Page 68 of Slash & Burn

He laughed, closing the door and walking around to his side. His eyes were still glimmering with humor when he said, “Well, I guess you’ll enjoy learning that I, too, am not a very good dancer.”

I fell back, my hand to my chest as I gasped. “Grady Holloway,notgood at something? I refuse to believe it.”

He put the car in gear, shaking his head. “Shut it, hot stuff, or I’ll drag you out on the dance floor anyway. I don’t mind embarrassing myself, you on the other hand . . .”

“I’d burst into flames. So please don’t.” I knew he was kidding, but even pretending to entertain that idea was too much for me, setting my anxiety off and threatening my good mood.

“Hey,” Grady said, reaching across to take my hand and pulling it into his lap. “I’m kidding. I would never do that. I promise. Embarrassing you is never my plan.”

With a sigh, I sat back, anxiety fading. “I know.”

“Good.”

When we got to the fairgrounds the first thing on Grady’s list was fried dough. For someone who clearly took care of their body, he was quick to trash his stomach for a bit of nostalgia. After that it was some kettle corn. Followed up by a couple slices of pizza—since I’d abstained from the other two delicacies.

“You said you don’t do rides,” he started after washing down a mouthful of food with a sip of soda. “But that doesn’t mean the Ferris wheel, right?”

I made him wait, wiping my hands on a napkin and glancing up at the spindly looking contraption at the other end of the field. I tossed my head back and forth assessingly as he sat frozen, swallowing another sip of his drink.

“I mean, I don’t love them. But I could make an exception.” I looked back at him with a wink. “For you.”

The truth was any of the rides around us were on my list ofno thank you. I’d seen too many headlines of people getting hurt because the operators didn’t keep up the maintenance or the gears got damaged in transport. My getting stuck as a kid was only the start of my fear of carnival rides. But one look at Grady and I couldn’t say no.

A youthful smile unfurled and he pumped his fist in the air. “Alright.”

As we made our way to the dreaded wheel Grady stopped to play a few of the games. The vendors had a good time ribbing a professional athlete when he failed to win anything, but I was relieved. I really didn’t want to walk around with some oversized raccoon stuffed animal, even if it was won for me by my teenage crush. Grady was miffed for a minute, but he seemed to find it just as funny when a little kid beside him won the ring toss. The panda prize he chose was bigger than he was and his father had to leave to bring it to their car.

“I always wanted one of those.” Grady sighed wistfully watching it go by.

“And your folks wouldn’t just buy you one?” I asked, leaning into his side when he wrapped one arm around my shoulders.

“Nah. My folks were pretty against waste and that’s what they’d see something like that as. If it wasn’t related to hockey or school, it was a hard no.”

He didn’t sound upset by this, but I wondered what it must have been like as a kid to be so focused. “So, no stuffed animals? No hot wheels or lightsabers?” I could remember both of my brothers freaking out the year they found lightsaber toys under the Christmas tree.

“Nope. Books. New skates. One time I got a signed jersey from Bobby Orr. That was pretty cool.”

“So your life was all hockey all the time, even as a kid?” I didn’t want to sound disappointed by that, but I must have anyway, because Grady looked down on me with a sweet smile.

“I loved hockey enough that I guess I didn’t miss all the other stuff.”

For his sake, I hoped that was true. But there was something about the way he said it, a tinge of sadness or longing in his voice that made it hard for me to truly believe.

“You ready?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows as he jerked his head to the side.

Looking up, I realized we were at the base of the Ferris wheel, the line only a few people long.

“Oh boy.” I craned my neck all the way back to see the top.

“I’ll be right there the whole time,” he said, and it felt like the night we’d gotten into the pool. If he was willing to face his fears, I couldn’t just refuse to work on mine.

“Okay.”

“I got you, Jilly.” His smile was entirely too confident as he walked backward toward the gate.

We loaded up, the attendant noticing who Grady was immediately. Secretly I hoped that knowing one of his favorite hockey players was now on board he’d work extra hard to make sure we didn’t plummet to our deaths.

Grady took my hand when the thing jerked into motion, the small car rocking as I held my breath.

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