Page 33 of Lucy Loves Him Not
Lucy, in the name of research, we need to go get lemonade and ice cream.
Me
For the sake of research, I’m in.
He came and picked me up an hour later and off we went to the Bradberry Summer Kick Off Festival. I tucked into the front seat of his car wearing a cream, linen crop top and shorts, my red hair a loose braid down my shoulder. He, as usual, was in slacks and a button-down, dressed for work.
Well, this is work,I reminded myself.
Work that involved icy strawberry lemonade and laughing hysterically at the petting zoo while learning that Adam was terrified of goats. Work that involved the hot sun bright over us in the sky and Adam rolling his sleeves up his forearms. I looked away professionally, not noticing any lean muscles, at all.The body of a swimmer,hadn’t Olivia said?
“I like the flow they set up here,” he said as we walked Bradberry’s downtown streets later that morning.
“I know. It’s so easy to find what you’re looking for,” I agreed. “Part of it is the signage.” I pointed up toward one of the many street maps they had posted. “We could do something more like that.”
“That and how they divided up by theme,” he added. He pulled out his phone and jotted down these ideas in one of our shared notes.
During the research trip, many of our conversations were professional chats about how to best run the festival. We bounced ideas off each other like any two coworkers would.
But there were theseothermoments, too. Ones that felt less like work and more like it did when we were wandering the office in the dark.
It was hard for today to feel like work. I mean, we were at an adorable festival straight out of a Hallmark movie. There was ice cream, cotton candy, and carousels.
After we had lunch, we walked right by the carousel set up on the lawn in front of Bradberry City Hall.
“I’ve never been on one of those, you know,” I mentioned casually, walking past the pastel carousel.
“What?” Adam stopped, like this was pace-stopping information. He pointed at it. “Never been on a carousel? How?”
“You know we don’t have one at our Sweet River festival.” I tried to get us to keep walking by taking a few steps, but Adamstayed frozen in place. I couldn’t imagine our festival big enough to boast rides like this one.
“There are other opportunities to ride a carousel, though,” he argued. “Circuses, amusement parks, even some city parks.”
“Believe it or not, Adam, there were a lot of things higher up on my list of life goals,” I pulled on his wrist to try and get him to keep moving.
“But see, getting you to ride one is now at the very top of mine.” His eyes glimmered with challenge.
“And this is how people deal with so much failure, aiming for things that will never ever happen for them.” I walked on again without him.
He ran up beside me. “The line for the carousel is nonexistent since people are going to lunch. This is the perfect time. It’s like God himself timed it so you could easily ride?—”
“Adam, I am in my late twenties. I am not going to take a child’s spot on that carousel,” I said stubbornly. His playful energy was contagious like we couldn’t help but find a game to play just between the two of us.
“Look.” He spun me around on my heels, his hands warm and strong on my bare shoulders. “There are empty horses. You won’t be taking any child’s spot…it’s openfor you.”
I was trying hard to resist. “Come on, I wanted to check out their ice cream options.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. “I will ride on it with you,” he said valiantly.
“I see you’re stubborn with more than work,” I moaned for show like I was throwing the ball back in his court, hoping he’d throw it back to me.
“My debate coach used to call me Dumbo because trying to get me to budge was like trying to get a big ole elephant to move. It wasn’t going to happen without a ton of manpower.”
“Funny, because you will absolutely not getmeto budge.” I gave him a big smile.
He cocked his head, his eyes mischievous and thoughtful. “You’re scared?”
“What?” I stopped walking, crossing my arms. “What makes you think I’m scared?”
