Page 17 of Stripped Down at the Fair

“You know what?” I asked. “I think I’m in the mood for water tonight. Do you have any?”

He looked confused. “No, I didn’t buy any bottled water. I could get you some from the tap. Or they sell them at the reception desk downstairs.”

I should’ve added drinks when I ordered all the food. What was I thinking? I was just so excited to see him, it totally slipped my mind.

“I’ll call down there,” I said. “Maybe they could send one up.”

“No. You stay right there.”

He grabbed the room key and was out the door before I could say a word. I stared down at the containers full of food. I’d ordered a cheeseburger and onion rings for me and a ribeye with baked potato for him. My work at a grocery store near Sweetheart Bend paid enough that I could handle my own expenses, along with little things like this. But I wasn’t fooling myself. If I hadn’t been able to stay in his cabin for free, I definitely would’ve been strapped for cash right now.

A few minutes later, I heard the loud click that indicated he’d waved his keycard in front of it. When the door popped open, he held two bottles of water.

Then and there, the decision was made. I was going to tell him, and I was going to tell him now.

“I’m pregnant,” I blurted.

The silence that followed terrified me. I hadn’t expected that. I’d imagined that he would grab me, pull me into his arms, and kiss me. Then he’d be ready to call everyone we knew, but I’d have to hold him off, telling him we had to wait until the second trimester. That’s what the internet advised, anyway.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I nodded. The door had closed behind him, but he was still standing there, holding those bottles of water and staring at me with a completely blank expression.

“I’m going to be a father?” he asked.

I nodded. “In seven months—give or take a week or two in either direction.”

“I’m going to be a father.”

His face broke into a smile. Then he made up for lost time, transitioning from frowning to nearly jumping for joy in milliseconds.

“I’m going to be a father!” he called out.

“You’re going to be a father. And I’m going to be a mother. We’re going to be the best parents ever.”

That did it. He closed the remaining distance between us and pulled me to my feet. Then he wrapped his arms around me and tugged me toward him, the bottles of water chilling my back. I didn’t care, though. I was in the arms of the man I loved—a man who would become my husband soon enough. And we were going to start a family.

Life was good. And it would only get better from here.

EPILOGUE

DUSTIN

The funhouse was broken down. How could the funhouse be broken down? It wasn’t even a ride.

But I knew the answer to that even as I started toward it. This was my seventh year helping out at the county fair, but it was the first year my wife wasn’t on site. She’d continued to draw caricatures here until last year, even though her career as a freelance illustrator was already taking off by then.

But she’d landed a couple of big contracts, and now she simply didn’t have time to sit out here in the heat, day after day. Even for fun. Even though she wanted to be out here.

The funhouse looked deserted. It was still lit up, but nobody was around. My guess was the mechanism that made the floor move had malfunctioned somehow. It hadn’t happened in my seven years of doing this, but there was a first time for everything.

I climbed the steps and entered a building I’d never been in before. I passed a largeOut of ordersign on the way. I’d enjoyed a couple of funhouses as a kid, but it had been so long, I didn’t even remember much about them.

“I’m in here.”

Those words brought me to a stop. That sounded like Cate’s voice. That was impossible. She was at home with Cook, our surprise baby that came from our first time. And two years later, we’d followed with Cruz, then a couple of years ago, Camille.

The kids were a handful, but we loved every second of our life. We’d even been able to stay in the same cabin, just adding two bedrooms and a bathroom onto the back. It was tough to find a piece of land like that in Sweetheart Bend, so we made do with what we had. Besides, we both loved that little cabin. It was home.

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