Knitted Hearts by Amber Kelly

Foster

I’m standing at the entrance to the corn maze, waiting for the crowds to start.

Dottie set me up with the maze maps this morning on the ride to church and informed me that my job would be to take tickets, pass out the maps, and rescue any visitors I hear screaming because they got lost and can’t find their way out. Not exactly sure how I’ll do all that at one time, but hopefully, no one will get lost to the point of panic. I walked the maze a few times to make sure I knew the route out of every dead end, and it seems to be a beginner’s level. Not like the ones old man Gravely does out in his fields every October. My buddies and I would go for the flashlight nights, and it would take us hours to find our way out of that thing.

I take a seat at the table under the tent at the entry and wait.

I reach down into the cooler under the table for a bottle of water when I hear a vaguely familiar voice.

“Foster? What are you doing here?”

I look up to see Sonia Pickens standing with her hands on her hips. She has her dark hair in a plait that runs over her left shoulder. She’s wearing a dress that hugs her figure in all the right places. The sunshine highlights her beautiful face, and her honey-colored eyes are trained on me as she stands with her arms crossed over her chest waiting for an answer.

“I’m working,” I tell her.

“I know that, but what are you doing here, at this table?” she asks again.

“I’m here, working,” I say again, slower this time.

She draws her eyebrows together in confusion. “But I’m working the corn maze,” she says.

“You are?” I ask.

“Yes, I just got my assignment from the crazy-lady committee,” she says as she motions towards the fellowship building with her thumb.

“Well, Dottie gave me these maze maps this morning and told me I had to hand them out and wrangle anyone who got stuck inside,” I confirm as I wave the maps for her to see.

“Oh,” she says.

“They must think this is a two-man job,” I tell her as I stand to give her my seat.

She walks around and sits.

I grab another bottle of water and open it for her. Then, I set it on the table just as a group of five—two adults and three children—approach with their tickets in hand.

“Hi, folks. Are you guys having a good time this afternoon?” Sonia asks.

One of the little girls gives her a huge smile.

“I won a gold fish!” she exclaims.

Her mother holds up a tied off plastic bag of water with a small fish inside and grimaces.

Sonia gives her a sympathetic look as she takes the tickets, and I hand a map to one of the adults and instruct them to make their way to the spot marked with an X, adding that there will be bags of candy corn in a barrel beside the exit to take as a reward for successfully making it through. The kids are practically jumping with excitement as they join hands and follow their parents through the entrance.

The line stays steady for the next couple of hours. In between customers, I run to find a second chair and join Sonia under the shade of the tent.

“You said you rode with Marvin and Dottie this morning?” she asks.

“Yeah, I was going to ride with Payne and Charlotte, but Charlotte wasn’t ready when we finished feeding the horses, and Dottie was in an uproar about getting everything set up. So, I hopped in with them and came on over.”

Her forehead creases. “You were at the Hendersons’, feeding horses, not Stoney Ridge?” she asks in confusion.

“I was. I don’t usually work Sundays at the ranch. It’s my day off,” I tell her.

“So, you spent your day off working for Payne. Why?”

She is still confused.

“Not officially, but I help out around the farm and orchard from time to time. They let me stay on their property for two hundred dollars a month. I’ve tried to pay them more, but they won’t accept it, so I pitch in so that I don’t feel like a charity case,” I explain.

“You live with them? Since when? She asks.

I thought everyone knew I was staying in Dallas’s old place.

“Yes. I moved into the silo behind their house. The one Dallas and Beau used to live in.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to play Twenty Questions. I just thought that you and your wife were back together and you were living at home again,” she explains.

Oh, I see.

“We tried. My mother had talked us into it, but it didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry,” she says.

I cut my eyes to her and smile. “Don’t be. It’s been over for years. I don’t know why we bothered. I think she only agreed to it because she isn’t happy with slinging drinks down at the bar, and she still wants me to foot the bill for her. I thought that maybe she’d changed. I knew it wasn’t likely though, and I was right.”

“It still sucks,” she offers.

I nod. “At least, now, we can both move on. It feels pretty good.”

“I know that feeling,” she agrees.

What a dumbass her soon-to-be ex-husband was. How could he let this woman slip through his fingers?

I’m about to voice this opinion when we are interrupted.

“How are things going, kids?” Doreen calls as she and Sonia’s mother approach us.

“We’ve collected two hundred and eight tickets,” Sonia says proudly.

“Oh, that’s an adequate amount,” Doreen replies.

Sonia frowns and looks down at the box of tickets.

“Adequate?” I ask.

“Absolutely,” she states.

“What’s a better than adequate number?” Sonia inquires.

“Let’s see.” Kathy looks down at her clipboard. “Most have around two hundred and fifty-something. Bellamy and Elle have over three hundred, and Dottie and Dallas are on the top with three hundred and eighteen so far.”

That makes sense. Funnel cake and Dottie’s cinnamon rolls are hard to beat.

“Are we in last place?” Sonia gasps.

“No, the ring toss game only has two hundred and five,” Kathy answers.

Sonia looks at me in horror. “The ring toss game is the worst game at any fair. We can’t let them catch up to us. We have to do something!”

“Like what?” I ask, biting my lip trying not to laugh at her panic.

“I don’t know. Take off your shirt and show off your abs or something,” she suggests.

“You want me to start stripping to attract ticket holders at a church carnival?”

“Yes. You’re sure to allure every female here.”

I like that she thinks that highly of my abs.

“I’m not sure that’s the way we should go,” I say, no longer hiding my amusement.

“We could come in last behind the ring toss game, Foster! You have to,” she screeches.

“No, don’t do that, dear,” Doreen yelps.

I bring my amused eyes to hers.

“I think we can come up with something else to attract people,” I assure her.

“I think it goes without saying—or at least, it should—but please keep it PG,” Doreen requests.

“We will,” I promise her.

Kathy smiles as she looks between Sonia and me. “You two have fun, and we’ll be back around shortly.”

Sonia made it her mission to get every single person she could into that corn maze. She plucked the sign that was attached to the front of our booth and stood outside of the entrance, spinning it and throwing it in the air to catch it like she was a majorette and it was a baton. She made up the most ridiculous chants and pranced around, beckoning every male, young and old, like a siren.

How could they resist her?

By the end of the evening, we raised an additional two hundred tickets and secured our place four spots ahead of the offensive ring toss game.

“We did it!” she exclaims before jumping into my arms in reaction to our victory.

“You did it,” I whisper to her as I hold her to me a moment longer than necessary.

She smells like honey, and I just want time to soak her in.

I let her go when I see Doreen, Dottie, and Kathy grinning at us over her shoulder.

“Congratulations. You two sure do make a good team,” Kathy bellows.

Sonia turns and does a little victory dance.

God, she is perfection.

She turns to me and smiles.

“We do! Don’t we?”

“You two should celebrate,” Doreen prompts.

“Celebrate?” Sonia asks.

“Yes. You worked hard and raised a lot of money for a good cause. I’d say a celebration is in order. Don’t you agree, Kathy?” Doreen adds.

“I do indeed.”

“Um,” Sonia turns to me and whispers, “they’re on a sugar high or something.”

I look back at the three ladies.

They’re definitely up to something.

“Maybe we should just casually walk away,” I suggest.

“Good idea,” she agrees.

We walk in search of our friends and find Elle tending to a cut on Walker’s arm.

“What happened?” Sonia asks.

“A wayward dart got him,” Elle explains.

“Dart?” I ask.

“Yep. Those crazy woman had me working a stupid game. The one where you throw darts at the board and try to pop a balloon to win a stuffed emoji. Who in the hell thinks it’s a good idea to hand darts to a bunch of five year-olds high on cotton candy? I’m lucky I didn’t die,” Walker gripes.

Elle snickers.

“Woman, I’m bleeding here,” he says.

“Don’t worry, baby. It’s just a flesh wound. You’ll make it and you’ll get extra loving tonight,” she assures him before walking off to return the first aid kit.

He grins and turns to me.

“Worth it,” he says with a wink.

“Did you get injured on purpose?” Sonia asks him.

“Of course not.”

“Right,” she says before following Elle.

“You should have tripped in that corn maze or something, man,” he tells me as we watch them go.

“So, you did take a dart on purpose,” I surmise.

“Maybe, but I was getting loving tonight anyway. You my friend are going home alone.”

I nod.

He raises his arms in the air and calls to me as he walks backward in the direction of his wife and her friend.

“Learn from the master, dude.”