The loudspeaker crackles to life, and the mayor’s voice echoes over the field.
“Charlotte Renner to the stage, please. Charlotte Renner to the main stage.”
My stomach drops. That tone means I’m either being recognized or blamed, and honestly, either is possible.
I take a breath and head toward the stage area. The walk feels longer than usual, partly because my legs are tired, partly because I know Liam is somewhere behind me, watching.
The mayor meets me at the steps. “There you are,” he says, upbeat and oblivious. “We’d like to thank you publicly for organizing this amazing event. You’ve done a phenomenal job.”
“Oh,” I say, pasting on a polite smile. “Thank you.”
“We’d love for you to come up and say a few words.”
My internal soul leaves my body. “A few words?”
He nods as if he hasn’t just sentenced me to public speaking. “Just tell everyone how much work went into this.”
I inhale through my nose and step up onto the stage. The crowd claps lightly. It’s manageable, I can handle this, I can do hard things.
I look out over the festival, trying not to think about the fact that I didn’t prepare a speech. The mayor hands me the microphone.
And that’s when I see it, movement in the crowd, a familiar figure stepping forward.
Liam.
Striding, purposeful and focused. His eyes are locked on me like everything else in the festival is background noise. Apath opens for him automatically, people shifting aside like they sense something is about to happen.
My heart stumbles in my chest.
He reaches the base of the stage, pauses for a breath, and looks up at me. His expression isn’t unreadable now, in fact, it’s wide open. I see the fear, happiness, and hope shining in his eyes.
Whatever hesitation lived in him before is gone.
He lifts his chin slightly, silently asking the mayor for the mic. The mayor hands it over without question.
Liam takes the microphone and steps onto the first step of the stage, close enough that I can see the nerves in his eyes underneath the determination.
He turns to the crowd, then back to me.
Then he starts to speak.
Chapter 9
Liam
I don’t thinkabout this before I start moving.
One second I’m behind the bakery booth listening to the mayor call Charlotte to the stage. The next second I’m handing a tray to Mark, stepping out from behind the table, and walking straight into the crowd.
I hear someone say my name. I hear Henry mutter, “Oh, he’s really doing it.” I hear Chris whisper, “Do not screw this up,” like I can control any of this.
I keep walking.
Charlotte stands on the small stage with the microphone in her hand, the sun catching her hair, a polite event-planner smile on her face that does not match the way I know she laughs when she is actually having fun. The mayor is talking into another mic, but his words blur together. My heartbeat is louder than anything else.
I reach the edge of the stage and stop at the bottom step. She looks down at me, eyes wide, like she did not expect this.
She didn’t. Honestly, neither did I.
