Page 102 of Once Upon a Fall

I feel heat creep into my cheeks. Dean would never make googly eyes at anyone. But we’ve caught each other looking more than once. And if he’s been looking for me when I haven’t noticed? That’s even better.

“You should tell him to stay around,” Edna G. says. “He’s already got property. He should just move here.”

Right. Because that’s an easy thing to do. Hey, Dean, want to rearrange your entire life for a woman with five princess-themed bedrooms and questionable business instincts?

“Have you guys heard that Mayor Monroe might be dating someone?” I say, changing the subject.

Edna B. gives Edna G. a look before turning it on me. “We’ve known about that for weeks.”

“Who do you think it is?”

They both settle back into their chairs, preparing for what will probably be a full timeline with receipts.

The best way to get an Edna off one track is to change it to another.

Too bad the same trick doesn’t work when I’m trying not to think about Dean.

Just after four in the afternoon, the barn is done. Well, the shell of it, at least. The inside still needs to be finished before it can officially become the community center, but for tonight, we’ll bring in generators, string up some lights, and turn the cement pad into a dance floor.

Everyone stands back and stares at their work. It’s massive—bigger than I expected, with tall wooden walls, huge beams stretching across the inside, and stained dark wood that looks almost too pretty for something that was built in a day.

I find Dean smiling as he pats a few of the other volunteers on the back, everyone congratulating each other.

We head back to the inn afterward; Dean is tired, and the headache I had this morning still lingers.

“So, I have to be at the dance tonight,” I tell him as we walk side by side down Main Street.

“Yeah?” he asks.

“It’s part of my festival duties,” I say, giving him jazz hands and then feeling stupid about it.

In truth, I could probably skip the dance part. I don’t think anyone would notice if I weren’t there. I’m not emceeing or anything, thank goodness.

But I kind of want to go. It’s the end of the week, the last activity of the festival. We built a barn in a day, and now we get to dance inside it tonight. Well, I didn’t actually build the barn. I mostly cheered from the sidelines. But still, there’s something sort of magical about it.

And if I’m being honest with myself, I want Dean to be there.

Dean makes a humming sound in response.

Not exactly the I would love to come with you response I was hoping for.

Although . . . I guess I didn’t really ask him.

“You could come if you want,” I say. “You helped build the barn, after all.”

He looks over at me, meeting my gaze as we walk. “Should I?” he asks.

“If you’re up for it,” I say. “I’m sure you’re tired. I am, too. It’s been a long week, and we’ve both had a lot going on. And you just built a barn. We’ve never done a dance before—it could be dumb—”

“Rosie,” he says, stopping in his tracks and cutting off my ramble. “I’ll come.”

I give him a grin. It’s not what I want to do. I want to grab him and kiss him again like I did when he told me he was staying and taking the Snow White room.

I shouldn’t have done that; I knew it even as I was doing it. But I couldn’t help myself. I know better than to do it right now. Even if I hate it.

I look in the mirror again, possibly for the hundredth time, and feel silly.

Actually, I feel pretty. But also a little ridiculous.