I folded my arms. I decided getting any closer was dangerous, so I waited right where I was in the center of the aisle. I was painfully conscious of all the eyes on me. Without looking around, I guessed it had to be nearly the entire town packed into the little barn. Maybe not people from Stone Village, but the true Fairhopers were all here. I was almost certain of it.

Then a little voice at my side made me jump. “Go to him!” It was Molly. She was whispering and shoving my butt with both hands.

I stumbled forward, more and more conscious of the fact that I was in pajamas and a coat while Dean was in a full suit.

I made it to the doorway on the other side of the barn, just a few steps from Dean. At least the crowd was at my back, then. I could pretend it was just Dean and me if I tried hard enough. There were the dangling lights over his head and behind him, lighting him in a golden halo that caught the stray hairs on his head and the stubble on his jaw.

Dean came closer and lowered his mouth to my ear, holding the microphone at his side. “This is what happens when you block me. I can’t just call to say sorry.”

I gave him a look, which earned a wry smile from him. Just like that, it felt like we were back to three months ago when the chemistry always felt like it was zipping between us in a constant stream of electric jolts.

He raised the microphone to his mouth and started to speak, half to me and half to the people behind me. “Three months ago, I misled all of you.”

He misled them? We both had. Was that his plan? Did he think he could take all the blame and somehow make my life easier here?

“I let you think I was dating Pearl. I think I owe all of you an explanation. See, almost a year ago, Pear and I both had our hearts broken. We knew friends and family would try to make it better by setting us up, so we tried to beat them to the punch. We’d pretend we had a long distance relationship as long as it took to get everyone off our backs. And I thought I might just be done dating altogether. She said she was, too. So it seemed perfect.”

“Dean, what are you doing?” I asked. I felt supremely awkward just standing there with my back to everyone while Dean gave his little speech into the microphone.

He lowered the microphone again, speaking just to me. “I’m building up to it. Give it a minute.” He winked, then lifted the microphone again.

“But then we wound up getting obligated by work to go to the same conference and the same wedding week here in Fairhope. It took about two minutes to realize my feelings for Pearl were way more than pretend. Little by little, I was falling for her.”