The moment Elsie stepped through the clearing in the Cindersap forest, she was searching for him. She couldn't help it, try as she might. Her eyes skimmed over the villagers, hunting for a pair of thick-rimmed glasses amid everyone else. Her whole body was tense, waiting on bated breath until the moment she spotted him—should he even be here. Mayor Lewis said the whole town was usually in attendance, and yet...
As her eyes glazed over the crowd, she noticed something that made her heart catch in her throat.
Before her stood a sea of white lacy dresses and cerulean-blue suits. Her stomach twisted and churned. She swallowed. Elsie alone wore a pair of dirt-smudged overalls. She felt one or two eyes snagging on her.
She had either donated or thrown away all of her nice clothes when she chose to move to the valley. She decided by herself that she would not need her fancy work clothes—nice dresses and pantsuits, or expensive sweaters and button-ups for farm work. And with no intentions of ever returning to the city, she determined it was an extra weight in her suitcase. What an incredible idea that had been.
Dread settled at the base of her stomach. She should have kept something nice. Elsie stuck her hands in her back pockets, taking a deep breath. She wasn't dressed properly, and she was still learning names to more than half the guests but if she stayed calm and in-the-moment, she could do it. She came here for a specific reason, and darn-it-all, she was going to do it. First, she needed some courage.
Elsie started towards the easiest place to begin: the food table.
The tables were piled with food. Green salad, hot soups, and roast beef. A whole platter dedicated to cheese, and another solely to fruit. Pearl barley and spring vegetables. Vanilla cupcakes. Strawberry tea cookies. Buttery rolls shaped like flowers. A large plate of wiggling red jelly. Clear pink punch with fresh ice; Gus outdid himself.
She noticed Shane drooped over the table as well, a roll hanging in his mouth. He was wearing a suit too, looking a bit dishelved. He poured himself a glass of punch and flicked his eyes over to her.
"Whassup," he says, voice muffled from the food.
"Hey," she says. "How's the party going?"
"'Ss 'okay." Shane gulps, washing it down with the punch. He wrinkles his nose and a smile breaks out over his face. "Better. I think Pam's spiked the punch."
Her lips curled upwards, "Well, she's keeping it interesting." Elsie returned her attention to the crowd. Her heart skipped a beat. She spotted him with Maru and Penny.
Harvey didn't notice at first. He nodded to something Maru said and laughed. Then, his head turned and his eyes connected with hers. A tickle formed in her stomach.
Elsie looked away, suddenly very interested in the tea cookies. She took a bite, and the buttery cookie melted in her mouth. Delicious. She glanced up, Shane was staring at her. "What?"
Shane flicked his eyes between her and Harvey and shrugged. "Didn't say anything." He took a swig of his cup.
Oh, Yoba. Was she that obvious? Maybe Shane was just unusually observant.
Most of the townsfolk were still strangers to her, but Shane had become somewhat of a friend for her here. She enjoyed talking with him. The question of whether he liked to talk back to her depended on the day. "So," she drawled. "Are you dancing with anyone today?"
"I dunno," he said. He looked up and nodded to Emily. "Probably Emily. Both of us usually end up without partners each year."
Elsie looked over to Emily, who was talking animatedly to her sister. A beat. An awkward beat. The conversation seemed to be out the door. "Do you all. . . wear those suits and dresses every year?"
"Yeah. Basically," Shane said. He looked at her clothes, took another sip. "But it doesn't matter what you wear, the mayor and most of the older crowd don't go for it."
She looked around. That was true, she noticed Lewis and Marnie standing together. Although it was nicer than what they usually wore, it wasn't the white and blue garb.
"I'll be honest," Elsie said. "When Mayor Lewis said you had a dance every year, I was picturing a barnyard shindig. With line dancing. Not this."
"Well, welcome to the valley," he said dryly. He raised his cup and looked confused. He eyed the cup, peering inside. The liquid was already gone. "Aw, man."
Elsie wrung her hands together. "Hey, if I wanted to ask somebody to dance, do I have to say anything special?" She said it so quickly, her nerves brimming.
He gave her a look. "Asking 'do you want to dance' seems pretty straightforward." Shane shrugged and frowned. "You can't go wrong. Unless you get rejected. Lemme know how it goes."
She watched him leave. She needed more friends. At Joja, she had no problems meeting with new clients and newer employees. It was part of the job, and she responded well. Never had she faced the intimacy of small-town living. Everybody knew everybody, and she was the odd one out. Learning the social circles here felt exhausting. When she heard that there was an annual dance every year, she felt excited. Now, she wondered if this was a good idea.
Taking a deep breath, and feeling a familiar tickle in her stomach, she resolutely walked over to Harvey's group. If there was anybody she wanted to dance with, it was him. Unless he rejects you, Shane's voice echoed in her mind.
She approached the group. Maru was chattering about a new project she was working on, her eyes bright with excitement. Elsie joined the group. "Hi, everyone!" Did that sound too forced? Oh, no.
Penny smiled welcomingly. "Hi, Elsie. How do you like your first flower festival?"
"It's good," she reported. "The food looks amazing, have you tried any yet?"
"Not yet, but I'd love to get my hands on the cupcakes."
Maru agreed, and then asked Penny if she would like to go with her. Elsie considered warning them about the spiked punch, but they left too quickly.
She gave her attention to Harvey. It was only her and Harvey now. He looked handsome as ever in the suit. He smiled at her, which was not worth the heat that climbed up her ears. Maybe it was the heat of the day. She stuffed her hands back in her pockets, attempting to look relaxed. She wasn't sure what to say next. She had steeled herself so much for the asking-him-to-dance part, she completely skipped thinking of the small talk. "So, is it nice to have a break from the clinic for the day?"
Harvey nodded good-naturedly, "It's been a busy few weeks, I'm glad for the afternoon off." There was a bit of tiredness in his voice.
"You must not get many of those," she agreed. "Being the only doctor in a 50-mile radius."
"It's not too bad. Spring isn't very busy. Mostly I do a lot of paperwork." Harvey stiffened. "That sounds boring. I like my job. I mean, it's interesting paperwork."
A laugh fluttered in her chest. "What, everyone's medical history?"
"No! No," Harvey looked a bit panicked. "Not like that. Well, I guess organizing is fun—"
She touched his elbow, "Hey, hey sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. I'm just giving you grief. Besides, I can't speak. My job gets tedious, too. I do so much fertilizing, I think it's coming out of my ears."
Elsie blanched. Quickly she removed her hand from his elbow. She just admitted to handling animal poop all day. She was becoming less and less the sex goddess she had planned in her daydream this morning.
Harvey smiled, his posture was stiff. Not fully relaxed. "Right. How is the farm doing?"
Elsie nodded, "It's good." A new thought bubbles to the top, "I've got a strawberry patch that's starting to bud." Was bud the right word for it? It was growing, and the small green things that eventually become strawberries were poking out from the leaves. She considered it a good start, happy she hadn't killed it yet. Farming was coming but it was coming slowly.
Harvey nodded, smiling. "I'm glad that you're finding your work rewarding."
His enthusiasm brightened her spirits. She shifted her gaze around the crowd again, shoulder to shoulder with him. "Were you looking forward to the flower festival?"
Harvey hummed. "Well. The food is nice. But I always get a bit nervous for the dancing part."
This was her chance! She looked at him, swaying a bit. "Oh, really? Why's that?" She played it off as nonchalantly as she could, hoping her voice didn't sound too excited. Aloof as she could manage.
"I'm not much of a dancer," Harvey admits. "It's fun to dress up, but the parties make me anxious."
Elsie smiled at him. She let out a little sigh of relief. Parties made her nervous too, and she could tell him that! Then they would bond over it and could laugh about it over the punch bowl, and right into when the dancing started. When Harvey locked eyes with her, it occurred to her she had been staring. Heat rose in her cheeks. She looked towards the tree line, "parties always make me a bit nervous too."
A chuckle rose in Harvey's throat. "That, and asking someone to dance."
She couldn't agree more. Wait, why was he bringing that up? Did he intend to ask her to dance? Maybe this would be easier than she thought. Her heartbeat fast against her chest, and she hoped he couldn't hear it over the music. "I was thinking that, too." She murmured, sneaking a glance at him. But he wasn't looking at her. She followed his gaze to the food table. Was he hungry?
"I'm just working up the courage to ask someone," he admits.
She frowns, her eyes darting between him and the food again. Wait, scratch that. Not the food, he was looking at Maru. Maru.
Realization clicked and dawned on her as heavily as a dropped barbell. Her throat felt dry suddenly, and she wished she had taken some of that spiked punch. She felt like she had a weight on her heart. "You're going to ask Maru?"
Harvey nodded, he looked nervous. "Do you think she'll say no?"
Elsie's jaw went slack. "No," she said. She shook her head and cleared her throat. "No, I don't think she would."
Oh, Yoba. This was the problem with having a crush in a small town. Everyone was so established, she had no idea Harvey was sweet on Maru. What if they were dating, or were about to start dating? She wasn't sure what else to say and felt no need to stay any longer. She excused herself quickly and bounded for the dessert trays.
Soon after, the music began. The villagers lined up for a dance she had no idea how to dance.
She unwrapped a cupcake from its pink shiny wrapper as the first dance began. She didn't know why she stayed to watch. Elsie told herself it was just for the food, so she might as well make the best of it. She bit down. The cupcake exploded with a raspberry center. She stifled a moan, licking her thumb. Glancing up, the dance was finishing its first movement. White dresses seemed to move in unison, accompanied by their partners. Harvey spun Maru to the tune of the music, and something in her heart ached. If not for a lost dance, certainly by a desire to feel part of the small community. She didn't move here to sit on the sidelines, eating sweets.
If she had made a commitment to live here, then she was going to live. She made a silent promise to herself that come next flower festival, she was going to have a partner to dance with. That, and a place she had made for herself within the community.
She needed it.
Robin, the town carpenter must've noticed her alone because she slid over slyly to her side. "Not dancing this year?"
Elsie frowned, and shook her head. "No, I'm not." A rising feeling of dread rose in her chest. "What about you? You have your husband don't you?"
Robin chuckled, "Yes but we've danced enough of these to last a life-time."
Elsie nodded, that sounded nice. Folding her arms, she focused again on the dancers, trying to avoid looking at Harvey.
Robin elbowed her side, "Was there anyone you were going to ask?"
Elsie bit her lip, deciding whether to lie or not. She said, "Yes. But he was already taken. Maybe next year?"
"'There's always a next year," Robin said. "Can I ask who it was?"
An unexpected laugh rose from her throat, "No, you may not! I may be new, but I know how this town gossips."
Robin shrugged. "Alright. Suit yourself," she stuck her hands in her pockets. "May I give a piece of advice?"
Elsie watched as Harvey danced alongside Maru. He looked anxious, watching his feet during the dance. It was a bit charming to watch, really. She figured at this point, any advice couldn't hurt. "Alright."
Robin leaned in, their shoulders rubbing against each other. With a wink, she said: "Don't stay strangers."