Page 84 of Always Knew It Was You

The man holds my gaze for a split second before he takes it. “Nice to meet you. The folks here call me One-Eyed Mark. On account of me only having one working eye.” The other eye was looking in a completely different direction and didn’t blink. Probably a prosthetic.

“How appropriate,” I say, not knowing how else to comment on it.

He nods. “Y’all can pull up a chair from over there and sit with me. Boy, have I got news for you Carly.”

And then for the next hour or so, as Carly mans the table, Mark and I talk about everything under the sun. He tells me about what happened at last year’s picnic, and how Pastor Allan’s chicken fighting ring got blown open by the sheriff. He tells me that Macy and her husband are divorcing because she caught him with their daughter’s male gym coach. He also tells me that there’s a betting pool for when Poppy Moon and Grandpa Crane start dating.

It’s right around the third story that it hits me. One-eyed Mark is a huge gossip.

Lucky for him, I’m a gossip monger. I love hearing stories about people I don’t know and I enjoy seeing Mark’s eye twinkle whenever I ask, “And then what happened?”

A few more people tell Carly how pretty she looks when they stop by our booth. She always blushes and says thanks in that shy manner. I think Carly may be exaggerating how scorned she is in this town because I don’t notice much animosity directed at her either.

And then when Emma and Declan show up to set up their booth, Emma’s jaw drops as she looks at Carly.

“Oh my God, “ she says. “You look so pretty!”

Carly blushes. “It’s the dress. It sucks me in all the right places.”

“That’s not it.” Emma isn’t willing to let Carly put herself down either “You look radiant, Carls. I’m serious.”

She blushes even deeper. “Thank you.”

“Told you.” I wrap my arm around her waist and shift her closer. Of course, that has Emma’s and Declan’s gazes instantly dropping to my arm and then they share a knowing look like one of them just won a bet.

Declan then looks at me with amused eyes. “What areyoudoing here? I thought you wouldn’t be caught dead at one of these things.”

I shrug. “Well, it’s not so bad. I figured I might as well come. If I’m going to be stuck in this town for however many months, I should get used to participating in its… is that lady wearing fatigues?

They both turn. “Yup. That’s Poppy Moon. You should meet her. Poppy, Tate, over here!”

The petite, fierce-faced, red-haired lady with the fatigues walks to us, along with her pretty daughter who looks just like her.

The younger one, Tate I’m guessing, hugs Emma first and asks, “Where’s your grandfather?”

“I don’t know. He went fishing with Amelia this morning and they haven’t been back.”

“Huh. I should have known he’d try to dodge his responsibility.” Poppy’s eyes turn even sharper as she narrows them. “He owes me fifty bucks.”

“They had a bet,” Tate explains. “And Mom refuses to let it go.”

“What bet?”

“Don’t ask.” Tate finally throws Carly a tentative smile. “Hey, Carly. You look amazing today.”

“Thanks. So do you.” Carly says it in a similarly awkward tone and it’s followed by a few seconds of awkward silence.

I glance at Poppy who is peering at me owlishly.

“Cool gun,” I say gesturing to the one strapped to her thigh.

She shrugs. “It’s nothing special. Just my .44 mag. But I got a scope on it so I can blow your head off from a mile away.”

“Oh, um...” I’m mildly confused, not knowing if she was referring to my head specifically or just heads in general. Either way, best not to get on her bad side. “Good to know. I didn’t even think pistols could have scopes.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Poppy scoffs. “You’re a city boy.” She shakes her head at the sky. “As if we needed more city boys in this town.”

“That was directed at me, wasn’t it?” Declan smirks.

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