Mary wore dark brown suede pants tucked into tall brown leather boots, and a navy, green, and light pink plaid coat. Harper stepped out in her black leggings, her well-worn cordovan ankle boots, and her green puffy jacket.
A big sign above them stretched across the street that said, “Cedar Falls Applefest 2028—Life Is Sweeter Here.” Pippi rode along in her tote bag, and Tommy carried it for Harper.
“Can’t that dog walk?” Mary asked him.
“Why walk when you can ride, right, Pip?” Tommy asked, patting the dog’s head. Pippi licked his hand in return.
Harper and Tommy had made up after the book reveal. For all her fears, she had no idea that her book wouldn’t be an embarrassment; rather, it turned into quite the turn-on.
“I wasn’t embarrassed. I was impressed... my foxy friend,” Tommy had said when Harper had bypassed a cold text and had opted to call to apologize instead. He’d been relieved that she’d forgiven him, and they’d been inseparable ever since. They held hands as they walked through the crowd. Harper noticed several locals catching their affection for each other. “There goes another eligible bachelor,” she imagined them saying.
The three of them stopped to listen to a local singer-songwriter who’d grown up in the area but made it big in Nashville. He had a hit song on the radio, recorded by a big-named artist. Still, the success hadn’t gone to his head.
“I love coming home,” the singer said, before launching into the hit that helped him and his wife buy their first home. Their three young children sat in the front row, cheering on their dad.
“The festival is a huge hit, Tommy. Look at all these happy, smiling people. They have no idea how much work goes into it,” Harper said to Tommy as she looked around at the booths.
“Well, I learned a lot, that’s for sure. I’m just glad we kept the two gourmet jam booths separated,” he said. “They might have come to blows.”
“And the food is so good,” Mary said, tossing some apple-popcorn into the air and expertly catching it with her mouth.
Joe and Grace met up with them at the bandstand, and the group made their way to the finish line of the Applefest 5K. They’d volunteered to hand out snacks and waters.
“Hurry. Some of these folks run fast and could finish the race before we even get there.” Tommy led the way through the crowd.
Joe, Grace, Mary, Harper, and Tommy found their table and started grabbing mini waters to hand out, along with bananas and, of course, apples.
A familiar face came through early on: Danny Dawson, with his big dark eyes and floppy hair. He’d barely broken a sweat on his run.
“Hey, guys,” he said, taking a water from Harper.
“Hey, Danny,” she said.
“How’ve you been, Danny?” Mary asked, fearing the answer was “not well” given that Dot had been slow to send him a note, and they’d not even seen each other in weeks. She knew Dot was miserable—did Danny feel the same?
“I’ve been better,” he said. He motioned Mary to step out of the way of the other runners. “Is Dot here?” He sounded hopeful.
Mary shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Senator Lopez is finally coming to town tomorrow for a big rally here at the fairgrounds, so she had to work. She’s literally not done anything but work with the election so close now.”
“I see.” He looked away. “Do you think she’ll ever come around? I... miss her.”
“I’ll see what I can do, Danny. I promise.” She gave him a hug, noting she’d made a lot of promises that afternoon.
“Sorry, I’m probably sweaty from the run,” he said.
“You look like you walked two blocks instead of running three miles.”
“Three point one. Don’t forget the point one. Hardest part of the race.”
She gave him another big hug and spotted Jake, in uniform, working the fair shift for the police department, making his way to them.
“Come on, let’s make Jake a little jealous.”
They both laughed as Jake came over.
“Hey, hands off my girl!” Jake said.
“She’s all yours, bro.” Danny laughed, but his sad eyes came back. “You’re a lucky man, Jake.”