“Thought I saw Mikah.” And her heart had sped up like she’d finished her thesis, gotten an A+, and had the bank balance to move.
“Sorry.” Dahlia’s voice was sympathetic. “First step in a breakup, you imagine you see them everywhere. We saw this a lot in the sorority house.”
Piper’s heart pinged. She and Mikah hadn’t broken up, they hadn’t been together. Of course, they hadn’t been that apart either.
The group of men stopped at a chainmail booth. There were other big guys in the world besides hockey players. She should be looking out at the whole fairgrounds from this vantage point.
Dahlia pointed. “Women are modeling metal bikinis at the chainmail booth.” She wrinkled her nose. “What part of Merry old England did that?”
“That’s not authentic.”
* * *
His bros hadn’t guided him anywhere near Piper.
Liam stepped closer to the chainmail booth. “Dude, the costume queen crooked her finger at me.”
Kiernan elbowed Liam. “Give her your line. Hello, do you like maple syrup?” He snickered at his own joke. Then he rushed forward. “She crooked her finger at me too. The middle one.” Kiernan shrugged off his ornate overshirt. “I’m definitely switching costumes.”
Liam shrugged off his tunic. “Me too.” He looked around. “This one’s five hundred. Is there a cheaper one?”
“You’re not special, the costume queen’s got a finger cramp.” Mikah searched the crowd. He’d never find Piper. He turned his gaze upward, his heart stopped, and then pounded. “Dudes.”
Kiernan slapped his own thigh. “Look at what yonder balcony breaks.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.” Mikah strode toward Piper.
“Right behind you,” Liam said. “Just need her to swipe my credit card.”
* * *
Piper took a seat on the bench her mind, half on Mikah, half on the instructions the professor was rattling off. Calista and Dahlia were sitting up straight, inordinately attentive. Dahlia spun her engagement ring on her finger.
Piper focused. Professor Terrence was British and surfer dude handsome, more so today because he was wearing a Henry the Eighth costume. Dahlia must love him. He and Anne Boleyn would make a beautiful pair.
The professor came over to them and passed out their scavenger hunt cards. “My ladies. Today, outside the classroom, call me Terry. Any questions for me?” He was usually more formal, and easygoing didn’t fit in her mind with his usual British reserve.
Calista stared. “Do you ever play hockey?”
“Cricket was my game.”
Dahlia found her voice. “You have a history PhD?”
Professor Terrence took each of their hands and kissed the back. He kissed Dahlia’s last and stared hard at her engagement ring. “I do, milady.”
Dahlia didn’t move until he let her go. She rotated her scavenger hunt card. “We snap a photo of each of these items, and Piper gets extra credit?” She was throwing a boat ton more interest into Piper getting points than she had five minutes ago.
“Only if your team completes the quest, milady.” Professor Terrence took a seat at their table. “One must seize all to succeed.”
Calista frowned at the card like the words were a math puzzle.
Piper hadn’t read the list but couldn’t imagine he’d made the game that difficult. She scanned the energy of the other teams. Were they concerned?
At the door. Mikah, in a tunic.
Her heart slammed against her bodice. She met his gaze. Invisible threads stronger than space and time connected them, like they were repeating a moment from the past. Piper blinked. Her own perception was completely skewed, that was why they were apart. She had to stop being fanciful and face the truth that just because she adored him didn’t mean he felt the same. Except, why was he here?
Behind him, Kiernan and Liam, dressed in inauthentic chainmail tunics over tights, came in. The rattle of the metal added to the buzz in the room.