Page 101 of His North Star
His face showed his offense. “Well, then I guess I’ll see myself out.”
He moved to walk away, but I caught the bottom of his jacket, tugging him back to me. “Not so fast. You’re my ride.”
“That’s all I’m good for then? Providing for your transportation and lodging?”
I scrunched my face. “You said it. . .”
He grabbed me around the waist, pulling me into his arms. My laughter boomed a bit too loud in the crisp night air as Ty found my tickle spot.
“Stop,” I breathlessly huffed out. My lungs and sides burned.
“On one condition.”
“What?” I asked between giggles. I’d do just about anything to make him stop. Landon used to tackle me when we were really little and tickle me until I couldn’t breathe. Ty learned this trick and often used it against me. At least, he did when we were younger. Ty hadn’t used this form of subterfuge for quite a while.
“After you look through the telescope as many times as you want, we find someplace a little more private to keep stargazing,” Ty said.
I laughed out my answer because Ty continued his tickle torture. “What’s the big hurry?”
“You requested information about my love life.”
Oh. Right.
He had me. A cow would have to jump over the moon to get me to stay longer than necessary. “I did.”
His lips quirked, shoulders raised. “I’m finally feeling brave enough to tell you. Unless you want to wait. I don’t want to drag you away from all of this.”
“Nope. We can find another spot by ourselves to look at the stars, and you can tell me then.”
“I promise we can come back to the telescope another time if you want.”
“Pinky promise?” I asked.
“I’ll do one better.” He smirked. “Brow vow.”
My lips lifted higher than a kite. In third grade, Ty had brought a kitten home. His mom said he couldn’t keep it. He did anyway. When he showed me the home he’d made for Tank in their garage, he asked me to pinky promise I wouldn’t tell on him. I explained in my nine-year-old sophistication that pinkies were the weakest finger. Desperate to prove my loyalty to Ty, I came up with thebrow vow.
I laughed as Ty held his middle and index fingers together as if in a Cub Scout salute. He then kissed his fingers before placing them on my brow.
Looking me in the eye, he said, “I promise to bring you back here.”
“I accept.” I nodded once, meeting his gaze.
His satisfied smile filled the space between us.
A few minutes later, we both had the opportunity to look through the PlaneWave twenty-inch CDK telescope. My breath caught in my throat. My Celstron AstroMaster (which wasn’t chintzy) paled in comparison. I could’ve stayed there for hours gazing at the golden orb in the center of a cloudy ring. Another galaxy. Wow. I knew from my studies that in 4.5 billion years, Andromeda was on course to collide with the Milky Way.
The park ranger cleared his throat. “Time’s up.”
“Thank you,” I said on my way out of the hut.
The ranger nodded before waving to the person behind me to step forward.
I turned to Ty. “Thank you. This totally makes up for the date with Mr. Greasy.”
“I’m happy to make it up to you.”
We made our way in the dark to Ty’s truck, staying close to one another. Ty opened the truck door for me.
