Knitted Hearts - Amber Kelly Page 0,14

the point of panic. I walked the maze a few times to make sure I knew the route out of every dead end, and it seems to be a beginner’s level. Not like the ones old man Gravely does out in his fields every October. My buddies and I would go for the flashlight nights, and it would take us hours to find our way out of that thing.

I take a seat at the table under the tent at the entry and wait.

I reach down into the cooler under the table for a bottle of water when I hear a vaguely familiar voice.

“Foster? What are you doing here?”

I look up to see Sonia Pickens standing with her hands on her hips. She has her dark hair in a plait that runs over her left shoulder. She’s wearing a dress that hugs her figure in all the right places. The sunshine highlights her beautiful face, and her honey-colored eyes are trained on me as she stands with her arms crossed over her chest waiting for an answer.

“I’m working,” I tell her.

“I know that, but what are you doing here, at this table?” she asks again.

“I’m here, working,” I say again, slower this time.

She draws her eyebrows together in confusion. “But I’m working the corn maze,” she says.

“You are?” I ask.

“Yes, I just got my assignment from the crazy-lady committee,” she says as she motions towards the fellowship building with her thumb.

“Well, Dottie gave me these maze maps this morning and told me I had to hand them out and wrangle anyone who got stuck inside,” I confirm as I wave the maps for her to see.

“Oh,” she says.

“They must think this is a two-man job,” I tell her as I stand to give her my seat.

She walks around and sits.

I grab another bottle of water and open it for her. Then, I set it on the table just as a group of five—two adults and three children—approach with their tickets in hand.

“Hi, folks. Are you guys having a good time this afternoon?” Sonia asks.

One of the little girls gives her a huge smile.

“I won a gold fish!” she exclaims.

Her mother holds up a tied off plastic bag of water with a small fish inside and grimaces.

Sonia gives her a sympathetic look as she takes the tickets, and I hand a map to one of the adults and instruct them to make their way to the spot marked with an X, adding that there will be bags of candy corn in a barrel beside the exit to take as a reward for successfully making it through. The kids are practically jumping with excitement as they join hands and follow their parents through the entrance.

The line stays steady for the next couple of hours. In between customers, I run to find a second chair and join Sonia under the shade of the tent.

“You said you rode with Marvin and Dottie this morning?” she asks.

“Yeah, I was going to ride with Payne and Charlotte, but Charlotte wasn’t ready when we finished feeding the horses, and Dottie was in an uproar about getting everything set up. So, I hopped in with them and came on over.”

Her forehead creases. “You were at the Hendersons’, feeding horses, not Stoney Ridge?” she asks in confusion.

“I was. I don’t usually work Sundays at the ranch. It’s my day off,” I tell her.

“So, you spent your day off working for Payne. Why?”

She is still confused.

“Not officially, but I help out around the farm and orchard from time to time. They let me stay on their property for two hundred dollars a month. I’ve tried to pay them more, but they won’t accept it, so I pitch in so that I don’t feel like a charity case,” I explain.

“You live with them? Since when? She asks.

I thought everyone knew I was staying in Dallas’s old place.

“Yes. I moved into the silo behind their house. The one Dallas and Beau used to live in.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to play Twenty Questions. I just thought that you and your wife were back together and you were living at home again,” she explains.

Oh, I see.

“We tried. My mother had talked us into it, but it didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry,” she says.

I cut my eyes to her and smile. “Don’t be. It’s been over for years. I don’t know why we bothered. I think she only agreed to it because she isn’t happy with slinging drinks down at the bar, and she still wants