Page 55 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

“That sounds scary.”

I ignored that. “They’ve got these great carnival games here, I used to come with friends all the time in high school. I thought it would be more fun to play these than have you pretend to go to sleep at like seven p.m. tonight.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, but her voice was threaded with laughter.

“Sure,sure. I’d just hate to have to steal your pillows in order to get you to wake up. But I’ve also got lots of inaccurateAnne of Green Gablesfacts up my sleeve that I intend to share if you won’t stay and hang out with me tonight. Your choice.”

“So, this is coercion?” Her eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“One hundred percent. You in?” I asked.

“Okay, sounds fun.”

I was honestly shocked she said yes. Maybe instead of asking her on a date, I should have just driven her to a restaurant and asked if she was in for a free meal.

Except I wanted a date in every sense of the word. And I wanted her to know it.

We entered the park, buying two passes for carnival games. I loved this place, but it had been years since I’d come. The flashing lights, crowds, and smell of carnival food immediately filled my senses in the best way.

“Come this way,” I said, gesturing her over to the booth. “You’ve played carnival games, right?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never been to an amusement park at all.”

“Not even Lagoon? That’s got to be like an hour from you?”

Again, she shook her head, then shrugged. “After the divorce, both of my parents were pretty busy with work. We didn’t do a ton of activities.”

“Never went with friends or anything?”

“My cousins wanted to plan a day there once; I can’t remember what ended up happening to derail that.”

I stared at her, boggled. “Okay, change of plans.” I grabbed her hand, pulling her back to the ticket booth. I had done it so quickly and without thought that it wasn’t until our palms were pressed together and our fingers interlocked that I realized. Maybe Ihadaccidentally dragged her into a date, just without classifying it as that. The thought made me feel like a dirtbag, so I dropped her hand, even though I didn’t want to.

I bought us evening passes and led her back into the park.“Alright, what’s first? Rides, roller coaster, Ferris wheel?”

She seemed to be in a state of shock, but then her eyes glittered and a smile lifted her lips. “Roller coaster.”

“I take it back, let’s just go play carnival games.” She had her eyes clamped shut as the roller coaster attendant checked our belts. My lips twitched—really, this wasn’t a huge rollercoaster.

But the fear painted in broad strokes across her face made the smile drop. I wanted to reach out and grab her hand, but the chivalry my grandparents had instilled ran strong, holding me back. Being the nice guy really sucked sometimes. “The scariest part is the start, as soon as we get going, you’re gonna have a blast.”

She was shaking her head back and forth. “Is it too late to back out? It’s probably too late, isn’t it? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what have I done?”

My hand flexed against my knee. “I can flag down the attendant if you want to get off.”

My eyes scanned for the guy; he wasn’t checking belts anymore. Suddenly, our cart jerked forward. Lucy let out a yelp, her hand darting out and grabbing mine in such a vice grip that it was an impressive feat of my nervous system that it still managed to feel every inch of her skin against mine. I curled my fingers around hers.Shehad grabbedmyhand, so I was no longer the bad guy for holding on. I would earn that title only by letting go now, and I’d hate to hurt her.

I felt a little bad enjoying this when she was so terrified.

Her other hand snaked around my upper arm, pulling herself close.

Roller coasters. The key had been roller coasters, and I’d stumbled upon this Holy Grail of information totally by accident.

I closed my freehand over hers on my arm. “It’s the scariest part, remember? You can do this. It’s going to be okay.” She was still shaking her head, and a sound half between a groan and a whimper escaped her lips. I moved my hand to hold her head against my shoulder, as if I could shield her from the fear. My gut felt like it was tumbling around in a dryer, having nothing to do with the steady incline as we went up to the first drop.

And then we were off, flying down the track, the wind blowing her hair across my neck.

She had her whole body pressed into mine, clinging for dear life, and I held her right back with a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon on my face.

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