Page 72 of Finding You

“I get it,” he quickly interrupted, swallowing hard. “This was always your plan and…I wasn’t.”

“Devin…”

“Look, if this is all we’re going to have, then let’s enjoy this last day of the festival together.” He almost choked on the words because this was the last place he wanted to be, but he wanted her to have nothing but good memories of her time with him. And they had planned on doing the mountain coaster again today. “The line for the coaster doesn’t look too long, why don’t we go over?”

“Devin, aren’t you going to say anything? I mean…don’t you have any questions about what I talked about with my mother?”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he wasn’t going to say that. “If you want to share that with me, then sure. But we can still do that from the line. I don’t think it’s been that short all week.”

Ugh…why am I talking about the line?

“Um…sure,” she murmured. “What time do you need to be at the kissing booth?”

“Will’s taking my shift,” he told her. “I wanted to enjoy the last day of the festival with you.” Taking her hand in his, they joined the end of the coaster line.

“You didn’t have to do that. I told you it wasn’t a big deal, and…”

He silenced her with a kiss, and when he lifted his head, he grinned at her. “The only person I want to kiss is you.”

She blushed. “Oh. I just thought…”

“MacKenzie?”

“Hmm?”

“If you’re leaving on Tuesday, I really want to enjoy today. So…let’s put a pin in all the real world stuff that’s going to bum us out and focus on having a great time. What do you say?”

She visibly relaxed. “I think that sounds wonderful.”

After that, it was truly a fantastic day. They rode the rides, played the games, watched another country duo concert, and finished the night with a spectacular firework show. They both agreed it was the best one of the festival.

They sat with friends and after the show they all stayed and talked about her leaving. It took everything he had not to pitch a fit and tell them all that this wasn’t how they wanted to end their night, but he kept that to himself.

“Any chance we can do a girls’ night tomorrow night?” Avery asked. “You know, so we can have a farewell party for you?”

“Oh, um…I’ve got a lot to do, so…”

“Then lunch!” Jade suggested. “We’ll section off part of the eating area at the coffee shop and have lunch brought in. What do you think?” Then she looked at Devin. “Can you spare her for an extended lunch break?”

He chuckled. “I think MacKenzie’s time is her own and she can do whatever she wants for her last day in town.”

She looked over her shoulder at him, and he couldn’t tell if she was hurt or annoyed with him. Hell, he was just trying to be supportive. Did anyone think he was going to be that much of an ass and tell her she had to put in her full eight-hours at the garage? Seriously?

Turning back to face the group, she nodded. “I think that would be awesome. Thanks. I’m sure you all can’t take an extra long lunch, but…”

“There’s no school tomorrow, so my schedule is wide open,” Chloe told her.

“And Jade and I will already be there, but we’ll ask one of the staff if they want some extra hours so they can cover for us, right Jade?” Billie asked.

“Absolutely! I’m sure we’ll be fine. Any requests for food, MacKenzie?”

“I’m not picky!” she told them. “So whatever you want to have is fine with me!”

The crowd had thinned out so they all began collecting their things and headed for the exit, the whole time asking MacKenzie about her route and her plans and all the things he didn’t want to talk about tonight.

By the time they were sitting in his truck, he breathed a huge sigh of relief at the silence, and neither spoke the entire way home.

Tomorrow was back to his regular work schedule and the countdown to having to watch MacKenzie drive away and out of his life.

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