Page 36 of Woods of the Raven

I stared at her.

“He’s very pretty, tall, with all those sleek gym muscles, blue eyes, brown hair with highlights that are better than mine, and I think you’d make a beautiful couple.”

“Why? Because we’re both gay?”

“Just, could you be less you on Saturday when I bring him over to meet you?”

“I—”

“And maybe do something with your hair before then?”

“My hair?”

She made a face. “It’s a bit long right now, and with all the waves and curls, it’s a riot instead of a mane. Even pulled up, it’s unruly.”

I didn’t say a word.

“Would it kill you to brush it and get it out of your eyes? You have these beautiful hazel eyes no one can ever see.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“No, darling.” She sighed. “I’m here to help you make the banana bread for the festival on Saturday. Try and be a bit more on the ball.”

She wasn’t wrong. I had no idea what I was doing.

“Do you have the tea packed in the jars?”

I whimpered again. I kept doing that since she arrived. She brought it out in me.

“I’m thinking we’re going to need some help.”

All I could say was thank you.

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was a bit ragged around the edges, looking like something Argos dragged in. I was not up for meeting anyone new. I was hoping Amanda would be too busy to remember to bring around the man she wanted to marry me off to.

I really appreciated Delia and Cass showing up to help me, especially Delia, who by rights should have been working at her uncle’s stall instead of mine. But Troy was smart; he just closed his store in town for the day, and everyone who worked there was manning his booth. Since I didn’t have an online anything, I was dependent on friends helping or I wouldn’t even get a moment to go to the bathroom. Pete had been by earlier to pick up his ladders and, thankfully, drive the van Amanda had loaned me. I didn’t have a driver’s license, so I appreciated him pitching in.

As usual, I was far from the grandstand where the music was, where all the food vendors were, which worked out great. I preferred being toward the back with the soap makers, the jewelry folks, painters, sculptors, woodworkers, and the couple who made beautiful wind chimes from foraged materials and sea glass. Troy liked it back there as well, and as it turned out, we were right across from each other.

Both of us were slammed as soon as the event began at eight, and I was out of ladders quickly, the five hundred I’d made gone before lunch. Jesus Hernandez, one of our five city councilmen, came by to visit and was very concerned that his wife could not find the plans for the Essex House in the reference section of our library.

“She’s writing her dissertation on the architecture in this town and how it’s reflected in the town’s myths and literature.”

“Yes, I know.” I knew Taylor Hernandez well. She was valedictorian the year Amanda and I graduated from high school. I used to read her tarot cards for her every Friday night when she came to my house without her mother knowing. I still read them on occasion.

He cleared his throat. “We’re going to find some money in the town’s budget to put into the Parks Department, and for the library as well.”

“Really?” This was exciting news. I missed working.

“Oh yes. My wife isn’t the only one not getting helped at the library.”

I had no doubt.

“By any chance, did you put any ladders away for—”

“Of course I did.” I smiled at him as I passed over two packages wrapped in tissue and tied with jute.

“I need forty bucks from you, sir,” Eddie, Amanda’s husband, said from where he was sitting on a folding chair over my cash box. “And remember, it’s for the animals.”