“Alright, let’s go. I know I better listen to you if you are willing to talk to Jasper.”
“The things I do for my friends.” Zaina grumbled with a smile, then went into the brewery to see the master schedule for the fest.
“Well, that worked out well for me,” Zaina said as they walked back outside.
Nicole crossed her arms. “It sure did. You didn’t have to talk to Jasper, but for me not so much.”
Zaina laughed, “look at it this way, you’ll soon have all your questions answered and you can go from there.”
“No chance I can go home right now? Call off sick?
“No, ma’am.” Zaina pulled her friend by the hand over to the rail car where Nicole was scheduled to work with Sean for the duration of the fest.
Chapter Twenty
SEAN
Just before the fest was scheduled to begin, Sean realized he’d left the containers of mustard and grilled onions back at Jesse’s Pub. Could they have brats or hot dogs without mustard or grilled onions? He supposed so, but how would that reflect on Jesse’s Pub? He checked his watch. If he left now he could be back with the items soon after the fest started. He thought it was safe to assume there wouldn’t be a line for brats and dogs right out of the gate. He let one of the volunteers know he’d be back in fifteen minutes and hustled back to Jesse’s Pub.
By the time he returned with the toppings, the parking lot was full and Sean had to drive to the overflow lot to park. He started speed walking back to the brewery feeling flustered. He prided himself on being ready to go for every event he catered and now he wasn’t at his station as the fest began. He hadn’t realized how many Marley Creek residents would show up at the start of thefest. He’d figured people would start coming in full force around noon.
The weather had cooled enough that he was wearing a light flannel jacket over the neon orange First Annual Family Fest T-shirt Jasper had made for the day. Now sweat was trickling down his back as he weaved through families with strollers, couples with dogs on leashes, and volunteers arriving to help. He had to admit, he’d thought neon orange was a terrible color choice for the T-shirts when Jasper gave him his, but it made it very easy to locate a volunteer amongst the crowd.
Finally, he was almost back to his rail car, and not a moment too soon as a couple of people were already standing in front waiting for food. He rushed through the door, his face ruddy and set down the heavy tubs.
“What can I get you?” he asked as he turned, and there was that smile. “Hey, ah, there, I thought ah…” His shock at seeing Nicole had frozen his tongue.You big dummy, he thought,of course she’s here. Now maybe he’d find out why she didn’t bother to return his text.
Nicole’s cheeks were so red, that they almost matched her lush lips. His heart was beginning to pound. Gosh, he’d missed her. He wanted to give her a hug, at a minimum, but he clenched his fists. He had no clue where he stood with her.
Nicole pointed at her shirt and said, “I’m here to help you.” Sean noticed she scowled as she spoke. Guess she was mad at him. Even though she was giving him an evil eye, he couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked with her glossy lips turned slightly down. And the way she was fuming made the rise and fall of her chest push up her breasts in a way he found difficult to pull his eyes from.
“Ahem,” Zaina cleared her throat and Sean startled; he’d forgotten anyone else was there.
Zaina waved her arms in their flowy black and red sleeves and said, “I’ll leave you two to whatever this is. Y’all play nice.” She made a ‘keeping my eyes on you’ gesture to them and then flounced off toward her fortune teller tent where there was already a line of teenage girls waiting.
Sean thought it would be best to start with business. “Come back here and let me show you what we are doing today.” He held the door open, and she walked around and into the rail car. That scent of hers hit him as soon as she was through the door. He started to reach out to touch her arm, and then he pulled back. He didn’t know what she wanted, and he didn’t have any rights to her. He balled his hands into fists.
“I’ve got everything set up. We have brats for the adults, hot dogs for the kids and they can pick a bag of chips and or an apple. We are only doing food, and bottled water. For all the other drinks they need to go into the main building. Sound good?”
Nicole avoided eye contact; she looked down at the food on display instead of at him. He wanted to put his finger under her chin and tilt her head up so she would look in his eyes. Just the mere presence of her in his space was making his nerves tingle.
“Makes sense,” Nicole said flatly and walked over to a box of latex gloves. She pulled on the gloves and turned to look out at the festivities.
“Listen,” Sean began, “I’m sorry I left the other day. If it hadn’t been an emergency I would have been there, but I think you should’ve cut me some slack. You could’ve replied to my text at least.” His jaw clenched in annoyance.
“What are you talking about? You didn’t text me.”
Sean stared at Nicole mouth agape. “Of course I did! You think I would just leave and not say anything? After that night? Like it was nothing?”
Nicole cleared her throat and gestured with her head; a family was heading right toward them.
“Hey friends, what can I get for you?” Sean greeted them. One brat with onions and three hot dogs plain. A few minutes later, Sean and Nicole were alone again.
“I didn’t know what to think,” Nicole said, her teeth gritted. “And I’m telling you, I didn’t get a text.”
“I sent one! How could you not have gotten it?” He said his voice rising in frustration.
Nicole pushed out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t know! All I know is I didn’t get it and I still don’t understand why you just left! Of course, I didn’t call you! Put yourself in my shoes. If we’d been at your place and I just left, and didn’t leave a note, or call or text, what would you have done?”
