Mike pulled a pile of tickets out of her pants pocket and gave them to the kids. No skinny jeans for her today! With cheers and squeals, they grabbed the free passes and ran away.

She gave her attention to Hayes.

He continued as though nothing had happened. “I didn’t represent myself well. I was so embarrassed at being made to look bad in front of my girlfriend that I couldn’t think straight. I’m very sorry.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “What if some woman had shown you up in front of me?”

Mike had to admit that she wouldn’t like that.

“Can you forgive me? Please?”

Mike wasn’t sure what to say. Hardly twenty-four hours ago she’d been hoping this man would propose marriage to her, but now... Now she wasn’t sure about anything. “I think...” she began, hoping the words would come to her. “Maybe...”

A few feet away from them, a fight broke out. It was three kids, about eleven, and they were going at each other. Their punches were awkward, but they were really angry about something.

Hayes took a step back, his upper lip curved into a sneer. “Call Security,” he said to the two silent frat boys who were flanking him.

“To put them in jail?” she asked angrily. It was one thing to call Security on an adult, but children? She didn’t wait for a reply but hurried to the kids.

Cait and Dr. Coop grabbed two of them, while Mike pulled a girl to her. She could feel the child’s heart beating hard.

“How about popcorn, and want to see a really big snake?” Coop asked loudly. “You can watch me feed it mice.” The two kids he and Cait were holding nodded. As they left, they gave a threatening look to the girl Mike was clutching.

She crouched down to talk to the girl. “What do you want to do? Go to your mom?” The child’s eyes widened as she shook her head no.

“Okay. How about ice cream and you tell me what happened?” The girl nodded.

Minutes later, they were holding huge cones and were sitting near the booth at the far end of the carnival. “It wasn’t my fault,” the girl said. “I don’t like Tommy anymore but Ashlee says I do. But I liked him before she did.”

“That sounds complicated,” Mike said. “You know what? I think I’m in the same place that you are. And I think maybe I just broke up with my boyfriend. How about you? Ready to give him to Ashlee? Break with him completely?”

With a smile, she said, “Oh, yeah.”

They finished their cones and parted ways. When Mike passed Hayes, he started to speak. More apologies? she thought. She cut him off. “I think you should go home and stay there.”

“But what about the wedding?” he asked.