Page 12 of How We Loved

Now, it’s his turn to shrug. “It’s a job. It helps pay for things that I want, and I know my parents can’t afford.” He holds up his hot dog. “Like hot dogs with a cute girl.”

I smile. “Well, I appreciate the hot dog.” I take a bite and giggle as ketchup spills out the sides.

We finish our food and walk to the ticket booth, where he takes out his wallet as he says to the attendant, “Two for the corn maze.”

I didn’t realize it was twenty dollars a ticket to go through this thing, and suddenly, guilt washes over me. He said he has to work for his money, and I feel bad, making him pay.

“Um, do you want me to pay?” I reach for my purse I have slung over my shoulder.

He places his hand over mine. “Please. No. This is our first date. I’m the man here. I should pay.”

I grin shyly. “Thank you.”

The cashier hands him the tickets, and he holds one out to me. “For you.” He grins. “Now, let’s go get lost in the maze and hopefully in each other at the same time.”

He leans in and kisses my cheek, catching me off guard, then grabs my hand and leads us to the corn maze entrance.

“Now”—he lets go of my hand and opens the map the cashier gave him—“do we go off the map or wander around aimlessly until we figure a way out?”

I look at the map that’s made on grid paper. I had no idea the thing was this big. I grab it from him. “This is the maze?”

I stare at the map of the maze, which I don’t think I could figure a way out of with a pen, the way we used to solve these things in elementary school. I glance up at him with an expression of fear on my face.

He laughs. “I take it, you didn’t realize what you were getting yourself into?”

I shake my head.

He crumples up the paper into a ball, throws it in the trash, then wraps his arm around my shoulders again. “Don’t worry. I got you. We’ll figure it out together. Besides, the longer it takes, the more time we get to spend together.”

He drops his arm from my shoulders, running his fingers down my arm until he’s gripping my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine.

We walk through the cornfield that’s set with little stakes in the ground to find your way. Since it’s so close to Halloween, the paths have been trampled by all the past maze participants, so the walkways that I’m sure were once lined in cornstalks are now broken down, allowing us to see more clearly through them.

“So, what’s it like, growing up in a town like Leighton River?” he asks as he runs his fingers over a cornstalk, breaking a piece off and playing with it between his hands.

I laugh. “Good, I guess. I don’t know anything else. What is it like, growing up in Springstown?”

“Pretty freaking boring,” he responds.

“Then, ditto. There’s not much to do in Leighton River.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“It’s the truth. All we do is hang out at our friend Ben’s barn.”

He raises his eyebrows at me. “Let me guess … that barn isn’t full of animals?”

I drop my head back and laugh out loud. “Absolutely not.”

“See, that’s the difference. In Springstown, everyone here either farms or raises livestock in their barns or on their property. So, yes, we, too, hang out in those barns, but they kind of stink, and you have to be careful where you walk or sit.”

I giggle at the thought of the guys sitting in cow poop. “Okay, I’ll give you that, but you’re still just hanging out with friends.”

“Yeah. There’s not much else to do. Tell me about your friends. You don’t have pillow fights in your PJs, do you?”

I give him the stink eye, making him laugh this time. “No. Sorry. No PJ pillow fights. I mainly hang out with my guy friends—Ben, Dalton, and Eli. But Dalton just started dating Natalie, so she’s been a welcome female addition.”

“You hang out mainly with guys?” His voice rises slightly.

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