Page 59 of Wood You Knot

Jayden and I chatted for a few more minutes while Ezra fussed over and arranged his floral display around the photo booth, making sure everything looked picture-perfect. Once he was finished, he stood back and appraised his work with a satisfied smile.

“All done,” he exclaimed.

“Mind if I test my camera settings with a photo of you and Jayden?” I asked timidly.

“That would be amazing.” Jayden grinned, taking Ezra’s hand. They went over to the bench seat and sat down, wrapping their arms around each other. I snapped a few for them, catching Jayden throwing his head back and laughing at something Ezra whispered in his ear.

“Thank you so much for donating these, Ezra,” Mr. Robertson said. He’d popped back over to check things out and hand me a clipboard to collect the names and emails so I could get their photos to them after the event.

“It’s my pleasure,” Ezra insisted. “Jayden and I are happy to help raise funds for the school.”

After saying goodbye, the two men headed off in the direction of the vendors, and Mr. Robertson turned to me.

“You’ve got a little bit of time before the event starts if you wanted to have a walk around. It would be great if we could get some photos of the vendors, games, and volunteers, but no pressure at all if you’d like to just focus on the photo booth. We’re thankful you volunteered your time,” he said.

“Sure, I can do that. And really, I’m happy to help too,” I assured him. I left the photo booth and started making my way around the school grounds.

There was a lot happening, so much so that it was almost overwhelming. Auntie Em had said this town didn’t do things half-hatched, and that was very apparent from the amount of effort they’d put in for the school fundraiser.

I walked around, snapping pictures of the vendor tables and people as I explored.

The book fair was happening in the gym, and in the track field, a reptile company had set up with some of their exotic pets. They were planning on doing a presentation around six thirty.

There was also a fenced-off area for a small petting zoo, with a couple of goats, a donkey, and a small pony in it munching on the hay.

There was a woman setting up stock of homemade gloves, hats, and crocheted amigurumi at one of the vendor tables. She had a brown alpaca with her—a real, live alpaca wearing an adorable red flannel bowtie. I just had to stop and take pictures of the woman and her furry friend.

“Hi, I’m Sage Whitaker. I’m running the photo booth,” I introduced myself, pointing over my shoulder in the direction of the field and photo booth. “I wondered if I could get a few pictures of you and your furry friend?”

“Absolutely! I’m Hannah Wood, by the way. And this here is Chewpaca.” She stood beside him and put her arm around his very long neck. The alpaca all but melted into her.

“Oh my gosh, he’s so cute,” I cooed, snapping their picture.

“Thank you! He’s excited to be a part of the petting zoo but is unsure about the other animals. He’s already broken out once, so I figured I’d let him hang out with me for a little bit. Klaus here is going to take him back over in a couple of minutes and make sure he doesn’t break out again.” She gestured to a serious-looking man lingering to the left of her table.

“Klaus Bauer.” Klaus lifted his hand in greeting, his somber expression softening with the brief smile he gave me.

“Oh. The same Klaus who makes the Choco Temptation stout?” I asked, his name ringing a bell from my very recent…taste test.

“Sure am,” he said proudly, his smile growing and warming his entire demeanor. “Have you tried it?”

“Yes, I have. It’s very good.” I managed to keep my smile in place because it was true—Klaus’s chocolate stout was very good. I just hadn’t been keen on the love elixir being snuck into it, although I suppose it wasn’t exactly sneaking when he listed the ingredients on the label. It wasn’t Klaus’s fault I’d unwittingly consumed the elixir. It wasn’t even Nix’s fault—he’d seemed just as blindsided by it as I’d been.

After Nix had left Sunday morning, I’d called Nellie back and filled her in on every detail, including the love elixir consumption. She’d been confused at first, and then amused and told me I was being ridiculous. In the end, I’d resolved to put it behind me, because Nellie was right—I didn’t even believe in the supposed magic of the love elixir, so why should it upset me that I’d consumed it with Nix?

“Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Klaus said almost humbly.

“I think it’s almost time, Klaus,” Hannah said, noticing the cars beginning to pull into the lot.

“All right. It was nice meeting you, Sage. Come on, Chewpaca, better get you back to the petting zoo,” he said, tugging gently on the alpaca’s lead.

I carried on with my exploring, stopping at Lilah’s face-painting table. She was all set up and ready to go and finishing up practicing on Riley. She’d painted beautiful fairy wings on Riley’s cheeks. “Hey, Lilah and Riley. Mind if I take your picture?”

“Sure,” Lilah said, pausing to pose with her daughter. I took a couple of photos for them, then told Lilah we’d catch up later and continued making my way back to the photo booth.

Just past the vendor tables were the games, with a dunk tank positioned in the grass near the photo booth. I could spot Nix’s younger twin brothers at the dunk tank, dressed in their swim trunks and matching T-shirts. I snapped some pictures of them horsing around before I walked onto the asphalt to check out the games.

Nix was at the ring toss table with Parker, all set up and ready to go. I made my way over, and Nix glanced up when I approached, his grin widening when he saw me. He stepped around the table and met me in front of it.

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