Page 84 of Falling for Keeps

“Finally, our resident dentist, Carson Price, from Price Dental. You can visit him after spending every day at the other two booths.”

There’s healthy laughter and applause. “Now, our winner is…drumroll, someone?” Hands clap against thighs in the audience, which continues to grow. I make a show of pulling out the card and reading the name I wrote down earlier after counting and double-checking the final tally. “Carson Price!”

Penny’s scream might be the loudest at this point. The crowd is ribbing him, and one of the FFA kids wearing long, rubber gloves approaches with a mid-sized piglet in his arms. The cute little pink guy is certainly bigger than last year.

Someone calls for Carson to pucker up, and he does, like a good sport. His eyes dart to me briefly, the deep green driving into my skin so quickly I would have missed it if I wasn’t watching. He presses his lips to the piglet’s snout, which looks gross from where I’m standing. Then it’s over. All that money for one second and a lot of cheering. I’m so grateful our community pulls together for kids’ literacy like this. I’m also grateful for the people willing to put their dignity on the line.

“Once again, a big thank you to the Friends of the Autumn Ridge Library for being our showrunners and making this possible, and thank you to each person who donated. Every cent goes toward the youth events in the library and supports literacy for all kids in Autumn Ridge from zero to eighteen.”

The clapping is decent at this point but quickly dies off as people begin to chat, their attention shifting away from me and the jugs of money. Carson approaches, so I move to meet him when he takes my hand and pulls me to the sidewalk. “The money!” I say.

He stops long enough to look over his shoulder. “The gray-haired librarian has it.”

“Dale?”

“I guess.”

“Where are we going?” I ask, but he keeps pulling my hand.

“I need to wipe the swine from my mouth. You have anything for that?”

“Wet wipes?” I offer.

“That’ll do.”

“Pig…” I finish for him.

Carson barks out a laugh. “No Babe quotes, please. Too soon.”

“Fine. I have some in my car.”

“Lead the way.”

Kind of hard to do with the way he’s dragging me down the sidewalk, then toward the alley between Keller’s Bakehouse and the hardware store. We’re cut off from the views and sounds of the Fall Festival as the crowd disperses and falls into conversations.

“What about Penny?” I ask.

“My mom has her. We drove separately.”

I nod slowly, still trying to comprehend the turn of events. I was supposed to talk with Heather from the Friends group and hand off the money so she could deposit it in the bank, but I guess Dale will take care of that. I’d text him, but Carson is still gripping my hand like a vise.

“Where did you park?” he asks.

“Employee lot behind the library.”

We move in silence, while the full darkness of an early autumn evening envelops us. There are less streetlights on this side of the alley, but Carson knows exactly where to go. He spots my car and makes a beeline for it.

“I thought for sure that pig would turn into a princess or something.”

Carson barks a laugh. “I’m no Prince Charming, that’s for sure. Although I was voted most charming in my senior superlatives.”

“I know. I was a junior then, remember?”

He shoots me a quizzical look.

“We were office assistants together my sophomore year.”

Carson stops walking and faces me fully. “What?”