Page 137 of Only Fate

“I absolutely did not,” she says. “I tried one year and pretty much got last place. Even the preschoolers did better than me.”

I chuckle.

We say hi and wave to people, and I’m surprised when some know my name. I know I shouldn’t be since I’m now abusinessperson here, but people remembering me makes me smile.

We’re at the town circle when Essie stops at a bench. Something I like about the circle is that there are memorial tokens of people. A statue of a child holding a balloon. A plaque on the ground, celebrating the first town doctor. A dog statue, donated by a local artist for the town K-9 who passed away after serving for twelve years.

We sit, and she taps her foot against a plaque on the ground.

“We raised money to have this bench put up in memory of Ethan after his death,” she says.

She knows she doesn’t need to explain who Ethan is.

I already know so much about him.

What I don’t know is exactly what they were.

“Were you two close friends or …” I lower my arm along the back of the bench over Essie’s shoulders.

“He was failing English and hired me to tutor him. As we spent time together, we became close friends. We were opposites, but he was so fun. We were never anything more, though.”

She kicks her feet out and scuffs her boots against the concrete. “His friends spread rumors about us, and because of them, some of the town believes that we were sleeping together. Most of that talk has died down after some years, but it was still hard. They blamed me for him dying in the accident.”

She shrugs like she doesn’t care, but I see the hurt on her face.

I squeeze her knee. “Essie, nothing with the accident was your fault.”

“I know. It’s just …” A shuddering breath leaves her. “Can we not talk about this tonight? We’re pretending, remember?”

“We can’t pretend forever,” I say tenderly. “Sooner or later, we have to talk about this.”

She curls her hand around mine on her knee. “Tomorrow night. Can we do it then?”

“Tomorrow night it is.”

My stomach curls, tension tightening inside it, the fear of losing her returning.

We sit there for a few minutes, both of us silent.

She sniffles, her eyes watery, and I wipe away her tear with my sleeve. I take her hand back in mine, wanting every second I can have to touch her.

We spend the rest of the night exploring the festival.

I bid in the silent auction. The proceeds are going to a class field trip to Washington, DC, where nearly every business in town donated something.

Essie and River donated an Xbox and custom game remotes.

Callie donated a gift card to her bake shop.

Ava donated a free CPR class.

Jax and Amelia donated a gift card to the brewery.

And Easton’s was a basket of gift cards to nearly every business in town. Essie explains that his business, the one he took over from his father, rehabbed heavy machinery equipment, so donating something from there isn’t exactly easy.

I love how everyone is so nice here.

How they help others.

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