Page 24 of Discerning Blake

“Amelia,” I whisper.

And she screams my name as she comes, and I explode, spurting into my hand.

Well, fuck!

I fall forward, exhausted. I’m covered in sweat, and the sheets under me are soaked with cum. I should get up and clean up, but I’m too depleted. I rest my head on my pillow and close my eyes, picturing Amelia next to me, snuggling into my tired body as I fall asleep.

Amelia

I wake up with a pounding headache. But I have a busy day ahead, so I gulp down two aspirins and get ready for work. I put on a pair of jeans that’s too tight to be comfortable—my last item of clean clothing—and a blouse. I feel a new kind of confidence today. I’m going to ask Ethan for the business in exchange for the house, and I anticipate no crying on my part. I’m fairly proud of myself for making it through the night last night without shedding a single tear. I’d like to keep it going, so I brush on a bit of mascara before leaving the house.

I arrive in front of the town hall, a two-story, redbrick, colonial-style building, at the same time as Mayor Anderson.

“What’s the update on the number of volunteers for Saturday?” she asks.

“Eighty-two.”

She cocks her head.

“Don’t worry. People always show up at the last minute.”

On the other hand, it’s also common for people who signed up not to show up, so they may cancel each other out.

“Let’s hope you’re right.”

She sighs so dramatically you’d think she was at risk of losing her job if Dogwood has less volunteers than Clearview.

We walk in together, heading straight for the conference room where two members of the council, Shannon and Mrs. Miller, and Natalie, Mayor Anderson’s secretary, are waiting for us.

“This is the tentative schedule for the Dogwood Spring Festival.” Natalie hands out a pamphlet to each of us.

The Dogwood Spring Festival happens every spring in May—we have two full weeks to go—when the dogwood trees the town was named after are in bloom, and it’s the town’s biggest attraction. Well, one of the biggest. Dogwood has events in summer, fall and winter too. We like our town parties. But this is the only one that carries the town’s namesake. And we take it very seriously.

“As you can see,” Natalie says, “the market will take place at the same time and place as always. But we moved the stage back to the town square. No one liked having it in the big parking lot last year.”

“I told you,” says Shannon, who is a teacher at the elementary school and a good friend of both Scarlett and Avery’s.

“We moved it to the parking lot because the hotel guests were complaining about the music,” the mayor says.

“One guest complained,” Shannon retorts.

“And the hotel didn’t like their coffee shop being empty without the stage there,” says Mrs. Miller, “so now it’s back.”

I look down at the schedule. “Does that mean the carnival is back in the parking lot? No one liked having to walk all the way to the baseball field last year. And Garrett didn’t like having his field completely trampled.”

“Yes, it’s back in the parking lot,” Mayor Anderson says. “Apparently the people of Dogwood are averse to change.”

I laugh and share a conspiratorial look with Shannon. “We do have our habits.”

“The festival has been run this way for over forty years," says Mrs. Miller. "There’s a reason for it. It works.”

The mayor raises her hands. “I’m sorry for trying something new. Everything is back to its old place this year. Happy?”

“Yes.”

“Yup.”

“Yeah.”