we had split a massive smoked turkey leg, which was as awkward to eat as you might imagine, and had flower crowns in our hair. The ribbons from the crown floated down my back and trailed down to my elbows. We stopped again at the tavern so April could rest her leg. And get another glass of wine.
I still hadn’t spotted Simon, which at first I’d been relieved about, but as the day wore on I became confused. And more than a little sad. Stacey and Mitch had been so insistent that I come today. Had they given Simon the heads-up so he could avoid running into me? I didn’t like the thought of that. This Faire was Simon’s home. He loved it more than anything. I shouldn’t have come here if I made him this uncomfortable.
“Do you want to head home?” I didn’t like the way April was rubbing her bad leg. But she waved off my concern.
“I’m fine. My stamina’s not what it was before the accident.”
“Seriously, we can go . . .”
“Nah.” She put her leg up on the bench next to us. “I just need to slow down a little. Wine first. Then joust.”
I still didn’t feel great about dragging her all the way across the grounds to the jousting field, but she insisted she was fine and she could rest there while we watched. I couldn’t argue with that, and deep down inside I really wanted to see the joust. I’d been looking forward to it all summer, and it was unlikely I’d be back to the Faire in the future.
“I can’t believe I’ve never seen this!” I squirmed a little on the hard wooden bench. April crunched on a giant pickle she’d bought from a wandering vendor and grinned at me.
“You’ve had a busy summer. And this is clear on the other side of the grounds. I’d be surprised if you came over here much at all.”
She had a point, and I was about to tell her so when knights on horseback cantered into the ring. It was late summer and pretty damn hot, and these men were in chain mail with tunics on top of that. The horses they rode were massive, almost Clydesdale in size, probably to support the weight of all that armor. They came thundering through the jousting field, and the pounding of their hooves resonated in my chest. I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees and watched, enraptured. The knights and horses worked together in breathtaking concert. Dirt flew under hooves. Lances crashed against one another and against shields. I knew this was all rehearsed—these guys did the show twice a day, like the human chess match actors—but those were still real horses hurtling toward each other at real speeds, and those lances looked like they’d hurt a lot if they struck someone by accident.
By the time it ended I sucked in a deep breath, as though I’d been afraid to breathe throughout half the show. I turned to April, who looked equally bowled over.
“Damn,” she said. “Just . . . damn.” She took a deep breath like I had, and turned to me with wide eyes. “This shit goes on every year, and I never knew. Huh.”
“Not bad for a small town, huh?” I stood up to leave, and she followed.
“I guess.” Her skepticism sounded a little forced, and I rolled my eyes. But she caught my eye and grinned, and I threw an arm around her shoulders in a quick hug.
“C’mon,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”
As I started to scoot down the row to the end of the bench and the exit, April caught my arm. “Let’s go that way, it’s closer.”
I looked where she pointed, the other way down the row to the secondary exit. She was right; for some reason fewer people were heading in that direction. So I reversed course and followed her instead, around the ring of the jousting field and through the gate. We came out on the left side of the jousting field, near a small clearing, and my breathing stalled when I saw where we were.
April was right, I hadn’t been on this side of the grounds much at all. Except for the first day of Faire. The handfasting. That day had been the beginning of everything between Simon and me. The first time he’d kissed me, even though it was staged. The first time I’d felt his hand around mine and felt safe. Protected. Like