Once I finished, I handed them their phones. “Change your Twitter handles, bios, and profile pictures. You’ll both be forgotten by the end of the week when someone new goes viral. And if you so much as think my name again, I’ll lawyer up.”
I linked my arm through Paxton’s and we left them behind the game tents among the generators. Jessica and Eric, who had come into my life by chance, left again just as quickly. The damage Jessica had caused with those photos would linger in some ways for a long time, for all of us, but even if the Internet was forever, attention spans generally weren’t.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
AS SOON AS WE walked back to the midway, Paxton tugged me against him and kissed me deeply. The carnival worker at the milk jug toss game whistled and tried to encourage Paxton to win me a giant stuffed banana, but we ignored him.
“You were brilliant.” He held my shoulders as he kissed my forehead. “Utterly.” He kissed my cheek. “Completely.” He kissed my other cheek. “Brilliant.” He kissed my lips again. “As soon as Eric showed those pictures, I thought it was all over for us. How did you know to record them?”
“I’m a fast learner.” I pulled back and looked him over. “How did you find us?”
He rubbed his jaw. “I followed you. I’m sorry it took me so long to really get there.”
“You didn’t have to show up at all, you know. I had it handled.”
“I know.” He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry about being distant the past two days. It’s still a lot for me, and I kept my distance so I could get a grip on it all. But I’ll always stand by you.”
“That’s why I love you.” I took his hand. We still had another hour before he had to get back to Matilda for her show. “Let’s go ride something that won’t kill us.”
I texted Elise to meet us by the Tilt-A-Whirl. She was already there with Midnight by the time we got to the other side of the fair. Elise wore a pirate hat made out of balloons and looked deliriously happy about it, while Midnight stood beside her, glaring at the ride.
I nudged Midnight. “You do know there are children here, Unholy Mistress. Maybe try not to look like you’ll eat their souls?”
She turned her glare on me. “Who in their right mind would pay money to purposefully make themselves sick?”
Elise cocked her head, and the balloon feather in her balloon pirate hat bounced with the movement. “Are you afraid of the Tilt-A-Whirl?”
“No.” Midnight kicked at the ground. “Okay, maybe.”
I couldn’t believe it. The girl who’d faced her demons by becoming one was afraid of the tamest ride outside the merry-go-round. Even I’d ride the Tilt-A-Whirl, and I was terrified of nearly every other ride at the fair.
“We are definitely going on it now,” I said.
“I will definitely puke on you,” Midnight shot back. “If you force me on that thing, I’m sitting with you.”
“Okay, you win.” I held up my hands in surrender. “No rides. Promise.”
“Did you find Jessica and Eric?” Elise asked.
I took out my phone and showed her the video, just to give her the full effect. Midnight and Elise swore and cursed Eric and Jessica the whole time, and when they’d reached the point where I’d stopped recording, I filled them in on the rest.
“My best friend.” Elise hugged me. “The badass.”
I squeezed her tight. “Does this mean I get to be Batman now?”
“Hell no.” Elise pulled back and shook her head. “You’re still Robin, but, like, a really buffed-up, cool version of Robin.”
“I’ll take it, I guess.” I glanced at the time on my phone and turned to Paxton. “If you want to go get Matilda checked in, I’ll stop by the craft hall to see the Bees’ quilt and meet you over there in time for the judging.”
“That works for me.” He kissed me again before disappearing into the crowds.
“Did you two want to come with me?” I asked Elise and Midnight.
They looked at each other. “Nah,” Elise said. “We’re going to go make out in my truck before the rabbit show. My girlfriend has a thing for pirates.”
“Arrr,” Midnight said, her face turning the color of the red shells over the Tilt-A-Whirl.
I waved them off and made my way over to the craft hall, which was really just a huge white barn that didn’t have any animals in it. Crowds and flies filtered in and out of the wide-open doors. Booths holding paintings, pottery, beadwork, photography, pies, cookies, and handwoven rugs filled the aisles. Anything considered an art or a hobby could be judged at the Shelby County Fair. Though nothing else created the same buzz as the quilts. They took up the entire back wall of the barn, all hung up on hooks to show their full detail.
As soon as I spotted the Bees—minus Gigi, who was assisting Paxton—at their table, I looked up and put a hand over my chest. There on the wall, the Bees hadn’t just embroidered Defining Moments in Recent History, but Defining Moments in their histories.
I recognized each square by their signature stitches. Peg’s depicted two women seated at a table with needle and thread. The first time she and Gram had sewn together, when Gram started the Bees and Peg became as much a part of my family as a certified Evans. Donna’s showed a woman with flowing blond hair, dancing in a field of flowers and surrounded by five boys. Gigi’s square took my breath away. A young boy, age nine if I had to guess, holding a rabbit in a yard bordered by daffodils. And Gram’s. She’d sewn a teenage girl and her mom, with both of their hands holding a heart over the pregnant belly of the girl.
I approached the table and managed not to turn into a sobbing mess. “I think this is your best work yet.”
“It certainly turned out well.” Gram rested her arm on my shoulder.
The pride radiating off her was thicker than the flies hovering around the animal barns, but she kept it reined in. Like she did every year, knowing the quilt would go to beef. Not this year though. Not this quilt. Even if I had to dig into my savings, I’d make sure the Bees got to keep this one.
“It’s nice and coherent, too.” Donna gave a nod to Peg.
All wars went into cease-fire mode during fair days.
“Who are all those boys?” I asked Donna.
“I had fun in the sixties.” She glanced up at her square. “I couldn’t remember which one I liked the most, so I went ahead and sewed them all up there.”
“It’s perfect.”
Strangers lingered at their table, drawn in by the lovely needlework. They’d take first place again this year for sure.
“You just missed your momma and Roger,” Gram said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh, he’s just Roger now?”
“He’s okay.” She huffed, as if it pained her to say so. “Still old.”
That was damned near a seal of approval from Gram. “I have to get over to Matilda’s show, but I wanted to stop by and see what all the screaming and fights produced this year.”
Gram patted my cheek and grinned. “Such a smart mouth on you.”
It was true. I’d learned it from the best.