He nodded. “Yep. Very different than smaller ones like this.”
“Sure.” I pressed my lips together. “I bet you’re glad to see the back end of Willow Creek.” I looked hard at the stage. I loved this Faire. I loved this town. But that didn’t mean that everyone did.
“Not at all.” If Daniel had picked up on my reaction he didn’t say anything. When I glanced back to him he was looking at the stage too, not at me. “This is one of my favorite stops every year. It’s a nice town.”
And just like that, my lick of defensive anger dissolved, and relief swept through me like a cool breeze. “Yeah. I think so too.”
Onstage, the Dueling Kilts finished their set, and Dex lifted his chin in my direction. I’d already raised my hand in a wave when I caught Daniel doing an identical chin-raise in response. Ah. I turned the awkward half-wave into a too-casual check of my hair. Of course. Wench at every Faire. And Dex was done with both me and the Willow Creek Faire.
I shook off the sting of disappointment. There were only a few minutes left in this year’s Faire now, and I was going to wring every possible moment out of it. These weeks in the woods were so much more fun, so much more interesting, than my real life. After all, I lived in a small town. Not a lot changed in Willow Creek.
Yeah. Famous last words.
Photo by Morgan H. Lee