his middle finger.
“Anyway.” Gentry’s exasperation was apparent, but it didn’t stop his smile. “Any of you coming back for the Fourth? I ran across Nelson Hammond and he said there’s going to be a fair and a concert.”
Nelson Hammond. The mayor. He was a man I actively avoided. Pop had been to several town hall meetings, raging about some vote or another.
“Would you be ready to have us back so soon, Dawson?” Kendall asked.
“Absolutely,” he answered.
Well, that didn’t take long. I was already looking forward to the Fourth of July when Kendall and Gentry would be back. Would I be invited over for more grilling? More visits?
Because if this was how well-adjusted families acted, I was glad I hadn’t known what I was missing.
“Want to go to the fair with me, Bristol?”
The fair came to town every year. This year was the first it’d be over the holiday weekend. I hadn’t thought anything of it when I’d heard. When I was in seventh grade, Pop had actually let me go. The only stipulation had been that he wouldn’t be able to take me home until he was done at the bar. The fair closed at ten p.m. and the bar closed hours later, but I hadn’t thought of the logistics. He’d even given me twenty dollars.
A half hour after I’d gotten there, played a few games, and saved enough money for one ride and supper, I’d run across some high school boys. A scrawny Bristol all by herself had made a perfect target.
They’d followed me, relentlessly teasing me about my tiny tits and a face only a mother would love—Oh wait, is that why she left? Even at that age, I’d been known to throw a punch for a strong enough insult, but I couldn’t take on three fifteen-year-old boys.
I’d run and waited by Pop’s pickup until he’d closed the bar down and gotten tossed out by the fed-up owner.
On the way home, we’d almost hit one of our yearlings that had escaped the pastures.
The remnants of the crappy memory must’ve shown on my face. Dawson squeezed my hand. “We don’t have to go.”
“No. It’s fine.” I couldn’t sound more wooden if I tried. Damn it. I wasn’t going to let my past with this town haunt my future. These people were more than tolerating me. And by all accounts, they should be the ones to shun me. So, yeah. I was going to that damn fair. “It’ll be fun.”
“Savvy and I could probably make it,” Xander offered. I blinked at him, but Savvy nodded.
“I’ve never been to a fair.” Her blue eyes sparkled, her excitement infectious.
Wasn’t Savvy’s family loaded? How could she have missed out on something as simple and common as a fair? I’d had an experience someone as sophisticated as Savvy hadn’t. Weird.
“This is a small-town fair,” Xander said. “Half the thrill is wondering if the Ferris wheel is going to hold together.”
“Ooh, I can’t wait.” Savvy turned in her seat. “Xander and I are going to check on the progress of our house and then spend most of June camping in Yellowstone and doing some research for my company. We’ll make sure we’re back.”
“I have an in with the CEO of King Tech.” Eva might be smiling at Beck, but her eyes said they were going whether he wanted to or not. “I’m sure we can get off.”
Beck wasn’t fazed. “I haven’t been to the fair since I was a senior. Do they still have funnel cakes?”
“Yes,” Kate answered as she was trimming a hunk of fat off her ribeye. “But eat them fresh. They don’t age well.” She looked up from her plate and blinked at the guys staring at her.
“You got Aiden to the fair?” Dawson asked, incredulous.
Her chuckle was nervous. “No. He had to work. I brought my nephews and tried to bring a funnel cake home for him.”
“Aiden wouldn’t risk getting powdered sugar on his laptop,” Xander joked.
Kate’s gaze dropped to her plate. Aiden lifted a shoulder. “It had dissolved by the time it got home. But it’s the thought that counts.”
From the forlorn look on Kate’s face, it was the effort of getting off work that would’ve counted.
“The Fourth it is,” Dawson said. “Anyone who can make it, come on up.”
“The Fourth,” Beck agreed. “Right before your birthday. Could be a big weekend.”
Dawson slanted a glare at Beck and everyone shifted. Once again, I was missing something.
I could enjoy the atmosphere of this family all I wanted. I could marvel over