“Hey, I’m not perfect. Far from it.”
He sounded annoyed, so she turned to him. “From what I remember, you were pretty darn close.” Oh no, had she really said thatout loud?
He smirked. “Interesting. I didn’t think you noticed me at all.”
“Oh, come on. Everyone knows the great Hayden Price.”
“I’m not so great now.” Instead of sounding upset, he seemed resigned. “Then again, not everyone can say they blew an entirecareer on one pitch.”
That put things into perspective. While her career had never gotten off the ground, his had launched to the highest peak,only to come crashing down.
“I’m sorry that happened,” she said, meaning it.
He shrugged. “Me too. But things happen for a reason, you know? It took me a while to accept that, but now I have.” He shiftedon the bench again, and now he was facing her, seeming not to care about the precarious sturdiness of the wood. “What aboutyou?”
“What about me?”
“How has life treated you the last ten years? I’m not up on the art world, but I’m sure you’ve been successful. I rememberhow good your drawings and paintings were in art class, and that mural you painted on the side of Rusty’s Garage for the TooDang Hot Parade was amazing.”
His compliments gave her a boost but not enough to talk about her past. “Is that still going on?”
“Of course. This year it’s on August 12. Although it’s not much of a parade anymore. Just a reason for everyone to go shopping,get a hot dog and a snow cone, and shoot the breeze.”
Riley took that in. The It’s Too Dang Hot for a Parade Parade, which had been shortened thirty years ago to the Too Dang HotParade, had been one of the few things she looked forward to each year, with the exception of the time she was fifteen andMimi forced her to join the parade and wear a hat covered with small balls of yarn and a placard advertising Knots and Tangles.That had been embarrassing, not to mention a failure, since everyone who attended the parade already knew about Knots andTangles anyway.
“I can’t believe there isn’t a parade anymore.”
“Yeah, it’s disappointing. But it’s also understandable why it disappeared. Lots of people have moved away. The high schoolband has grown and was invited to do other festivals in larger towns, so they stopped doing the parade. They were always themain draw. Plus, it’s too dang hot in August.” He grinned. “The name sure was accurate.”
“Then why don’t they change it to something else? Or have a parade another time during the year?”
“You know how folks are around here. They like tradition. I also think the older ones keep hoping that one day the paradewill resume.” He looked at her, his expression serious now. “Hope is everything for some people. If you take that away, theydon’t have anything.” He shrugged. “Anyway, you haven’t answered my question. What’s it like being a big-time New York artist?”
Riley swallowed. She knew about hope. She’d been filled with it when she left Maple Falls. She was going to shake up the artworld, and if she returned home, it would only be as a success story. She was going to make something of herself and prove to everyonethat she wasn’t a loser like Tracey. Instead, she found out that while she had been an exceptional artist in a backwater Arkansastown, she had little talent compared to the real artists in New York. How was she supposed to admit that to the golden boy?
“I’ve got to get back to Mimi,” she said, jumping up from the bench. “She was asleep when I left, but I’m sure she’s up now.I don’t want her to be alone for too long.”
“Right.” Hayden stood. “She’s still doing okay, then?”
She couldn’t help but smile. He’d asked about Mimi yesterday morning and was still genuinely concerned about her well-being.“She’s fine.”
“Good.” He glanced at the pond again. “I should probably get going too. I’m supposed to open the shop this morning. Dad’sgoing to Little Rock for a yearly tool show.” Despite his words, he didn’t make a move to leave.
Riley stared at his profile, but instead of focusing on his good looks, she found herself drawn to him for a different reason.He really is one of the good guys, isn’t he? But she couldn’t stand there fawning over him. Well, she easily could . . . She started to back away. “Uh, I guess . . .See you later,” she said, the awkward words punctuated with a loud duck quack.
“Yeah.” Hayden still didn’t move, but he wasn’t looking at her either. “Later.”
Somehow she found the strength to resume running, and she sprinted away from the park. But once she reached Mimi’s street,her legs started to buckle. Thankful Hayden wasn’t around to see her fail at running a second time, she slowed to a painfulwalk. Her body would pay for overdoing it today.
But the ache in her chest had nothing to do with her run and everything to do with Hayden. He had asked her a simple question,and she had bailed on giving him an answer. She’d have to keep her distance from now on. If she didn’t, and if he asked abouther life in New York again, she might be tempted to tell him the truth—that after almost a decade of pursuing her dream, shewas a failure. Just like Tracey.
* * *
As Hayden lightly jogged back home, he mentally kicked himself. Why had he been so nosy? He should have known better thanto pry into Riley’s life. She was as closed as a tulip at sunset, and he should have recognized that when she didn’t answerhis question the first time he asked. But he couldn’t help himself. She was still a mystery to him, and he wanted to understandher. Something had been drawing him to her since he first saw her at the airport. Something physical.
He hadn’t noticed it at first. She wasn’t the kind of woman he’d been used to dating. High school romance had been out ofthe question due to his baseball schedule and trying to keep his
