“Cora, would you like to visit the fair with me?”
Cora’s eyes widened, not having fully processed what he asked. She looked down at the section of the paper where Roy was pointing: an ad for the traveling fair that would be making its stop in Magnolia Grove that weekend.
Cora’s thoughts flickered to her father, but only for a moment. Her desire to spend time with Roy was stronger than the fear of what might happen if he found out. Besides, she had allowed some time to pass since the incident outside the church, and her father hadn’t brought it up since. Surely, he had cooled off by now. And she and Roy were only friends.
“Yes, I would love to go to the fair with you,” Cora finally agreed, unable to hold back a smile that went ear to ear.
That night, Cora could hardly sleep with the excitement about going to the fair with Roy. The next day, Cora made breakfast for her father as usual and gave him a peck on the cheek as he headed off to work. Her father had mentioned that he would be working through lunch today, which seemed to Cora like divine intervention to make her outing with Roy a possibility. She told herself she would be back in plenty of time to cook dinner for her father, and he would be none the wiser.
After he was out the door, she went into her wardrobe and carefully selected her blue floral print dress and pulled back her long hair in a braid. Then she rushed off to Pastor Burns’ church where they had agreed to meet.
Roy was already waiting beside Iggy, who was hitched to the buggy. As soon as she saw him, she ran his direction, and he held out his hand to help her into the wagon.
The ride to Magnolia Grove was mostly quiet, with Cora and Roy sneaking sideways glances at each other, smiling slightly. Cora sat with her hands in her lap, her fingernails etched into her palms. She didn’t understand why she was so nervous after all the time that she and Roy had spent together. Somehow, this time felt different.
When the fairgrounds came into sight, however, Cora’s nervousness turned to excitement. The large field of Magnolia Grove that normally sat vacant was filled with brightly colored, striped tents. The grounds were filled with people milling about, running from one attraction to the other and carrying food on a stick.
“I haven’t been to one of these since I was a little girl,” Cora squealed, impulsively grabbing Roy’s arm. “What should we do first?”
Roy laughed at Cora’s childlike excitement. “I’ll let you lead the way.”
Over the next couple of hours, Cora and Roy explored the fairgrounds while eating a mountain of cotton candy on a paper cone. At one point, Cora got some of the pink fluff stuck to her nose, and Roy reached for her shoulder to stop her, gently wiping her face free of it with his thumb. The butterflies in Cora’s stomach danced at that small touch.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” a voice from one of the workers bellowed as they passed the attractions. “Step inside the tent to see a lion jump through a hoop of flames.”
Cora tugged Roy by the arm and pulled him inside the tent, and they watched with awe as the enormous jungle cat performed the trick, emerging from the flaming ring unscathed.
Next, they passed a series of games, and Cora admired the prizes—one of which was a small lion figurine. Roy must have noticed Cora’s fixation, because she suddenly heard him asking the carnival worker, a short man with a stout, red-striped hat, what he would need to do to win the lion.
“All you have to do is knock down all the milk jugs with this ball, and the lion figurine will belong to your lady.”
Roy handed the man some coins from his pocket, and Cora’s heart did a small leap when she realized that Roy hadn’t corrected the man when he said ‘your lady.’
It took Roy three tries, as the bottles seemed to be glued together, but finally, after rearing back his arm and projecting the ball forward with all his might, all of the milk jugs came tumbling down.
“And we have a winner!” the man yelled, handing Roy the figurine. Roy turned to Cora, reached for her hand, and placed the small lion in her palm. A lump grew in her throat as she looked down at the lion. It was such a small gesture, but it showed her—not for the first time—that everything she had ever thought about Roy Burns before the pastor’s death had been wrong.
As the sky turned to dusk, Roy and Cora reluctantly realized they needed to head back to Lakewood before dark.
“There’s just one more thing I’d like to do, if it’s okay with you,” Roy said, pointing up at the giant Ferris Wheel that stretched toward the sky.
Cora had heard about this new attraction to traveling fairs, but she had never ridden one herself. At first, she was afraid at the idea of being suspended so high in midair, sitting only on a wobbling bench, but she was able to push that fear aside as she followed Roy onto the ride. With him, she felt safe.
When they reached the top of the wheel, Cora looked around in awe. She could see the tops of all the striped tents spread out before her like blankets on the ground, and she could see the road beyond the fairgrounds. The stars above their heads were nearly within reach.
“This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen,” Cora breathed in awe.
“Yes, it is,” Roy agreed. Cora looked over at him, expecting to see him admiring the view, but instead he was looking directly at her.
Cora’s heart leaped into her throat, and without stopping to talk herself out of it, she leaned over and gave him a quick, gentle peck on the cheek. The stubble on his chin tickled her nose, and he smelled of pine.
They sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride, and Cora wished that the night wouldn’t have to end.
When they got off the ride, Cora felt like she was floating as they made their way back to Roy’s wagon. But what she saw next sent her crashing back to reality.
Sheriff Williams was standing there with his arms crossed, having caught Cora with Roy for the second time in one week.
Chapter Twenty
