“That sounds sweet,” Lilian cooed.
His eyes flickered to her, their dark depths suspicious.As if he doubted the sincerity of her reaction.Lilian answered with a reassuring smile.
“I’m sure people thought they were crazy.I know my grandparents did.But here they are, thirty years later, running one of the biggest faires in the country.”
“And helping other couples have their own themed weddings.”
“And that.”Despite his clear embarrassment, he smiled.“I never thought about it like that before.It's kind of nice.Very full circle.”
Lilian nodded, noticing it was the second time he’d mentioned his mother to her, but he rarely talked about his father.Hawk had never told her what his relationship with his parents was like, but considering that he’d moved all the way back to Kansas to help them with their dream, it couldn’t be terrible.
The need to ask burned through her.But before she could, he was already turning to walk away.She found herself following a step behind.
“So, how is business today?”
“Wow.No, ‘how are you doing?’Just straight to business, huh?”
“Asking about your business is essentially asking how you are doing,” he pointed out, “because if it’s not going great, then I can assume you aren’t doing great.”
“That… actually makes a lot of sense.Touché.”
They passed a group of the queen’s handmaidens clustered around a flower wagon.A few heads perked up and followed Hawk with their eyes.Curious glances lingered on Lilian as they whispered among themselves.She knew Hawk wasn’t popular with the vendors, but it seemed the opposite might be true for some of the actors at least the female ones.
“The shop is doing great today.It’s been nonstop, actually.”
Hawk smiled.“That’s good.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Business or pleasure?”
Lilian nearly tripped over her feet, but his hand snatched out to steady her.“What?”
Hawk looked nonplussed.“Does this have to do with faire business?Or other stuff?”
“I suppose faire business, but it could be more personal.I assumed you didn’t like all this stuff.”She waved a hand at the surrounding woods.The pastel flowers hanging from every roof, the costumes, the huzzahs as people loudly celebrated some inside joke.
The good-natured smile slipped, and Lilian knew immediately that she had fucked up.
“Who says?”His voice was level, devoid of any and all emotion as they continued down the path, entering the large circular space that hosted the food vendors.
This… thing between them was new and fragile.They weren’t friends, but he also wasn’t horrible company.Which was why she wanted to get to know him better.
“You don’t dress up.You call the vow renewal ceremony a fantasy, and you never really engage with the faire itself.It feels like all you care about is the business side of things.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“Right.”She nodded.“So if that’s the only reason you're here, then why work at a place that you don’t care about?Didn’t you tell me a business needs an owner who believes in it?”
To her surprise, the corners of his lips twitched, his smile threatening to come back.But Hawk fought it down.“It’s not that I hate this stuff.It’s just not my thing, you know?”
“That’s obvious.”
He laughed; the sound was joyless.“Yeah, well, it wasn’t so obvious to my parents.They really wanted a son who would do this with them.A boy who was into dragons, and knights, and all this stuff.But you know what I really wanted to do when I was younger?”
“What?”
“Play football with my friends.”
