Andrew wasn’t sure whether he wanted to hug Dawn or throttle her. But seeing Kelly, being this close to her again, had stirred up a lot of unexpected feelings that were making his trip back to Bailey’s Fork very complicated.

Sam and Jason announced a break and came down and grabbed him.

“It’s great to see you, man,” Sam said.

“You too. Thanks for coming, and playing,” Andrew said. “You two sound great up there.”

Jason thumped Andrew on the back. “If you weren’t such a stranger, you’d know Sam and I play almost every weekend all over the state. Last summer, we did an east coast tour. It was a blast.”

Sam nodded. “Benefits of being teachers. Summers off. Just like being a kid.”

“Teachers. Both of you?”

They nodded. “Sam teaches high school. I’ve got seventh graders and coach baseball,” said Jason.

“Very cool. Man, I bet some of those old teachers of ours about fell out when you two became teachers. You were the class clown, Jason!”

“I know, right?” Jason picked up a cupcake from the table. “Believe me. I get my share of payback from the kids. Some are worse than we were.”

“I bet.”

“Do you remember Ted? He’s a lawyer. And goody-two-shoes Mike Larkin? He went to jail.”

“Jail? For what?” Andrew could hardly believe it.

“Embezzlement. He had this high-paying job with some company up in northern Virginia and he got caught stealing, like, hundreds of thousands of dollars over a two-year period. It was crazy.”

“Wow, I always thought he seemed too goody-two-shoes to be for real.”

Sam said, “You didn’t like him because he asked Kelly to the prom.”

“You’re right.” A smile ruffled his mouth. “That’s true. Everyone knew the two of us were going together. Who did he think he was, asking my girl?” He glanced over in her direction, but she was busy with the desserts.

“It was a wild promposal. And that was before promposals were even a thing. Balloons. Confetti.”

“A doggone tiara,” he added, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he’d been pretty jealous of the guy’s efforts at the time.

“It was kind of a spectacle,” Sam agreed, “but he definitely gave it his best effort.”

“He probably lifted that tiara from his mom. His first embezzlement.”

“Maybe.” Sam leaned against Jason, laughing. “Kelly never seemed the tiara type.”

“No. She wasn’t. She didn’t need props to look pretty or get attention.” He’d never met anyone else like her. “She didn’t seem too happy to see me.” Had he said that out loud? For years now he’d shut Dawn up every time she’d tried to tell him about Kelly, but now…being back in Bailey’s Fork…he wanted to know.

“She’s pretty focused on her career,” Jason said. “Just like you. She never married.”