Page 24 of Alistair

“Why?”

“Well, I like substitute teaching. I get to move around in the district, and I also have a pretty good side hustle tutoring in English, which is my favorite subject. I just didn’t see a need to spend the money on the degree to teach full time.”

“That’s interesting.” He parked in a lot and she realized they were still outside of the park. When he opened her car door and she climbed out, she said, “Where is the complex?”

“The other side of the park. There used to be a way to drive up to it from the back of the park, but we had some concerns with safety for the park employees living there, so we closed everything up. Sorry about the walk, are you wearing good shoes?”

She looked down at her booted feet and smiled. “Yeah, they’re comfy.”

“Good. So you have a side business?”

“For a while it was my full-time job,” she said. “I love it, though. I’ve even helped out with homeschool co-ops.”

“Kind of like how I’m a vet tech and could have gone to vet school, but why since I like what I do.”

“Exactly. My parents offered to help pay for college after everything was settled with the medical bills and they weren’tin danger of losing anything, but I didn’t want to stress their financial situation when they needed to worry about retirement.”

“And Penny’s wedding.”

“That too.”

He entered a code at a gate and let her in. Then he took her hand and they walked through the park. She’d never been at the park at night before. They passed several security guards as they walked, as well as the now-dark carousel and several food kiosks and a candy shop.

“I remember you saying you didn’t want to ride the carousel because you didn’t want to take time away from the kids,” he said as he stopped next to it.

“Yeah, they were all so eager to ride it as much as they could.”

He smiled at her and opened a clear plastic box that covered the control panel. “I spoke to the people who run the carousel and they left it unlocked so you and I could take a ride.”

“Seriously?”

“If you want,” he said.

She did, very much. “Alistair.” She didn’t say his name so much as breathe it.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” He turned the key and the carousel lit up.

“You’re just…pretty amazing.”

“I’m in good company, I promise. Now go pick out a horse to ride.”

“You’ll ride with me?”

“You bet.”

She hurried through the little gate and picked out her favorite from when she’d been at the park before: a beautiful gray horse with a flowing mane. She hauled herself up, barely containing the grunt that wanted to break free, and smiled at him.

“Ready?” he called.

“Yep.”

He pressed a button and the carousel started to slowly move. He jogged to her and jumped up, grasping a bar to steady himself. As the carousel picked up speed, he made his way to her and settled on the horse next to hers, a dark brown one with white legs.

The carousel sped up, the horses moving slowly up and down. She let her head fall back and closed her eyes, feeling like she was flying.

They stayed on the carousel for a long time, the same song playing softly over and over as they spun in a circle on their wooden horses. By the time she’d had enough of the spinning, she was fully enchanted by Alistair. He was very sweet.

And this date had been even better than the first one, and they hadn’t even done anything but talk, try on tuxes, and ride the carousel.

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