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“Is there?”
“Well, seeing as how Chet is still very much alive and well and, you haven’t disappeared into the night, I’m going to guess that A, you are running with him and B, it’s going well.”
Meg rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am running with him, and yes, it’s going fine.”
“Good!”
Meg pointed a finger at her friend. “Don’t go getting your hopes up, and get that look off your face.”
“What look?”
“The one where you have me living happily married with a white picket fence and a dog in the yard.”
She’d meant it as a way to get Baylee to back off, but the image popped in her head of a small cabin of sorts, no picket fence, and a large spotted Great Dane in the yard.
“Who’s happily married?” Hannah asked. “I love weddings.” She gazed off into the distance, a rosy glow on her cheeks. “And I love dogs. We’ve been talking about getting one, but with two young kids, it just feels like a lot…”
Meg had learned that when Hannah talked, it was a steady stream of words and topics. Therefore, many times it sounded as if you were catching her train of thought midway through while she had no clue she was the only one on the tracks.
“No one is getting married,” Baylee said.
“Update us on the plan for today.” Meg pointed to the clipboard in Hannah’s arms, eager to get Hannah’s mind off weddings of any kind, most of all hers. The last thing she wanted was rumors of a wedding, especially with her spending every morning running through town with a gorgeous, single fireman.
She and Baylee exchanged a glance that said she wasn’t off the hook in telling Baylee more about running with Chet, but that was par for the course for their friendship. Baylee nudged and Meg responded when she wanted to and diverted topics when she didn’t.
“Well, we have people making booths for the businesses that need one”—Hannah scribbled on her notepad as she talked—“and decorations are being organized over there.” She pointed to a set of tables on the other side of the park. “We still need to build the hay maze, but that takes lots of lifting and grunt work.”
“I’ll do it,” Meg offered.
“Are you sure? I have a couple guys willing, but”—she leaned in as she whispered—“as much as they can lift and move hay bales, I’m not sure they are master maze builders.”
Meg stood and patted her legs. “I’m your girl.”
“Okay! You’ll get your weight lifting in today!” Hannah grinned, her ability to turn anything into a cheer something Meg was still getting used to. She turned her attention to Baylee. “What about you, Baylee? Do you want to lift hay?”
Baylee laughed. “Um. No. That’s not my area of expertise. I can help with decorations.”
“Sounds perfect.”
The three women split up and headed in the various directions of their assigned workstations.
Meg was happy to have hay bales to move around. Not one to shy away from physical labor, she enjoyed the way it took her mind off things. Much like running. She walked up to the edge of the bales. Two guys stood there talking, one of whom was Tyler.
“Hey guys.” She put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and smiled.
They turned toward her. “Hey there. Meg, right?” Tyler smiled.
“That’s me. Hannah sent me over to help with the hay bale maze.”
A guy with blond hair and a baby face standing beside Tyler said, “Thank you! We can lift and move hay all day, but making it into a maze is not our strong suit.”
“This is Morgan,” Tyler said. “Morgan, this is Meg.”
“Nice to meet you.” She shook his hand.
“I’m a probie at the fire department,” Morgan added. “We’re all volunteering to help Hannah get this Harvest Festival going, but I fear I’m out of my league here.”
Meg mentally shook her head. Was it her fate to always be around firemen?
