Daisy nudged him with her elbow. ‘Did you place any bets?’
Elliot chuckled. ‘Not after I got called out for voting for Gladys.’
The mayor stepped onto the stage.
‘This is so exciting,’ Elliot’s mom whispered.
Daisy giggled as she pulled off another piece of funnel cake and popped it in her mouth. Elliot’s attention snagged on the powdered sugar that dusted her bottom lip. He wanted to kiss her again. And again and again… possibly forever. But he would settle for tonight. He knew Daisy didn’t want forever.
No more relationships.
But she had offered… other things.
She ran her tongue over her lip, cleaning off the sugar and leaving behind her glistening pink mouth. God, he wanted her. Again, the intensity of that feeling threw him off-guard. Had he ever wanted anyone the way he wanted Daisy?
‘And the winner is…’ Mayor Kelly paused dramatically while the school band played an actual drumroll. Elliot tried desperately to pull his mind out of the gutter. But what was it that Jack said about Beltane? It was when everyonehooked up.
Could Elliot survive hooking up with Daisy? The other night had nearly killed him. What did he think would happen this time? He would walk away unscathed? Impossible.
‘Andy Sinclair! Congrats, Andy!’
Andy beamed as the mayor put the May Queen sash over his head and replaced his flower crown with a bejeweled plastic tiara.
‘Yes!’ Daisy cheered beside him. ‘I just won fifty bucks!’
‘That’s wonderful!’ Elliot’s mother said. ‘Doesn’t he look lovely?’ She smiled up at the stage where Andy was doing a victory lap, and Kira and Gladys were hugging and congratulating him.
‘I told you,’ Daisy said, turning to Elliot. ‘You enter enough of these things and you’re bound to win eventually.’
‘I’ll keep that in mind for next year,’ he said, just so he could hear Daisy laugh again. She didn’t disappoint.
‘I want to thank our contestants. The runners up will receive gift cards to Mac’s pub to drown their sorrows,’ Mayor Kelly said over the din of the crowd and Kira cheered. ‘Thanks to everyone who voted and donated, we were able to raise almost two and a half thousand dollars for the children’s hospital.’
After everyone was done congratulating themselves, the crowd began to disperse, heading to the food trucks to refuel or to Mac’s booth for drinks.
‘Well, this has been fun,’ Elliot’s mom said. ‘But I’m beat. I’ll leave the nighttime festivities to you two.’
When everyone hooks up.
Elliot’s face flushed hot, and he was thankful the sun had gone down.
‘It was so nice to meet you,’ Daisy said, giving his mom a big hug, who looked at him over Daisy’s shoulder.
I like her, she mouthed.
He liked her, too, and that was the whole problem.
He’d nearly forgotten that half of his motivation in fake-dating Daisy was to get his mother to stop worrying about him. Mission accomplished. His mother could officially return to Florida believing Elliot was happily paired up. Shecould imagine him out on the town with Daisy instead of home alone. At the very least, he’d given his mom some peace and, hopefully, bought himself some time between her visits.
‘It was such a fun afternoon. Thank you for letting me crash your date,’ his mom said, giving Daisy one last squeeze.
‘I’m just glad we got to do it,’ Daisy said.
‘Me, too. I’m heading home next week so I’m glad we got this time.’
‘I’ll call you tomorrow, Mom,’ Elliot said, giving her a hug before she walked back to her rental car with one last wave over her shoulder.
‘She’s sweet,’ Daisy said.
