Laurie offered her a faint smile. "Maybe we can call it even and start with a clean slate?"
To his surprise, her answering smile was much brighter. "Honestly, that sounds great." She actually turned toward him after she unbuckled, offering her hand. "Hi. I'm Briana Gilson, goat shifter. Also your fated mate, a thing which I have only just now realized, in this, the moment in which we have met."
Laurie laughed and took her hand, trying not to shiver at the zing that shot through him at the contact. "Laurie Torben, bear shifter. Nice to meet you. Gosh," he said in as artificial a tone as Briana had used at the end there, "how strange it is to suddenly meet my fated mate. You seem really great, and I would like to explore that more, but right now we've got a Renaissance Faire to rescue and possibly a whole lot of true humans to convince to keep their mouths shut about shifters, so maybe that should take priority?"
Chapter 17
Briana couldn't help smiling as Laurie played along with her suggestion of starting over. It turned out he could be pretty charming when he wanted to be. Or when she was prepared to let him charm her, maybe. "Great," she said in the bright, stilted tone they'd been using. "I'm sure getting to know you will be swell, but it sure does sound like you're right and we've got a heck of a job in front of us to deal with first!"
Laurie said, "Swell?" and Briana laughed.
"You started it with 'gosh!' It seemed like it fit the mood. Anyway, should we split forces, you talk to the Faire council and me…" Briana made a face. "I don't know, go around asking true humans if they saw shifters yesterday, I guess?"
"Let's stick together," Laurie said, sounding a bit cautious. "For one thing, I feel like I could use backup when I talk to them. I'm not…" He petered out, then shook his head and got out of the truck.
Briana hopped out her side and waited for him to come around to the sidewalk. "You're not what?"
"Not the Torben anybody has in mind when they're looking for help."
"You're not the Torben theythinkthey want," Briana said firmly. "That doesn't mean you're not the one they need."
He gave her an odd look. "Whose side are you on here?"
"A clean slate's side."
She could see the surprise register in Laurie's eyes as he realized she'd meant it. At least, she wastryingto mean it. He hesitated a moment, then ducked his head and smiled. "Right. Okay. In that case, yeah, I really could use the backup from…"
A fated mate who believes in me.He didn't say the words out loud, but Briana felt as if they hung in the air between them, weighty and important. She found herself taking his hand, just for a moment. Long enough to squeeze his fingers and smile.
Long enough to feel a buzz of electricity as they touched, and to shiver a little bit. Laurie's hand flexed as she released it, and they both froze a heartbeat, until Laurie gave a sheepish laugh. "I guess I was wrong. Mark one down for the 2005Pride & Prejudice. Hand flexes are in."
Briana said, "Told you," with a grin, and then, as they headed toward the central square at Renaissance’s heart, admitted, "Colin Firthcouldget it, though."
"I'm just sayin'!" Laurie said loudly.
They both stopped short as they rounded the corner leading to the town square. Briana had been aware of background noise, mostly voices rather than vehicles, but she wasn't prepared to find the square full of people.
Not just full of people. Full of event-style tentsstuffedwith people. There had to be at least a three dozen tents and booths, all different sizes and colors, with tables and wares set in them. One was a dunking booth with a ten foot tall fundraiser 'thermometer' beside it, colored green to about the halfway mark. There were two other fundraiser banners that Briana noticed at a glance. Half the people in the square woreRenaissance Faire garb, and more than half the booths were selling Fairestuff. Even the turkey leg vendors were there.
Briana stole a glimpse at Laurie, whose jaw had fallen open. He croaked, "What…?"
"I don't know. I…" Briana looked back at the impromptu Faire, or fundraiser, or whatever was happening, and momentarily took Laurie's hand again. "Let's go find out."
"They don't need me if they've got this set up already," Laurie whispered, but he came along with Briana even after she released his hand.
"This isn't a rebirth of the Faire," she said with confidence. "This is an emergency response, just like you said people were good at. Your job is going to be much longer and more sustained. But yeah, let's find out what…." She trailed off, too, because while it obviouslywasan emergency response, they wouldn't know what exactly was going on until they got into it.
They'd barely crossed into the square at all when the first vendor cried Laurie's name and came out from behind their booth to hug both Laurie and Briana. Bree knew the woman, though not well: her name was Shel Kennon and she was a painter who worked with natural objects as her canvases, anything from seashells to huge, thin-sliced driftwood logs. She'd packed up all her big stuff before they had come by the day before, but from her booth, it was clear she'd also gotten the smaller art off site before the landslide had hit.
She was in tears as she hugged them. "You saved my whole business," she told them hoarsely. "You probably saved my life. My booth got wiped out completely. If I'd been there…"
Briana found herself struggling to hold back tears as she returned Shel's embrace. "I'm glad you're okay. What…what on earth…who's organized…what's going on here?"
Shel sniffled at both of them. "So many people got wiped out or hurt. Everybody who got their stuff out is donating proceedsto help people set up again. And then over there…" She waved toward the dunking booth. "It's a medical fundraiser for Diane Carver and the others."
"How is she?" Laurie asked quietly. "How are they all doing?"
"Her surgery went well." Shel wiped her eyes. "But nobody really knows what that means yet, except she didn't die. She's at least partially paralyzed right now. Nobody's heard whether they expect her to make a full recovery or…what. Um." She wiped her eyes again, clearly trying to pull herself together. "Everybody else is recovering. Deanna—do you know her? Deanna Zinn? She's a weaver? Yeah. She broke her leg in three places and they had to pin it back together but she'll be okay. And Michael Bernardi, you know him, right?"