Cornbread & Crossroads

me, she tilted her head in thought before searching through the blooms and pulling out a sprig that had four flowers that looked like yellow and orange tiny lilies. “This alstroemeria is for you. It symbolizes friendship. You helped and then invited us here. I want to be your friend.”
I accepted the blossom with pleasure. “Thanks, Fenwen.”
She blushed. “You can call me Fen or Fenny. I don’t mind.”
“It’s good to meet you, Fen,” Nick said.
The sprite, who stood as tall as Gossamer or Juniper but lacked wings, stared at the man with a frown. “You can call me Fenwen,” she insisted, hugging her bouquet close to her and away from him.
Instead of taking offense, Nick laughed it off. “I hope you’ll take a chance and get to know me sometime. Drop by here if you’d like.” He handed her his card. “Nice to meet all of you.” With a small salute to us, he walked toward the drink tables.
Fenwen glared at him. “Should have given him a yellow carnation,” she uttered with displeasure.
“What does that flower mean?” I asked.
My question shook her out of her examination of Nick, and she smiled a little too wide. “Better not say.”
Making a mental note to ask Lavender and Lily if their flower shop could use a knowledgeable helper, I started to ask if she’d like to work with flowers, but Fen cut me off.
“Here comes that nice man who was with you at the hotel. David says he’s your boyfriend. You should give him lots of red roses so you can keep him as yours.” She tugged on Beau’s hand. “Come. Let us give them space.”
My roommate enjoyed being pulled away by such a tiny being. He waved at Mason and me as he followed Fenwen.
Mason came over and, after a quick kiss on the cheek, massaged my tight shoulders. “Been a rough day?” he whispered in my ear, tickling me with the scruff on his face.
His skillful hands revealed how much tension I’d been holding. “Frosted fairy wings, that feels good,” I groaned a little too loud for public and thought that Nick might be onto something after all. “It feels like there’s so much going on that there’s no way to solve everything. When one problem gets fixed, another five pop up. Playing whack-a-mole isn’t going to work much longer.”
Mason’s thumb dug in hard under my right shoulder blade, and I winced from the initial pain until he worked out the kink in my muscle. “But you can’t take on all the responsibility yourself. You’re a good person, Charli, but so are a lot of the rest of us here in Honeysuckle.”
“I know. But I don’t think we were really prepared for what would happen when we invited the fae from Charleston to come here.” I rested against his strong chest. “It’s a little overwhelming,” I admitted after a long sigh.
He placed his lips on my temple. “I know. But you’re welcome to lean on me anytime.”
A couple of shrill whistles and some familiar whoops alerted me to the arrival of others I needed in my life to support me. Lee winked at me while he and Ben teased Mason and me about our display of affection.
“Oh, please, Lee” Lily scoffed with a dramatic eye roll. “As if you and your wife haven’t been all disgustingly lovey-dovey since the two of you started dating. Snookums this and Poopsy Whoopsy that.” She stuck a finger in her mouth and gagged.
Lee stepped up beside his approaching wife. “And the two of us have taken a lot of ribbing from every last one of you. I’m offering up Charli and Mason as the new target of your ridicule.”
I turned to face my boyfriend and placed a hand on the side of his face. “That doesn’t bother us one bit, does it, Honey Bunny?”
Mason stifled his laughs and played along. “Not at all, Snooky Wooky Kitty—”
I moved my hand over his mouth. “Nope. Can’t do it.”
The rest of my friends burst into teasing guffaws and more conversation while we approached the tables covered with food. I made sure to put some of Mason’s lasagna on my plate, ribbing him a little about the first time he’d tried to bring some to a town potluck. It had been so charred that I’d told him to throw it out. But over time, he’d perfected his recipe and found the dish he could bring with pride to any gathering.
Beside the lasagna I piled a fried chicken leg, some sliced pork with a roasted peach glaze, and some fried catfish. With my first round of mains picked out, I shoved some coleslaw, baked beans, and collards into the available crevices on my plate. By the time I made it to the breads, I found mostly golden crumbs left on my plates of cornbread, so I snagged a buttermilk biscuit instead to sop up the leftover juices of my choices and some hush puppies.
Since the theme of the potluck was to welcome all who were new, my group of friends and I chose different tables to join so we could get to know some of the newer additions. Good food helped to lubricate conversation, and the air surrounding the park filled with noises of happy conversation. Every once in a while, I stopped chowing down long enough to check on Bea to make sure she was comfortable. She sat at a table not too far away with David and a few others I didn’t recognize. Her rapt expression while she fed herself eased my worry for her, and I relaxed to enjoy the company I was in.
The sky darkened to a deep purple as the last of the sunset faded, and the floating lights twinkled and pulsed like the fireflies hovering closer to the ground. The band got back to playing while the tables were magicked out of the way to give us plenty of space to mill around while eating dessert.
Lavender joined me, Mason, Ben, and Lily, and I