“Did you plan on us staying in?” he said, closing the distance between them in two long strides. His hands went to her hips as Allie clasped her fingers behind his neck.
“We have a booth to run.” Her argument was weakened by Dom’s touch, his minty cologne, the smoldering look in his eyes, the way his hands tightened around her hips.
Allie shook herself and stepped away from the bewitching man, knowing they would be late opening their festival booth if she spent another second in his arms. His frustrated growl followed her around the space as Allie grabbed her jacket and her dragon and went out into the hallway.
They walked along Maple Street, Ekko flying between them until Dom shooed him away, complaining he wanted to look at his beautiful girlfriend and not at Ekko’s chubby ass. The dragon enveloped the Mage in a thick puff of steam, then sat on Allie's shoulder…next to Dom. She laughed heartily. Their constant bickering was rapidly becoming one of the highlights of her daily life.
Her daily life, which was now full of joy, and laughter, and love. Of family, and friends, and Dom. Allie thanked whatever gods were listening for this fortune, and for all the pain and struggles of her past. If it weren’t for them, she would not be here now.
The park was busy with vendors opening up their booths, attendees from Sycamore Falls and the neighboring towns milling about, children and pets running around hiding behind the hay bales, and the band setting up their instruments under the red and white striped canopy. Even with the heavy dusk settling over the dark auburn landscape, the place was coming alive, lit by fairy lights hanging between the poles and the booths.
A line of customers had already formed in front of Dom’s Sweets’ booth when they arrived. The two of them made quickwork of opening, with occasional help from Ekko. Everything had been set up that morning, so they started serving customers just a few minutes later.
Allie loved the full circle moment of smiling at her customers with her entire heart throughout the Harvest Festival. During her first days in Sycamore Falls, she’d forced out polite smiles to counter all the sneers… Now everybody was smiling back, complimenting their sweets and pastries, asking Allie about Ekko. The townsfolk had become her neighbors, and some of them, her friends.
“Your cookies and choux are the stars of the show,” Dom told her when the crowd died down. “We’re almost out.”
Allie felt like she could burst with happiness. She wore a smile so wide her cheeks hurt, hardly keeping the urge to squeal and dance and clap under control.
After the next few customers left, they were out of everything.
Her Mage boss was content and decided to close the booth so they could enjoy the night’s festivities. They stopped by Mia’s booth, and she waved from behind a group of kids who were listening intently to one of the books reading itself. Allie waved back and blew a kiss to her friend, who moved to catch it midair and smack it on her face. Ekko flew to Mia, quickly becoming an equally interesting attraction for the kids.
Music notes sounded on the night’s breeze, and Allie craftily changed the course of their walk toward the festival’s dance floor. Dom was caught up in his story about the time he and Brandon had messed around with the electric installations for the festival and short-circuited all the lights, leaving everyone in the dark.
“What gave you that idea?” Allie laughed.
“We were convinced we could make it brighter.” He shrugged and gave her a boyish grin, one she was seeing more and more often.
Dominic halted by the edge of the dance floor and said, “Sneaky.”
“Who? Me?”
“If you want to coax me into stepping on the dance floor, there is something else we must do first.” Allie threw him a puzzled look. “You have a Hallows Eve tradition to uphold.”
“I can multitask,” she countered.
Dom looked at her with confusion.
“Don’t you need to be…under the moonlight, or something?” He scratched the back of his head, muttering something about needing to learn more about Witches.
How much deeper could she fall in love with this man?
Allie dragged Dominic onto the dance floor and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I will teach you everything there is to know about a Witch,” Allie said as they swayed to the slow music. “As long as you keep teaching me to bake.”
Dom’s chuckle rumbled in his chest and vibrated through Allie’s body.
“Deal.”
“Look, over there! She’s right there!” Small voices made everyone turn their heads to the group of kids that had finished the book reading and were now bordering the dance floor. They elbowed each other and waved to Allie, who waved back with no little amount of surprise and confusion.
“The fire Witch of Sycamore Falls!” one of them yelled.
Allie liked the sound of that.
She and Dom laughed and resumed their slow dancing. The fairy lights played around his handsome face, illuminating the beginning of an encouraging smile.
