The Bright Side of Darkness

Nineteen

Steeling my courage with a deep breath, I stand up from the booth and the sounds of girls cheering follows me. I turn and glare at them for causing such a commotion. It only makes me more nervous, especially when everyone's eyes turn to me.

When I make it to the guys' booth, Parker nudges Tay, who looks up at him.

"Emori's here."

He opens his mouth to speak but I cut him off. "I don't know if you've heard anything about the posters around town. But there's a community event on Sunday that grants participants the chance to eat brunch with the person who made the basket they bought. So, if you can manage to purchase my basket, that will serve as our date."

He cocks his head to the side. "What?"

"If you would still like to give us a chance, buy my basket."

A smile creeps onto his face, and Parker nudges him before I turn and go back to my table.

—

"Momma, I'm home!" I call as I wrestle the door and my bags.

"Ooh, is that the stuff for your basket?" Mom comes to the door and picks up the bags, peeking inside them.

Before Lottie and I came back, we went to the arts and crafts store to pick out stuff to make our baskets. We need the rest of the week if we want to make them perfect.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna need your help decorating. I don't want it to seem too not me." If Tay is going to buy my basket, I need to give him a good shot at figuring it out.

"Well, isn't the point to make it the way you want?" Mom pulls the supplies out of the bags and sets them on the kitchen table.

"Tay asked me out, and I said that if he can find my basket, then that would be our date." I pull up a photo of what I want my basket to look like and set it on the table. The photo is too pink for me, though, so I'm going with beige instead.

Mom gives me a look. "You don't wanna make it difficult. By making it more like you?" She sounds out each syllable as I try to avoid eye contact with her.

"Yes." I start tying bows and gluing them to the basket's handle. She isn't going to get much more information from me. After putting myself out there like that today, I just need to think about everything. Will Tay be able to figure out which one is mine? It will suck if someone else buys my basket instead. Well... maybe it won't be so bad if it's Asa.

Stop it. It's useless to think like that. Tay is the one who matters.

Mom sighs but doesn't say anything else as she helps me with the basket. I can feel her gaze on me at times, but I'm too committed to decorating my basket to meet it. I've put a lot of work into planning this event, and I'm going to put just as much work into this basket. The food will come later in the week when I have more time.

"When are you going to explain this to me?" Mom stops what she's doing and puts on her I'm serious face.

I swallow a groan. "Tay said something rude in a time of... anger, you could say, and he asked me to hang out to make up for it. As a date. And like I said, this is his chance."

I mean, even if he doesn't manage to find mine, I'll still find something else for us to do.

She hums in thought. "That's a pretty good idea, although I think you could have made it easier."

I could have. But I don't think Tay minds that it's a little hard. He's always liked a challenge.

"I'm tired. I'm gonna go up and lay down, okay?" Darcie bought the whole team dinner at the diner, so I'm not hungry. Plus, after a milkshake and a burger, I'm getting close to passing my calorie limit.

"Oh, okay." Mom leans over to hug me.

There seem to be more steps up to my room than usual. My feet feel like weights as I lift them up the steps and drag myself into my room. Funny, because I'm not that tired.

Tay's house stares at me through my window, and I find myself worrying again that he won't find my basket.

Just as I'm about to sit on my bed, the bushes beside my balcony shift. What the heck? I send a silent prayer to God. Please, Lord, don't let it be a coyote. It's raining so hard I can't see anything around the bushes to figure out who it is.

A hand grasps the floor of the balcony, and I squeak, smacking it with my broom.

"Hey! Stop!" a guy calls as a figure pulls itself onto the deck, hands raised as soon as they're able. "It's me!"

I peer closer, whacking him on the head with the broom. "Dang it, Travis! You scared the bejesus out of me!"

He chuckles and catches the broom when I move to smack him again. "Slow down, there, killer. I just came to talk."

I frown. What can he possibly need to talk to me about that he couldn't have called, or at least had the decency to knock on the dang door?

"Look." He shifts his gaze away, shaking the rain out of his hair. His lip disappears between his teeth before he returns his gaze to me. "I'd never tell Tay this, but he needs this win. Can you please just tell me what your basket looks like so I can help him? I'll make it seem like it's his idea."

I open my mouth to ask what he means, but he waves it off.

"I like you for him, okay? And maybe I didn't give off the right impression at first, but I do." He lets out a breath, and I stand still in shock. "I don't want to cause any problems for you, so I won't tell him you helped me. But please, give him a better shot."

My shock wears off quickly, and I step back to get out of the rain. "Bows. Red and white. That's all I'm giving you."

"Thank you," he says, stepping backwards and pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Thank you so much."

Rain continues to fall, soaking my clothes even more as I stand still, watching him run through the gate and disappear in his truck.