Chapter 10

The Fall festival was just one day away, and the morning had been hectic. Faith, that would always rise with the sun, woke up even earlier so that she could still have her usual run and morning routine before meeting with the event planner and before all the food trucks arrived. The decorations were up, and the staff was trained and ready to show up. The medical tent was up, where Dr Clark would be, just in case he was needed, and the band would arrive during the afternoon to practise... Everything has to be perfect. I'm not going to mess this up. She told herself over and over throughout the course of the morning. Faith had been running around like crazy and beating herself up over the slightest hiccup, but thankfully, Mira showed up and at least, for a short while, she took a breather and managed to think about other things aside from work.

"This looks so good," Mira said, almost drooling over the lunch Lydia was packing for her. "So much better than my cooking."

"We're not a restaurant, M. You need to stop treating our kitchen like one. Lydia already works too much."

"Nonsense," Lydia glared at Faith. "Stop by anytime and thank you for the compliment, love. And would like some dessert, too? There's still some cheesecake. I can pack a slice."

"Yes, please!" Mira drooled a little more. "Can you pack one for Richard too? I'll stop by his office and drop it off."

"Here you go, love." Lydia handed Mira a bag with her lunch.

"Thank you!" Mira gave Lydia a quick kiss on the cheek before heading out. "So, did you already ask the handsome doctor to be your plus one?" Mira asked as Faith walked her to the door.

"No. Of course not," Faith squealed.

"What are you waiting for?" Mira furrowed her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"His name is already on the guest list. No backing down now."

"You're joking M, right?" Faith's eyes opened wide.

"No, Fay. I am not."

"You're insane."

"And you love me just like that," Mira said with the most mischievous smirk ever.

"Sadly, I do. But that's not the point. What am I supposed to do now? Do you really think I'm going to invite him?"

"Why not?" Mira shrugged. "The worst that can happen is him saying no. And then I'll have no choice but to tell the catering company we are one guest down."

"Can't you do that now?"

"No. I won't let you run away from this. What do you have loose? You two seem to get along quite well and you need more friends."

"Ouch... Thanks," Faith grumbled.

"I need to go back to work. I'm designing a new website for a candy store. They have the cutest concept ever. I'll have to show it to you sometime, but anyway... I'm going off topic. Invite him. Today. And then tell me all about it."

"I'll text you later tonight." Faith sighed again. "If I don't faint from exhaustion before then."

"Sheer up Fay! The festival is looking amazing. Your best friend is getting married. And your plus one is a good-looking gardener slash doctor."

"Goodbye M. I hate you," Faith said while closing the door.

"Love you too," Mira screamed from the other side of the door, and Faith chuckled.

Standing by the window, looking at how things were going outside with the festival, Faith started biting off the skin around her fingernails while she waited for Lydia to finish their lunches. Her stomach was tied up in knots and her heart was palpitating. Everything needs to be perfect...

Lydia knew Faith all too well and she could see how nervous she was. It pained her to see Faith so anxious all the time. But Lydia had the perfect plan to make Faith relax a little bit. At least during lunchtime, which was better than nothing. Lydia hoped her plan would work, and that Faith would be able to eat something despite the anxious state she was in. The picnic basket was ready, the lunches were packed. Now she only needed to cross her fingers and hope for the best.

"Love," Lydia called, making Faith turn around. "I'm a little swamped here at the house. Do you think you could take these down to Kade and Callum?" Lydia asked while handing Faith a picnic basket.

"Sure."

"Thanks, love. Yours is in there too. Please try to eat something. You barely touched your breakfast this morning."

As Faith headed down towards Mr Grant and Callum. She couldn't help but to analyse everything that was going on and making a checklist in her head of everything that needed to be fixed after her lunch break. That sign is crocked. The pumpkin carving station for the kids doesn't have enough tables. We need more litter bins, and more places to sit. Not enough decorations around the stage...

"Hello there, little red riding hood," Callum said as soon as he saw Faith carrying the picnic basket. She looked so lost in her own thoughts and he couldn't help but notice that her skin picking had gotten worse. Faith was nibbling on her thumb without even noticing it while she walked towards them. He had seen her running around all morning, but she was so busy that they didn't have the chance to talk at all, aside from a few requests that she had for Kade and the other workers. She looks exhausted, and the day isn't even over yet...

"What?" She frowned. Callum's voice made her come back to the present moment and leave her checklist.

"Red sweater and a picnic basket. Not a princess, but a fairytale, nonetheless." Callum pointed at her, and Faith looked down at her sweater. "What do you have in there? Bread and wine?"

"Dork." She chuckled. "No idea, Doc. Lydia sent me down to deliver lunch to the both of you. Don't know what's inside. Whatever it is, it's probably delicious as usual."

"Thank you, Faith." Kade politely grabbed his lunch and went to eat alone in the worker's house.

"Hey Rapunzel, since you're out of you tower, do you want to eat with me?" Callum asked with a charming smile. So charming that it was almost impossible for Faith to say no, but work was calling her.

"I should go back to work. There's still so much that I-"

"Faith. Breath. You still need to eat, don't you?"

Faith nodded. "Sure. I think I can't spare some time." She said after reviewing her checklist, making sure that there was still time to do everything before the sun went down.

"How about we go to that spot where we rescued you from? While you were in your sleeping beauty nap."

"Stop it." She glared at him, and Callum winked at her, making her blush.

They walked to the clearing in the woods. It was one of her favourite spots in the property and also one of the few places far away enough so that she couldn't see how the festival preparations were going. Lydia had packed a picnic blanket and a bunch of delicious food into the basket, including some of Faith's favourite scones and muffins as well as fresh fruit and sandwiches. Callum laid the blanket on the ground and then started to dig in. Faith seemed a little more relaxed just by being surrounded by nature and silence.

She kept glancing at Callum through the corner of her eye while nibbling on her food.

"What, princess? Did you miss looking at my handsome face that much?" Callum asked with a smirk. Faith opened her mouth and her cheeks turned red, but no sound came out. Callum chuckled. He couldn't be more amused. They had barely looked at each all morning, but now, he was delighted to see her blushed complexion and her cute freckles. "I'm just joking, Faith. But it does seem like you have something to say."

"I have something to ask you, actually," she said without looking at him, cheeks still blushed and hiding part of her face with her sandwich.

"Shoot."

"Do you want to go to a wedding with me?" Faith asked, facing the horizon.

"What?" Callum raised an eyebrow.

"My friend Mira put you as my plus one on the wedding list. I thought it was a joke but turns out she actually did it. I should've known that she meant it. You can obviously say no. I'm expecting you to say no." Faith explained it so fast that Callum had a hard time catching everything.

"What if I say yes?"

"You're serious?" She finally turned to Callum and looked at him with her eyes wide open.

He nodded. "Why not? My name's already on the guest list, isn't it?"

"Really?" Faith raised an eyebrow.

"Count me in. What are you wearing? Do we need to match?" Callum smirked making her blush again.

"What? No. We don't need to match... Are you serious? Are you actually going with me?"

"Yes, Faith. I'm going with you."

"Thank you." Faith blushed even more.

"Where's the wedding?"

"Here actually."

"Really?"

"Well, yes. It's something I've been thinking about for a while. We already host the fall festival every year, and weddings in locations like these are becoming quite popular. And when Mira started looking for venues, we decided to try it out. I'm doing Mira a favour by giving her a venue and she's doing me a favour but helping me pitch the idea to my dad."

"Very industrious of you. Sounds like a great idea to me." Callum placed another scone in front of her. "Last one."

"Let's split it." Faith carefully broke the scone right in the middle and started nibbling on her half.

She looks better. Callum thought and smiled. The lunch break had done her some good. Colour had come back to her skin, and she didn't look as tired anymore, but the wedding talk seemed to have made her a little more introspective. Her gaze was on the horizon and even though she was sitting right beside him, she looked so distance.

"How do you feel about going to a wedding? After cancelling your own."

"It's an odd feeling. I won't lie." Faith started pulling the skin around her nails. "Both Mira and I got engaged more or less at the same time. I would get married in the summer and she would get married in the fall. I would attend her wedding as a married woman. Married to Ronnie." Faith sighed. "But she means the world to me. It's their day, and it has nothing to do with me. And it's no one's fault that I made the decision to call of my wedding. I'll wear my dress. I'll be there for anything she needs, and I'll have a big smile for the photos."

Callum glanced at Faith's hands. She had pulled too much skin around her thumb. The skin was red and almost bleeding.

"I go you something." Callum handed Faith a little pink plastic cube that looked like a kid's toy. It had different parts for clicking and spinning and it was quite small, fitting on the palm of her hand.

"What is it?" She asked while pressing the different buttons.

"It's a fidget toy. Fidget with that instead of your skin."

"Thank you, Callum." Faith was very touched that Callum had given her something to help her with her anxiety and skin pulling, but at the same time, she couldn't help but to wonder about what Callum thought of it. He probably thinks there's something wrong with me... She thought while looking at the red and dry skin on her fingertips. Disgusting, isn't it? Faith clenched her hands, trying to hide her fingers.

Callum gently grabbed her hand, took a band-aid out of his pocked, and placed it on the thump that she had picked on earlier. Surprised, Faith looked at him, and in return, he gave her one of his dazzling, charming smiles that made her flustered yet again.

"Lunch time is almost over, but I sure could use a nap," Faith said as she pulled back her hand and laid back on the picnic blanket and stared at the blue sky. "But I'm so tired that I probably wouldn't wake up for hours if I close my eyes."

"You have time for a quick nap. And if you're too deep in your slumber, I can wake you up with a true love's kiss. What do you say, sleeping beauty?"

Faith blushed from head to toe and sat back up. "On second thought, I'm wide wake. No need for a nap. I'll stop by the house and get some coffee instead," she said hastily, and Callum chuckled.

"Let's start heading back?" He asked with a smirk as he looked at Faith's flustered expressions.

Faith nodded, got up and started cleaning up everything with Callum's help, before they headed down the trail and back to the house.

"It's been a hectic day. Is the fall festival always like this?"

"This year may be a little worse." Faith chuckled nervously. "I think I might've gone a little overboard. First year I'm doing it alone, so I wanted to make sure it was perfect. Make sure my dad doesn't regret the decision of relaying more responsibility on me."

"I'm sure you're making him proud."

"I really hope so," Faith sighed as she glanced at all the festival preparations.

"Thank you for taking some time to keep me company, your majesty." Callum gently grabbed her hand, bowed slightly in front of her, and then placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand. Faith rolled her eyes and chuckled. "See you later, Faith." He winked at her.

Fay: Handsome doctor/gardener said yes.

Fay: And I hate you for making me ask him.

M: I knew it! My intuition is right about him.

Fay: What are you talking about? You're getting carried away. As per usual.

M: No, I'm not, my dear Fay. You're the one who's being carried away. If you know what I mean... ;)

Faith rolled her eyes at Mira's text. She put her phone away and went back to work. The fall festival was tomorrow, and she needed to make sure everything was ready.