"I'm so lucky," I told her, swinging her up off her feet and kissing the stuffing out of her.
"I … Wow." She smiled at me. "I'm so lucky, too. But what brought that on?"
"All of it. Just all of it."
She hugged me because she understood.
And then we headed back to town to finish up any last-minute chores, help anybody who needed it, and scare the pants off Zane's teenage cousin, who'd planned to take a couple of ten-year-old kids to Orlando on his brand-new driver's license.
Okay, that last thing was all me.
After I found the kid and read him the riot act, I was pretty sure he'd never try anything so foolish again.
Tess, who'd been helping to set up the dunking booth, walked over to me and pointed at the fleeing kid. "What was that about?"
I told her.
"Good job," she said with satisfaction.
"Speaking of Shelley, though, have you seen her?"
"She and Zane are inside putting together their display on the history of Dead End. I bet it's going to be pretty popular."
"Is she leaving out the Fae queen and murders and?—"
"Okay, okay," she said, laughing. "The carefully edited history of Dead End. They put all the dark details in the documentary they're working on, though."
We ran into Lauren and the doctor by the funnel cake stand.
"Hey, Tess, Jack. This is Dr. Abby Snow. She decided to take the job!"
Dr. Snow was maybe in her mid-thirties, and she had a wonderful, kind smile that I bet put her patients at ease. She was pretty in a quiet way, with reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, and golden-brown skin. In her shorts and short-sleeved cotton shirt, both white, she made an interesting foil to Lauren's red, white, and blue sequined jumpsuit over a rainbow-striped tank top.
"Well, there's a lot of negotiating and paperwork left to go," Dr. Snow said cautiously, but she smiled at us. "It's a bit premature to say I'm taking the job."
"It's okay. Tess is the mayor's niece, like a daughter, really, and Jack is Tess's new husband," Lauren said.
"I won't say a word, but I hope everything works out," Tess said. "And if you move to Dead End, we'll have a welcome barbecue for you at our house, so you can meet lots of new friends."
The doctor's eyes twinkled. "It's hard not to say yes to a town where people want to be my friends right off the bat."
"That's Dead End," Lauren said. "I mean, we're not all this friendly, but it's a pretty good ratio."
"I met a Cletus McKee, who asked me to 'save a dance' for him," the doctor said. "I guess he's in charge of the fireworks?"
Tess sighed. "Let's hope."
We said our goodbyes, stood in line for funnel cakes—the works for me, only powdered sugar for Tess—and then wewalked over to the auditorium to tell Shelley and Zane how great their display was, give them cash for food and rides, and wander around to see all the arts and crafts.
That's pretty much how we spent the afternoon.
At around six, Tess grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the food stalls. "I need something more filling than that funnel cake, and I can't believe you're not complaining about being hungry yet, with your appetite."
"I could eat something." I tried to look innocent when she gave me a suspicious look.
"Jack. We haven't been together thewholeafternoon. I stopped to talk to a lot of people while you were off wandering. Exactly how many food stalls have you tried out already?"
"Um."
