“We only have a few months to pull this off, though. We could do it over Memorial Weekend. School will have just let out for the kids.” Katherine turned the page in her notebook and started scribbling notes.
“Remember when the town used to have parades. Why don’t we do that anymore? They were so fun to watch when I was small. We could organize a parade. Maybe have an arts and crafts festival in the town park,” Natalie chimed in.
Bella wrote that idea down, too. “These are great ideas. A Summerfest.”
“Oh, that’s a great name to call it.” Katherine jotted some more notes.
“I think you and Katherine should be in charge of Summerfest.” Becky Lee grinned. “I mean, you two already have the notebooks full of ideas.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Katherine has taken on so much in the last few weeks.” Keely looked worried.
“Thanks for answering for me, sis.” Katherine glared at Keely. “Actually, I’d love to help plan this. What do you say, Bella?”
“I’m in. I just need to make sure I can get Jenny’s wedding pulled off the following weekend. But we have most of that planned out already.” Bella had so many ideas racing through her mind. This was going to be great. Maybe it could become an annual thing if it worked out this year. She wrote down a few more notes.
Becky Lee laughed. “See, Izzy is never happier than when she’s right in the middle of planning something.”
Bella grinned at her friend. She might be right. She was at her happiest when she was busy planning an event. “It’s settled then. Summerfest is on.”
CHAPTER SIX
Keely glanced out through the French doors at Hunt working on the patio. He bent over and tugged out some weeds at the edge and tossed them into a growing pile near the edge. He was dressed in only a t-shirt in the cool April weather, but he’d broken a sweat at the exertion of clearing the space. He reached for a small blue cloth tucked into the back pocket of his jeans and swiped at his face. With a quick arch of his back and a roll of his shoulders, he leaned back down and attacked another weed.
Pulling those weeds out by hand had been his idea. She would have gone the chemical route, but he’d insisted he’d seen enough damage from chemical spills around the globe. He’d pull the weeds then spray the remainder with vinegar. She’d never heard of that, but she’d given him free rein over the project. Hopefully that wasn’t a mistake. After days of talking, they’d decided he would build a partial wall around the patio, after enlarging the patio with new paving stones. He planned to build a roof over the area. If all this worked out, then eventually Keely was going to purchase roll down plastic window awnings that could be pulled down to keep out rain, or help keep in the heat during the winter.
Hunt had promised he’d have it finished by Summerfest. Keely was surprised he planned on staying that long, but he insisted he would be in town until then. She wasn’t sure what he planned to do after that.
She stood there watching him for a bit. A tool belt slung low on his hips. The t-shirt stretching across his chest as he wrestled the weeds.
Hunt looked up and waved when he saw her standing in the doorway. A warm blush washed over her. Nice. Caught in the act of stalking him.
She opened the French door and peeked her head out. “The lunch crowd has wound down. Would you like to come in and join me for something to eat? I was just getting ready to take a break,” Keely offered, hoping he’d no clue how long she’d been standing there staring at him.
“Let me try to get a bit more presentable. Don’t want me chasing off your customers.”
“You’re fine.” Keely though he actually looked more than fine.
He reached up and wiped his face with the blue towel, then stuffed part of it in his back pocket where it hung down like a flag. “I guess you could put me in the farthest corner of the cafe.”
“Kind of like time out when you were a kid?” Keely smiled.
“So you remember, huh?”
“I remember all the way back to grade school. Miss Green’s class. I think you spent more of the school day in the time-out corner than at your own desk.”
“She just didn’t like me. It wasn’t my fault.”
“I’ll admit she was one of those teachers who liked the goody-two-shoes girls the most.”
“Like you?”
“Hey, I ended up in the time-out corner once.”
“Bet you were traumatized for life.”
She looked up at him and it wasn’t until she saw the wicked grin he flashed her direction that she realized he was teasing her.
“Well, I do remember very vividly to this day. It was traumatic. I wasn’t the kind of student who got into trouble. The chair squeaked and I tried to sit very still so I wouldn’t attract her wrath again. I hated how she had the desk set so your back was to the room. I thought everyone was pointing at me and talking about me.”