Page 33 of An Adventure For Aster

“You can’t tell?” he asked.

“Maybe if you cracked a grin with it or laughed I’d know more.”

He forced one out and she giggled. But it reached his eyes and that was good enough for her.

“I have a different activity planned for today. Since you’ve been such a good sport with things, I thought this one might be more to your liking. It’s not as if you give me any ideas.”

“You know the area better than me,” he said. “If I don’t want to do something, I’ll tell you.”

“I figured as much. So we are going to a fun park. You know, to have fun.”

He grinned and she wanted to laugh. “What kind of fun is there in a fun park?”

Now she realized it had more to do with her excitement than the idea of what they’d be doing.

“Go carts, mini golf, batting cages. All those guy things. They might have laser tag or target practice things. Stuff I’m not good at and maybe you can show me. If you want.”

“Okay, now that does sound like fun,” he said.

“Woohoo, I got one for you.”

“You don’t always have to try to entertain me, you know,” he said.

“I know. But I want you to not just feel like it’s all about work. However, if you want to sit around and relax we can do that. I thought we could do that tonight.” With another activity too, but she wouldn’t say that to him.

It’d been on her mind for a week and she was ready to take that next step. She’d let the day play out more and go from there. Not that she’d thought she’d change her mind, but it wasn’t like her to just yank him into her room when he walked in the door before noon.

“Sounds like a good day to me,” he said.

She grabbed her fleece. For early November it was a beautiful day reaching the high fifties. Might only top sixty and the sun was shining.

Aster just had on a flannel shirt open over a T-shirt and a pair of jeans with sneakers. She liked that he wasn’t this fancy suit-wearing guy. Not that many wore suits, but the older she got the more she realized that wasn’t the type of man she was attracted to.

Maybe it was a good thing she and Colton didn’t work out. That was the first she’d actually thought that too, based on attraction.

There were other reasons she was glad they didn’t work out, but never on a physical level.

Having dated Aster now for a few weeks, and the way her juices were flowing and her blood was pumping when he kissed her, she knew beyond a doubt the attraction was greater than she’d ever felt before.

It took them a little over thirty minutes to arrive and the place was pretty busy.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “We can get some food first if you want?”

He tapped her on the nose and she could tell it was a playful move he was stunned he’d done. “You’re so used to taking care of everyone. I can get food or speak up if I need to.”

“Sorry,” she said. “You’re right. I’m used to being the one taking the leadership role and planning everything out. This day is yours. You tell me where you want to go and what you want to do and if I don’t know how or need help, I’ll ask.”

“I’m sure there is a lot in life you don’t need help with,” he said.

“You’d be surprised,” she said.

They spent the next few hours having a ball. Racing on the go-cart track, her beating him at mini golf, him showing her how to throw darts and hit the target and not just the wall. She didn’t do so well there.

Lunch was hot dogs and chicken strips with fries. Amusement park food and she’d felt like a kid that finally got to let go too.

When they were driving back to her place, he said, “Why do I get the feeling this was more fun for you than me?”

“I’d like to think it was equal for us,” she said. “But I will admit it was great. Normally when I want to do things like this, people think I’m being silly and spending too much time with kids. But what is wrong with being a kid now and again?”

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