Page 77 of Always a Bridesmaid
While her brain fretted over that, Ford grabbed a vanilla cupcake and shoved it in the vicinity of her mouth.
They swiped at each other, squealing and giggling and painting buttercream and chocolate frosting over each other’s faces.
After an opposite tug-of-war, Ford hauled her upper body over a relatively empty part of the table and planted his lips on hers.
What started as a game morphed into the tastiest greeting in history. The exquisite stroke of his tongue had her curling a hand in his T-shirt and relinquishing control. A protest drifted up as his mouth released hers.
Then Ford cupped her chin, twisted her head to the side, and gave her cheek a languid lick. Violet attempted a swallow and failed.
“Y’all are gonna need to get a room,” Maisy said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m missing my husband even more after that display, but this table hosts mostly children.”
Violet managed to straighten despite her quaking legs. She’d been so caught up in the kiss, she’d forgotten people might be watching. More than that, with her lips still tingling from the kiss, she found she didn’t care. “Sorry,” she said to Maisy. “Kinda.”
Her sister made a shooing motion. “You’ve helped me enough today. Go enjoy the bazaar.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Violet rushed around the table, and once she and Ford reached the pathway where people were strolling around, he grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers.
As Violet walked past the rows of quilts on display, she slowed. They hung from a clothesline, numbered squares of paper pinned to the fabric. Each one boasted bright colors, intricate designs, and beautiful patterns. Hours of work that led to artwork blankets that could keep you warm, not only because of the fabric and batting but because you could see the amount of love that’d gone into every stitch.
For years, she’d thought of Uncertainty as the small town where everyone was all up in one another’s business, but tonight she felt the strong sense of community. Most of Uncertainty’s residents had shown up to support and raise money for the historical society so they could preserve their forefathers’ legacy.
The fact that surrounding towns pitched in caused Violet to see the place in a whole new light.
Ford tugged her to the left, toward a kids’ plastic swimming pool filled with toy fish. “Time to show off my impressive fishin’ skills.”
“I’m pretty sure this is a kids’ game,” she said, and he placed a finger on her lips and shushed her.
“Don’t scare ’em away.” For some reason, he’d taken on an Australian accent. “Crikey, you’d think this was your first time.”
“It is my first time fishing.”
“Fishin’,” Ford corrected with a smirk that had her rolling her eyes and giggling.
Ford greeted a woman with salt-and-pepper hair that had been twisted up in an intricate bun. He placed a couple dollar bills on the table. “Tell her how it’s done, Misaki.”
“Oh, I only agreed to run this booth so I could watch the excited faces of the kids. I don’t do the fishing,” she said with a laugh as she handed over the fishing pole. “I am much better at crochet.”
“See those stuffed animals?” Ford asked. Crocheted bunnies, pigs, dogs, cats, and other animals of every size and color covered two of the three tables surrounding her. “Misaki makes them herself.”
“It is called amigurumi. A Japanese art my grandmother taught me when I was a young girl.”
“They’re so cute,” Violet said, picking up the purple pig that caught her eye. “If I tried to make something like this, I’d end up with a ball of tangled yarn.”
Misaki laughed, the sound happy and full. “I will teach you someday if you want to learn.”
Violet’s heart turned sappy on her. This woman had met her two seconds ago, and she was offering crochet lessons? How sweet was that?
Add the crowd of people milling about, laughing and enjoying the event, and Maisy’s suggestion to stay in Uncertainty permanently held more and more of an appeal.
“…medication, right?” Ford asked, and Violet jerked her attention to the conversation going on in front of her.
“I promise. I bought one of those pill boxes with the days of the week, just like you told me to,” Misaki said, and Violet filled in the blank—Ford had asked if the woman was taking her meds. Just in time, too, because Misaki looked at her. “One day this past winter, I couldn’t remember if I had taken my medicine or not, so I took my pill. Only Ihadtaken it, and doubling up made me so dizzy I passed out. My daughter found me and called 911.”
Okay, so she was slightly off but close. “Let me guess. Ford showed up.”
Misaki nodded. “Yes, thank goodness. He took good care of me. Now he always asks if I’m being careful with my medication.”
Ford rubbed at his neck, bashful on the one point he could be arrogant about. “Yeah, so anyway…” He lifted the fishing pole. “Shall we get started?”
