It was silly, but she wished he would have taken hold of her hand. But she couldn’t blame him for not doing so. She was the one who’d insisted it not be a date. A sign in the window of the salad restaurant caught her attention, and she pointed toward it. “That explains why it’s so empty in town.”
“The carnival. I forgot about that, though I don’t know how. They asked for volunteers from the department to work security.”
“Probably because they moved it from July to June.” She clucked her tongue, looked at Connor with a gleam in her eye. “This presents a dilemma.”
“What’s that?”
“Do we stay here and eat healthy, or do we put it off for another day and go eat carnival food instead.”
He looked at her incredulously. “Is that even a question?”
“Last one to the truck buys the funnel cake.” She dashed across the parking lot after ensuring no cars were moving nearby.
Connor still beat her. “First one buys the lady a corn dog.”
“Wait, aren’t you supposed to work it in your favor?”
He shrugged. “Seeing you happy makes me happy, so it does work in my favor.”
Her heart melted, but she wouldn’t let on how much so. “You think all it takes to make me happy is a corn dog from the carnival?”
“Tell me I’m wrong.” With his hands on his hips, he stared at her, daring her to deny it.
She couldn’t, and she burst into laughter. “Fine, I admit it. I have a love affair with the carnival’s corn dogs. They’re my ultimate guilty pleasure.”
“When’s the last time you had one?”
“Hmm.” She tapped her chin, trying to remember. “The summer before last. We try to take our residents every year. This is the first year since I’ve been at Hope House that we haven’t been able to.”
“Financial reasons?”
Frowning, she nodded. “Any extra money in the budget has gone to cover the needs of the increased number of women and children we’ve had come. But we have lots of activities at the shelter to provide entertainment.”
“A shame nonetheless.”
“I agree.” She put her hand on the door, about to open it, when Connor stopped her.
“How much would it cost to bring everyone?”
“At least a thousand, more if we’d have to rent vans, but usually local churches let us borrow theirs in addition to the one we have for the shelter.”
Connor locked eyes with her. “Do you think it’s too late to arrange a trip for tomorrow night?”
“I’m sure we could work it out, but it doesn’t solve the money problems.”
“I want to donate the money.”
She jerked her head, shocked at his offer. “You don’t have to do that.”
“When I transferred departments, I got a sign on bonus, and it’s been sitting in the bank while I decided what to do with it. I couldn’t enjoy going tonight knowing the Hope House residents won’t get to have their tradition.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
His smile reached to his beautiful green eyes. “Say you’ll call Rachel and run it by her. Tell her it’s from me if you must, but I don’t want anyone else to know.”
“That’s…that’s extremely generous.”
His gaze left hers, and his shoulders rose and fell, clearly uncomfortable with any insinuation of praise. “Call her, please, unless you want me to. I want to get it taken care before it’s too late to make arrangements to take everyone.”
Overcome with gratitude and awe and affection, she threw her arms around him, embracing him in a tight hug. “Thank you for this. You won’t regret it.”
He slid his arms around her waist, pulled her a little closer. “This moment right now made it worth every penny.”
