission. Those who grew up here argued the posters were ridiculous, and the much smaller group of transplants insisted we had to take every advantage — even if Kameron didn’t want to. And in the middle was poor Mary-Marigold, who was desperately trying to get the meeting back under control.

I never thought something as traditional as our New Year’s Eve Festival would turn into something everyone acted like was a battle for Briar Hill’s soul. There wasn’t much I could do, not when everyone’s voices were raised, but watch in amazement.