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She smiled. “That’s nice of you guys. But I’m all right.” She tossed her head toward her car she stood in front of. “I made it.”

He nodded, looking away. “Right. Well, have a good night.”

He began to walk away, then paused. She watched him with amusement. “You all right?”

Matthew looked up at her in surprise, as if he didn’t know she still stood there. “What? Oh, yeah.” He turned to face her more fully. “I just…I wanted to say, I like you.”

Winnie paused. What? He liked her? Like, liked, liked her?

“You mentioned to my friends that I didn’t,” he said. “So I just wanted to clear the air. I like you, you know, as a person. You’re all right.”

Disappointment settled on her chest, heavy and thick, like hot tar pressed onto a fractured road. So. She was all right. That made her feel…feel what, exactly? Why had he even felt the need to tell her as much? Because he felt bad about saying nothing before or because his friends had told him to be nicer?

Either way, she hardly felt better.

“I was only kidding,” she said, trying to blow off her own embarrassment. “I didn’t expect you to answer me or anything.”

“I know,” he said, his eyes lingering.

Those blue crystals captured in the light of the streetlamp above connected with her in a way that made her hope that maybe…maybe he did feel something more. That maybe he was out there because he wanted to be truthful about his feelings.

“Okay,” she said simply, hoping he’d say more.

Instead, he turned away. “Anyway, I just wanted to clear the air while I could. You know, in case you leave Foxwood early.”

Winnie’s heart dropped, and she chastised herself for allowing it to lift in the first place. He still expected her to leave early, then, to fail the festival altogether.

“Well, thanks, I guess,” she said, unable to come up with anything else.

He nodded, then left in silence toward the pub.

Winnie stared after him for a moment, then unlocked the rental, all the while telling herself she should be glad that he liked her as a business associate and only that.

But for some reason, she couldn’t convince herself that it was a good thing at all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Throughout the following week, Winnie had never been busier, and she was glad of it, wanting to swallow any memory she had of Matthew and their interaction that night at the pub. Their conversations were kept to a bare minimum and always centered around work. They weren’t friends, after all, and he expected her to fail and leave early, so why try to create any sort of relationship from such a basis?

Besides, her success with the festival would tell Matthew everything he needed to know—she wouldn’t be failing, and she wouldn’t be leaving early. In fact, she would succeed so greatly that Matthew would finally be handed back the reins, and Winnie would be well on her way to working directly with Mr. Wintour and Foxwood. She couldn’t wait.

Of course, her confidence was now proving to be a slippery devil as each day, another problem arose. Food booths falling through, grounds being unprepared, fire-breathers bailing, rides being late for delivery.

Even with the many setbacks, however, she continued to lob the problems back into the atmosphere, refusing to give up as Saturday came and the festival finally arrived.

Six o’clock arrived swiftly, and Winnie was up straightaway, heading out to the faire grounds in the hope of finishing the seemingly endless list of items she needed to accomplish before nine o’clock that morning.

On her way out, as she strode across the pathway through the trees, her dad called, wishing her good luck, which she thought had been rather kind of him. That is, until he added the unnecessary, “You’re going to need it,” at the end of his well wishes.

“Thanks,” she muttered.

“How’s progress with the estate?” he asked next.

Winnie shook her head, grateful he couldn’t see her rolling her eyes, as well. “I’ll be in charge of it after the festival, remember?”

The other end of the line went silent. “Well, maybe something will come up earlier than that,” Dad said.

Winnie barely registered his words as she received a text from Jess, telling her there was a problem with where the vendors were being set up.