I pulled her in tight, kissing the side of her head. “Thanks, Ma. I couldn’t have done it without you all.”
“You could’ve and you would’ve. But I’m glad you didn’t have to,” she said with a smile.
I still wished I could have surprised her with the barn the way Stella had initially decorated it. But it was meaningful that we had all worked together to pull it off when it could have gone to shit.
“Now, how about you take the rest of the evening off and enjoyyourself instead.”
I’d been running around making sure everything was operating smoothly all day, from fixing up the barn to playing games with the kids, to serving food, I felt like I hadn’t stopped. But it was worth it to see the joy encompassing everyone here.
“Do you think it’s enough?” I turned to ask Mom. I didn’t know why I was asking; I knew it wouldn’t be. I couldn’t help but be hopeful, though.
“It’ll definitely help,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes—until she looked behind me, and then she beamed. I turned to see what she was looking at, and there was Stella. The same sight I’d been admiring before as she twirled around the dance floor, but now she was holding the hands of some of the local kids, twirling around with them and laughing brightly. She was a force to be reckoned with.
“Go and find some happy,” Mom said, pushing me towardthe barn. She didn’t have to tell me twice. I was taking Grandma Trixie’s advice to heart, too, and I was going to make my own outcome out of the effort we put into this situation.
“Excuse me, little miss, but may I borrow your dancing partner for a few songs?” I asked Lilah as she held onto Stella’s hands.
“Okay. Look at my dress!” Lilah squealed while doing a spin, making her sparkly pink skirt fan out around her as she giggled. “Stella said I look like a princess.”
“You absolutely do,” I assured her. “A very beautiful princess.”
Lilah ran to some of the other kids while giggling, and I turned my attention to Stella.
“You also look absolutely stunning,” I told her honestly.
“Thank you,” she responded, much less shy than any other time I had ever complimented her before. “You look quite handsome yourself.” She smiled and reached up to adjust my collar.
“Would you like to dance?”
Her eyes sparkled up at me in a way I hadn’t seen them yet, and I already knew I wanted more of that.
“I would love to.”
Just then the music switched to a much slower paced song and she melted into my arms as we swayed to the music. She felt incredible in my hold, feeling her chest rise and fall with every breath, that vanilla almond scent from her shampoo filling my senses. I wasn’t going to interrupt this moment for anything, not like I did at Heartstrings the first time I got to dance with her. This time, I would keep her in my arms for as long as she would have me.
It seemed like both hours and minutes had passed by when we pulled away from each other. The crowd was dwindling, and the bonfire was starting to die out, but there was still one last thing I wanted to do with Stella before Garrett shot off the fireworks and the night came to an end.
“Come with me,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the bonfire. I picked up a log from the stack and a marker from a nearby table and handed them to her. “Make a wish.”
She grabbed both, a confused look on her face. “What?”
I told her about how our Harvest Bonfire came about, and the tradition Grandma Trixie started.
“We don’t burn crops anymore, but Grandma still likes to have a fire to signify the end of the growing season. We had a bunch of old seasoned wood that needed to be burned anyway.” I watched the flames dance in Stella’s brown eyes as I hoped she could become as much a part of my life as these traditions had over the years. “She would write a wish on the log, a hope for the next crop, and when she threw it into the fire and it burst into flames, she took it as a good sign.” It was the way Grandma made her own luck, setting a spark to an intention and watching it explode and expand into something great, bright and beautiful.
“I love it.” Stella smiled. “Okay, but if I’m throwing one in, you have to, too.” She put her log under her arm and quickly grabbed another one to hand to me. “Here, this one is yours.”
We each wrote our wishes on our logs. I was done much quicker than she was. I had written one word—a name, rather. It looked like she was writing a whole list of things she wanted to accomplish over the next year. I chuckled at the way she concentrated, but as her tongue poked out of the corner of her lips, I needed to adjust myself in my pants.
“Okay, ready?” she asked once she finished writing and put the marker back on the table.
She counted down and then we threw in our logs at the same time. I wrapped my arm around her, and she gave me a side hug while we watched our logs catch fire and burn.
“Thank you for that.” She turned in my arms and I held her close as she looked up into my eyes. Our faces were just inches apart, when she leaned in closer and I took that as the sign Ineeded to close the gap and press my lips to hers, slowly at first and then all at once.
My hand cradled her cheek, then moved to the back of her neck as my fingers threaded in her hair. I deepened the kiss as the fireworks were set off in the clear night sky creating the perfect finale to this magical night.
Fireworks went off as I leaned into Calvin and let him deepen our kiss. Literal fireworks that signified the final event of the Harvest Bonfireandfigurative fireworks that lit up my soul like the beginning of something new. Little sparks ignited all over my body—on my lips where he pressed his against mine, on my neck where his hand pulled me in closer, on my lower back where his fingers traced gentle circles as he kissed me. All lighting up a circuit board of lust I hadn’t felt in ages.
