I held up my wet hands with a pointed stare. Then I moved toward the paper towels, turning my body sideways to shimmy along the stall doors because this woman was committed to standing in the most inconvenient spot possible.
“It’s never too soon to tune into your pelvic floor needs,” she said.
I forced a smile as I dried my hands. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks for the chat.”
I grabbed the card and damn near sprinted out of there. Jaime was never going to believe this story. She’d question my sanity. My sobriety too.
By the time I made it outside, the marching band was playing an old Miley Cyrus tune and the area was rapidly filling with people. I meandered back toward the food trucks, determined to make a selection before they sold out.
I’d nearly waded through the densest part of the throng when I heard “Shay!” and a small body slammed into me from the side.
Looking down, I found Gennie, her hair tied in lopsided pigtails. “Where did you come from, my friend?”
She squeezed my waist for another moment. Then, “Come on. Noah’s over here. He said I could look around but I had to be able to see him at all times but then I saw you but I don’t think he’ll be mad that I went far away.”
Oh, god.He was going to start flipping food trucks if he couldn’t find her.
“Let’s get you back to where you belong.” I took her hand and urged her to lead the way.
We found Noah deep in conversation with a woman at the boosters’ table though he didn’t look like he was enjoying it. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his jaw locked tight enough for me to notice it from several yards away. He replied with decisive nods though the deep grooves around his mouth suggested he didn’t care for the discussion at hand.
The minute he spotted me and Gennie crossing the track, he held up a hand, saying, “You’ll have to excuse me,” and strode toward us.
“I found Shay,” Gennie said.
At the same time, Noah asked, “What did I tell you about staying where I could see you?”
“But Shay almost missed us,” she said. “And you told me to look for her with both eyeballs.”
If I wasn’t mistaken, his ears were turning a fascinating shade of red.Fascinating.
He glanced at me, a quick up and down that swallowed up my jeans and cute top before settling his gaze on Gennie. “There are a lot of people here. I don’t want you wandering off. Okay?”
She heaved out an enormous sigh, saying, “I guess so.” Then she grabbed my hand and started twirling. “I gotta dance, Shay. Watch!”
“Dance it out, girl. I’m watching.” I gestured to the sports complex, saying to Noah, “When did this all go in?”
He ran his gaze over the stadium seating. “Six or seven years ago.”
“Big improvement.”
He nodded. “Yeah. They built the new high school on the old fields, and once it was ready, moved the kids in and demolished the old high school. Then they did all of this.”
I hummed in agreement. “Is it weird being back here? At all? Or have you grown accustomed to it?”
“It’s only weird when people purposely remind me of high school.”
“Like I am right now?” I asked, laughing.
“No.” He smiled and shifted his weight so that his shoulder brushed mine. “When they make a point of saying they remember when I was student council treasurer and that must be why I was able to keep the orchard and the dairy from going under. Yeah, a budget of five grand with extensive faculty oversight is certainly comparable. Or they ask if I remember when I was the manager of the basketball team but left the bag with all their jerseys in the locker room for the championship game up in Woonsocket. Because everyone loves that story.”
“Howdidyou keep the orchard and dairy from going under?”
“You asking that is a sign you’ve been kidnapped and are in need of rescue,” he replied.
I shot an elbow at his upper arm. It felt more like a brick wall than human flesh. “I’m actually interested.”
He seemed prepared to tease me a bit more but then his eyes widened and a look of complete dread crossed his face. I looked over my shoulder to follow his gaze. As I turned, he roped an arm around my waist and leaned in close enough for his beard to scrape my cheek.
