Chapter 17

SEVENTEEN

The band was playing one of her favorite songs. Perfectly tipsy after two ciders, Emily had already been dancing on the grass in front of the stage for a little while. Alex, Frankie, and Margo were with her, while Tom, Maddie, Drew, and Carter were attempting a game of cornhole, laughing uncontrollably when none of them could see well enough to get a sandbag in the hole. The sun had set thirty minutes ago, and it was getting dark fast.

As Emily spun to the beat, her gaze settled on Diana, seated alone at the picnic table where they’d eaten dinner. Diana was sipping from a cup of cider and watching Emily dance. She wore a gray sweater and black jeans that looked just the slightest bit preppy, and it made Emily want to ruffle her up even more than usual.

Despite her buttoned-up attire, Diana had been more relaxed with Emily tonight than she had been in the weeks since she’d returned to Crescent Falls. They seemed to have softened around each other in general since Diana was sick, and Emily was determined to use the festival as an excuse to press the growing closeness between them .

She approached the picnic table. “Dance with me.”

Diana’s lips thinned. She’d probably only ever danced in formal ballrooms in fancy clothes, and Emily thought that was all the more reason to see her cut loose in this grassy field as the stars began to pop out overhead.

Emily reached for her hand, giving it a gentle tug. “Please? I’m awfully impressed with you tonight, you know.”

“You are?” Diana’s brow wrinkled adorably. She downed the rest of her cider and stood, her hand still clasped in Emily’s.

Emily nodded. She’d been floored when she took Diana around to introduce her to various vendors in attendance tonight, only to hear variations of “Great to see you again, Diana,” from every single person. As it turned out, Diana had already taken Emily’s advice. She’d ingratiated herself to all the right people in town. They knew her. They liked her.

And Emily had underestimated her. Diana had taken her concerns seriously. She’d done the work. She was every bit as competent as Emily had first thought her to be. She hadn’t given up on her dream of being the CEO of Devlin Hotels. It had been taken from her, so she’d created a new path for herself.

She was so fucking impressive, and Emily was so fucking smitten.

“I tried to introduce you to all the right people tonight, and they already knew you.”

Diana stepped closer, her eyes locked on Emily’s. “You gave me a challenge. I met it.”

“You always do, don’t you?”

Diana’s next step brought her so close, they were almost touching. “I told you that when we met. ”

“Yes, you did.” Emily could hardly breathe. She still held Diana’s hand, and it was all she could do not to yank Diana in and kiss her. She’d wasted so much time doubting Diana, making everything awkward between them, and now…

“Emily?” Diana sounded hoarse, and her pupils were blown.

Oh.

Oh.

Diana wanted her too.

Oh God, what was Emily supposed to do with this information? “Dance with me?” she managed over the pounding of her heart.

Diana nodded, allowing Emily to lead her to the makeshift dance floor. “I’ve never danced on grass before.”

“The grass makes it more unpredictable and therefore more fun.” Emily flung her hands in the air and moved her hips to the beat, profoundly aware of the electricity still crackling between them. “I love this song.”

After watching her for a few beats, Diana started to move. She looked a little stiff, but she was out here, and she was dancing, and that was already a win in Emily’s book, because she knew this wasn’t easy for an uptight person like Diana.

The song ended, and Emily recognized the opening strains of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain.” This band really had great taste in music.

Diana’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “And this is one of my favorite songs.”

By the time the band reached the chorus, people were shouting the lyrics as they danced. Caught up in the moment, Emily threw one arm around Alex, the other around Diana as she sang along at the top of her lungs. Diana gave her a startled look but didn’t pull away. If she was singing, Emily couldn’t hear her, but she was at least mouthing along with the lyrics.

Emily would take it.

Alex broke free to wrap her arms around Margo, the two of them singing as they spun each other across the grass. Then it was just Emily and Diana with arms around each other’s shoulders. Emily turned, and their bodies bumped. For a moment, their faces were so close, they were practically kissing, but before Emily could give in to temptation, Diana stepped away. She turned to face the band, dancing a little more freely than she had at first.

A few minutes later, Emily saw flashlights beginning to move through the pumpkin patch, and she seized her opportunity. Waving goodbye to Alex, Frankie, and Margo, she motioned for Diana to follow her as she led the way toward the pumpkin patch.

“I’m not sure I agreed to this,” Diana muttered, although she followed Emily willingly enough.

“You have nothing to lose,” Emily said. “If you don’t like it or don’t want to risk picking a pumpkin in the dark, you can just watch me pick mine, and then we’ll go get some dessert and maybe another cider. Deal?”

“I suppose.” Diana looked over, her expression mostly hidden by the dark, but Emily still felt the heat of her gaze.

Something was happening between them tonight, and Emily wanted it so badly, even if she knew it would break her heart to kiss Diana and then watch her leave in a few weeks. But God, how she wanted to kiss her…

She greeted Mrs. Dubois, who gave them vine clippers and a quick rundown of where the best pumpkins were and how to gesture with their flashlights if they needed someone to come over with the cart to carry a larger pumpkin for them.

Then they were on their way into the patch, illuminating the ground ahead of them with the flashlights on their cell phones. The air had cooled now that the sun had set, and even in her warmest flannel, Emily was chilly. Soon, she might need to get her jacket out of the car.

Or take Diana’s hand, because any contact between them tonight lit her up like a wildfire.

“For the record, I still think this is weird,” Diana said quietly.

“That’s what makes it fun. You can pick pumpkins during the day anywhere, but this is the only place I know of where you can pick them in the dark.”

There weren’t many people in the pumpkin patch yet. A few scattered flashlights bobbed in the distance, but no one was close by. All around them, pumpkins shone a dull gray in the moonlight, giving them a spooky vibe that Emily dug. As her gaze roamed around them, she stopped suddenly, her brain tripping over her feet as an idea formed.

“Okay?” Diana asked, stopping beside her.

Emily nodded. “Sorry. I just thought of this year’s spooky painting. I want to paint a pumpkin patch by moonlight like this one, using blues and greens and grays instead of the usual fall colors. I can do a big full moon overhead, dramatic shadows…”

“I like it,” Diana said. “Will you be able to paint it from memory?”

“Maybe.” Emily turned off the flashlight on her cell phone and opened her camera app, aiming it at a pumpkin in front of her. She snapped a few quick pictures to see how it came out. Grainy as hell, but the vibe was there. “This will work. ”

“Good.” Diana had shut off her flashlight too, and now they were bathed in moonlight. Diana’s gray sweater must have some silvery threads in it because it had a vaguely iridescent quality under the light of the moon, just the slightest bit shimmery.

Emily lifted her phone and snapped a picture from behind as Diana stood admiring the pumpkin patch before her. It didn’t come out great—way too dark and lacking all the iridescence Emily had just been admiring—but again, the vibe was there. Diana looked cool, sophisticated, and just the slightest bit glamorous even standing in the middle of a darkened pumpkin patch.

Diana turned her head, and Emily put her phone away before hurrying to stand beside her. For a few seconds, neither of them said anything. They just stood with their shoulders touching, staring across the darkened rows of pumpkins. Emily could still hear the band, although the music was muffled, just stray notes and a rhythmic beat.

It felt like they were separate from the festival, isolated in their little bubble of darkness. This was so different from Emily’s usual pumpkin patch experience, when she and her friends would laugh and goof around with their flashlights, trying to freak each other out and competing to see who could find the funniest-looking pumpkin.

This was…unexpectedly romantic.

Diana turned her head, her eyes glittering in the moonlight, and Emily forgot to breathe. That electricity was even stronger now. She wanted Diana to kiss her. She wanted it so badly, her whole body flushed with heat, her pulse thrumming in her ears. Her gaze dropped to Diana’s lips, remembering the way they felt on hers. She’d felt those lips all over her body, a fact her body was reminding her of pretty intensely right now .

Emily had been holding herself back. She’d convinced herself she needed to make sure Diana was trustworthy, that she would do what was best for the inn. She’d held herself back because she was convinced Diana had gotten what she needed from their one-night stand, that there was no way she felt this too. She’d held herself back because she was afraid of getting hurt.

They had all been excuses. Flimsy, stupid excuses.

But just as Emily had made up her mind to go for it, Diana stepped away. She sank her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and walked a little farther down the row of pumpkins. Emily swallowed her disappointment. It was probably for the best, but…now that she knew Diana wanted her too, Emily’s self-control was slipping.

“I’ve found my pumpkin,” Diana called, glancing back at Emily.

“Really?” Emily hurried to her side, eager to see what Diana had chosen. She was pointing at a small pumpkin that was perfectly proportionate, its skin an even, pale color in the moonlight. Emily smiled. It was so Diana. “I love it.”

Diana stepped closer and looked down at it. “How do we pick them? I’ve never actually taken a pumpkin off the vine before.”

Emily pulled out the cutters Mrs. Dubois had handed her. She knelt and snipped Diana’s pumpkin free from its vine, careful to keep enough stem that the pumpkin should last through the season…or at least through Diana’s stay in Vermont.

“Thank you.” Diana lifted her pumpkin, her face scrunching with displeasure as she likely discovered it was wet underneath from yesterday’s rain.

Emily hurried down the next row. Now that Diana had chosen a pumpkin, Emily didn’t want to make her stand around holding it. They were heavier than they looked. She found a lopsided pumpkin about the same size as Diana’s, one side bulging comically while the other side was flat. Even in the moonlight, she could see its uneven coloring, but something about it looked happy, a little quirky even. She snipped it and held it up.

Diana’s amusement was plain to see. “Perfect.”

Emily walked over, bumping their shoulders together. “Admit it. This was more fun than you expected.”

Diana exhaled, her gaze again finding Emily’s in the darkness. “Yes, it was.”

Diana sipped from a new cup of cider and relaxed in her chair. Before her, flames snapped and popped. She hadn’t noticed the enormous firepit at the center of the field until someone lit a fire in it. Now, she and Emily were seated in front of it, a bag of apple cider donuts between them, still warm from the oven.

Surprisingly enough, Diana was having fun. She’d even survived a visit to one of the porta-potties after she and Emily returned from the pumpkin patch, which hadn’t been nearly as awful as she’d feared. Now she was cozied up by a warm fire with good food and drink, listening to the band and wishing the night never had to end.

Something had shifted between her and Emily tonight. They were relaxed and flirty with each other in a way they hadn’t been since that first night. All this time, Diana had thought she was the only one who still felt anything, but the chemistry between them tonight was mutual. She was sure of it.

But no matter how much she wanted to kiss Emily in that moonlit pumpkin patch, she wouldn’t. Not while Emily still worked at the front desk, maybe not even if she didn’t. Diana was only here another month. They’d had their one-night stand. If they got back in bed with each other now, it would lead to messy complications.

The fire emitted a loud pop, and a burst of sparks shot upward, glittering overhead before the chilly night air extinguished them, leaving only ash to drift toward the ground. And it was chilly. If Diana had realized she was going to be here this late, she’d have brought a jacket. Her sweater was warm, but still, she shivered as she took another sip of her cider.

It filled her with the sensation of warmth, even though she knew alcohol actually did the opposite. Right now, she’d take even the illusion of warmth. Any other time, she’d have used the temperature as an excuse to leave, but she wasn’t ready to go. Somehow, the fall festival had cast a spell over her and Emily, and she wanted to hang on to this flirty closeness between them for as long as possible, because she had a feeling the spell would break when she went home.

She wasn’t even sure where Carter was. He’d been off with Tom, Maddie, and Drew for most of the evening, and she was glad to see him having fun. Diana leaned forward in her chair, bringing herself closer to the fire.

Beside her, Emily picked up the bag of donuts, snagging one for herself before offering the bag to Diana. Emily had insisted that a dozen mini donuts weren’t too many for the two of them to share, and she might have been right. They’d already polished off more than half the bag. The little donuts, covered liberally in cinnamon sugar, were delicious .

Diana took one, and they shared a smile. She was starting to understand why lesbians loved flannel so much, because not only did it look amazing on Emily, but she also looked very cozy in it. Maybe Diana would buy some flannel before she left Vermont. After all, she was her own boss now. She could dress however she wanted when she wasn’t seeing clients, especially while she and Carter were still running their office out of her town house.

“You look like you’re having deep thoughts,” Emily said before popping the donut in her mouth, cinnamon sugar clinging to her lips.

It took every bit of Diana’s willpower not to lean over and kiss it off. “Actually, I was admiring your flannel.”

“Yeah?” Emily licked her lips, removing the sugar.

Diana really needed to stop staring at her lips. “It looks good on you.”

Emily tugged the flannel more tightly around herself. “I wish I could say I was a queer-girl stereotype, but everyone wears it up here. It’s practically the state uniform.”

Diana shivered again, distracting herself from the chill by eating her donut.

Emily gave her a shrewd look. “Ah. I see you weren’t only admiring my flannel for sapphic reasons. I should have realized you were cold in that sweater, especially after you just got over being sick. Honestly, I’m getting cold too. I’ve got a jacket in my car. Actually, I might have two? I tend to throw lots of warm layers in there during the colder months so I’ve always got something when I need it.”

“I’m okay. We’re sitting in front of a fire, after all,” Diana deflected.

“Let me go see what I have. I need to take our pumpkins to the car anyway. I’ll be right back.” Emily handed her the bag of donuts, picked up their pumpkins, and walked off in the direction of the parking lot.

Diana resisted the urge to watch her go. She loved the way Emily’s ass looked in those jeans but didn’t want to be caught looking. Instead, she focused on the dancing flames in front of her, lost in her thoughts. The fire was oddly mesmerizing. Maybe she should add a fireplace to her repertoire of calming techniques, because her earlier anxiety seemed to have dissipated.

When she looked up, she spotted Carter on the other side of the field, near the corn maze. He and Drew were standing close, and as she watched, Drew leaned in and kissed him.

Oh.

She frowned, trying to decide how she felt about that. On some level, she’d seen this coming, and she wanted Carter to be happy, but he was still so newly out, so inexperienced when it came to relationships. She didn’t want him to get hurt.

“Here you go,” Emily said, standing next to Diana’s chair with a black jacket in her hand. She’d swapped her flannel for a jacket too, but hers was purple.

“Thank you.” Diana stood, shrugging gratefully into the jacket. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, already feeling warmer. “This is much better.”

“I’m glad.” Emily sat and grabbed another donut.

“You’ve known Drew awhile, right?” Diana nodded toward the two men, who were still kissing over by the cornfield. “Do you trust him?”

Emily followed her gaze. “Aww, look at them. I had a feeling they were into each other. And yes, I’ve known Drew since he was a kid. I used to babysit him, actually. He’s a great guy. A bit of a goofball sometimes, but mature in the ways that matter. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“He’s older than Carter. ”

“Not by much,” Emily said. “He graduated last year. I think he’s twenty-three?”

“Younger than I thought,” she mused. Two years wasn’t much of an age difference, but Carter still seemed so immature sometimes…

“I think they’re adorable together,” Emily said.

“They are,” Diana agreed. “I just…well, I worry about him. He’s supposed to be in his senior year of college right now, and I think he’s doing well working for me and making new friends in Vermont, but…”

“You’re a really good aunt, you know that?” Emily reached over and took her hand. “He’s lucky to have you in his life.”

She gave her head a quick shake. “I just want what’s best for him, and I’m trying not to let my rigid ways of thinking get in the way of that. If he’s happier working for me this year than finishing college, maybe that’s all right, but…what will happen long term? Surely he’ll want something more from his career eventually.”

“Just because he’s not in college right now doesn’t mean he’ll never go back. It sounds like he’d gotten stuck, and now he’s taking some time to figure out who he is and what he wants. This might end up being great for him long term.”

“Yeah.” Diana watched as Carter and Drew headed toward the entrance to the haunted corn maze. “I guess sometimes I have trouble seeing him as an adult who works for me and makes out with people at the fall festival.”

“I bet he was doing that in high school, honestly,” Emily said with a laugh.

“Actually…he’s been kind of a late bloomer when it comes to dating. I think he’s known for a while that he’s gay but didn’t feel comfortable acting on it. My brother thinks it’s a phase, and worse, an idea I’ve planted in his head. ”

“Well, that’s just good old homophobia. You and I know better, and I can also imagine how much it’s meant to him having you in his life, not only as a gay role model but someone who gives him a safe place to be himself.” Emily was still holding her hand, her fingers warm and soft in Diana’s, and she was enjoying it more than she’d ever admit.

She couldn’t believe she was sharing these things with Emily. Diana could practically see her mother’s disapproving glare, but at the same time, it felt good to confide in a friend. “I had hoped he’d have a better coming-out experience than I did. My parents reacted almost exactly the way my brother and his wife did with Carter. Honestly, I think that, at least on some level, my parents still think it’s a phase, that eventually, I’ll come to my senses. We’re civil with each other, but I don’t know how they’d react if I ever brought a woman home to meet them and forced the issue.”

Emily inhaled sharply, turning to look at Diana in the firelight. “You’ve never introduced a girlfriend to your parents?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t had many girlfriends, to be honest, and those I’ve had…well, there’s never been anyone serious enough to bring home. I’ve been focused on my career.” Her chest ached as she acknowledged to herself that part of the reason she’d never settled down was the ingrained knowledge that it would lessen her chances of taking over Devlin Hotels, that a single career woman was more palatable to the board than a married lesbian. The realization shamed her, and she ducked her head, focusing on what remained of her cider.

“And here you are, running your own business. I know it’s not what you’d imagined for yourself, but I think in the long run, this will be better. You get to build this business from the ground up, make it yours inside and out, create a brand you can be proud of.” Emily gave Diana’s fingers a squeeze.

Diana smiled. “Thanks. Sorry for getting all maudlin over here.”

“You’ve had a tumultuous year. You’re entitled to feel however you feel about it.”

“Thank you.” They were sitting too close now, and Diana was staring at Emily’s lips again, almost overwhelmed by the urge to kiss her.

“You’re welcome.” Emily’s voice was little more than a whisper. She’d leaned in too, clearly on the same train of thought.

It would be so easy to close the gap and kiss her…

A scream pierced the night, followed by the buzz of a chain saw. Diana jumped, inadvertently ruining the moment. Over the last half hour or so, they’d heard various screams, yells, and roars from the haunted corn maze. Rationally, she knew what they were by now, but still, she startled easily when it came to fake sounds of terror, apparently.

Emily cleared her throat, then stood, and Diana’s heart sank. She wasn’t ready for their magical evening to end. “On that note,” Emily said. “I think it’s time for us to go through the haunted corn maze ourselves. Ready?”

Not even a little bit, but if the alternative was saying good night… “Ready.”