Page 17 of Fall Into Love

Mayor Caleb Foster is working the crowd.

But I know the difference now. I might be the only one here who does. I can see the half-second his smile resets between conversations, the way his gaze keeps peering across the lot to find me, the way he rubs the back of his neck when somebody calls him a pillar of the community.

The whole town’s got Mayor Foster.

But I got Caleb.

He catches me staring, and his whole face changes. He taps his watch and nods at the stage. My stomach flips. Right. He always plays a set at the festival.

“He’s going to make an absolute fool of himself for you, isn’t he?” Molly says, appearing at my elbow with Luke in tow, her wedding band catching the light as she helps herself to my cider. “In front of the entire town. It’s deeply romantic, and I’m mad I didn’t think to make Luke sing to me first.”

Luke, her fiancé, scoffs mildly. “You got a whole elevator, baby.”

“And it was perfect,” she beams at him, rising on her tiptoes to give him a kiss.

Across the way, Luke’s brother, Jake, and his fiancée, Peyton, are demolishing a shared caramel apple under the marina banner. Peyton’s laughing at something as Jake watches her like it’s the only show worth catching.

Danny’s greatest hits.

“You’re next, you know,” Molly informs me, insufferably pleased.

“We’ve been together a week, Molls.”

“Mhm.” She isn’t listening. Nobody in this town listens.

It’s the worst, and I love it.

The little PA crackles, and Caleb steps onto the stage with his acoustic guitar, and the square hushes the way it always does for him. Everyone smiles and settles in, ready for the usual Halloween-time crowd-pleaser, something they all know the words to.

He drops onto the stool, adjusts the mic, and instead of counting into a song, he says, “Evening, everybody. Usually, I play y’all something familiar.” A few whoops. He grins, ducks his head, and when he looks back up, his eyes land on me and stay there. “But I wrote something new this week,” he says, and the square goes quiet as my heart picks up the pace. “First thing I’ve written in years, honestly. Turns out, I just needed a good reason.” His thumb drifts over the strings, and a low tone floods the speakers.

“This one’s for the girl who knows me best.” His voice roughens, and he isn’t performing anymore. “Emma, darlin’. This one’s yours.”

And then he plays a song that has my heart swooning for a completely different reason.

I couldn’t tell you the words because I’m too busy standing frozen beside my booth with my hand pressed over my mouth and my eyes gone hazy. It’s simple, a little rough and country, and unmistakably him. It isn’t polished or perfect, but it is, hands down, the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me in my life.

Molly’s openly crying. Danny gave up pretending he wasn’t three chords ago. And somewhere behind me, someone whispers, “Wait, are they together?” and another hisses, “Keep up, Marv.”

When the last chord fades, the whole square comes apart at the seams. Caleb doesn’t bow or wave; he simply sets the guitar down, hops off the stage, and jogs straight through the parting crowd to me.

“Hey, darlin’,” he says.

“You wrote me a song.” My voice is in pieces. This man, I swear.

“I told you I love you.” He thumbs a tear off my cheek, grinning in the middle of the most public place in town. “Figured it was time everyone else knew it, too.”

I suddenly don’t care that the whole town is watching. I fist my hand in his ridiculous T-shirt and drag him down to meet my lips. We kiss, and Hemlock Point loses its collective mind, and somewhere in the roar I hear Danny whoop “Finally!” at a volume that suggests he’s been holding it in for weeks.

Finally, indeed.

Riding Shotgun

Caleb

Three Months Later…

I’m going to propose to Emma today.