Page 114 of Diamonds in the Mud

“Way to keep a secret.” Sabrina elbowed Aria.

“Shut up,” Aria said, spinning me around in the chair. “I think you could do with a few more highlights.”

I left the salon two hours later. I only had an hour before I was supposed to help my folks and Jameson deliver the pies to the fairgrounds, so I went home and changed.

It took me almost half an hour to finally settle on the outfit—white cotton button-up shirt with a mustard-colored tank top underneath it, along with the flare jeans Aria and I had bought the last time we’d shopped together. I finished it off with ankle-high heeled boots. I even took time to curl my hair and apply a little more makeup than I normally wore.

Damn. I looked like a woman. Even smelled like one after I spritzed on some of the perfume that I’d gotten last Christmas from my mom.

When Jameson walked in, he did a double take and, without saying anything, he walked over and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me until I was breathless.

“You look, smell, and taste delicious,” he purred next to my ear, which sent goose bumps traveling all over my body.

He was wearing his signature black T-shirt and a pair of those worn blue jeans I loved to see on him. We had yet to get his motorcycle back from evidence, but he still had on his worn steel-toed boots. God, he was everything I’d ever dreamed of.

“Your folks are pretty punctual people, aren’t they?” he asked, trailing his mouth down my neck.

I laughed and pulled away from him. “My father is the chief of police. I was once two minutes late for curfew and he had three cop cars out looking for me,” I joked.

Jameson groaned. “Okay, later,” he promised, and he kissed me again. “Let’s go.”

For the next hour, we piled all of the baked goods into the back of my mother’s minivan, which for some reason she’d never traded in.

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, there were more than a dozen people waiting to help unload all of the pies and cakes and cart them to the pie-eating-contest tables and the cakewalk tent.

The first night of the fall festival was when most of the main events took place. The following two days were when people enjoyed the hayrides, corn maze, carnival games, and all the blue-ribbon events, which involved cooking the best-tasting food or growing the biggest gourds. Not to mention the rodeo and animal contests, which all concluded the last evening of the fair.

After we finished helping unload everything, Jameson took my hand in his. “Do we have time to stroll around?”

I laughed. “I have never, nor would I ever, try to win a pie-eating contest or a cakewalk. We have the entire night to do whatever we want.” I glanced up at the Ferris wheel. “Just as long as I get to ride that beast at least a dozen times.” I laughed.

“Oh?” Jameson turned away and looked at the large wheel, which was already spinning slowly. “You like heights?”

“I love them, especially when you’re strapped in. You can see everything from up there.” I sighed. “What do you want to do first?”

“First, how about food? I skipped lunch.”

“Corn dogs and funnel cake?” I suggested.

He shrugged. “Turkey legs and then later funnel cake?”

“Deal.” I laughed and wrapped my arm in his as we strolled through the grounds.

I desperately tried to put the fact that Jameson was going to propose to me out of my head. We grabbed two turkey legs and a boat of French fries and then found a picnic table to sit at.

After we were done eating, we strolled through rows and rows of carnival games, winning a few and losing more. We enjoyed the hall of mirrors followed by a few of the smaller rides. We spent an hour laughing and having fun together, and I snapped more photos than I ever had at the fair. I even changed the background on my phone to the one I’d taken of us on the carousel.

“Next up is that bad boy,” I said, pulling Jameson towards the Ferris wheel.

“Wait, let’s do the corn maze first,” he suggested. “If we ride the wheel first, you’ll cheat and map it out in your head.”

I laughed. “Fine, maze first, then the wheel, but I want some cotton candy.” I motioned towards the stand.

With a massive bag of blue cotton candy in hand, we entered the corn maze hand in hand.

“Have you ever come to this fair with anyone else?” he asked when we were sufficiently lost in the corn.

“Besides Aria?” I shook my head. “This is the most fun I’ve had at this thing since I was a teen,” I admitted.