Page 61 of Stay for Me
“Please, Mom! Chrissy and Carrie Ann’s brother is pulling in a few, and we want to go see if he wins.”
I have no clue what she’s talking about, but she seems really eager. “I guess, just make sure you have your phone on you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course, Mom!”
Jacob leans in, his warm breath against my ear. “She’ll be fine. They almost never end in a wreck where someone gets hurt.”
I turn to him. “What?”
He laughs. “I’m kidding. I’m seriously surprised you know nothing of this. Luke was a champion one year.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about it. He told me all about that year and how much the girls in this town helped him celebrate.”
Jacob grins. “The girls are always the best part.”
“Well, that’s great, butmygirl isn’t going to be the best part.”
“Point taken. Still, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
I relax a little and nod. Melanie is a smart girl, and I was boy crazy at her age, so I can’t really be surprised that she is too. Jacob and I walk through the carnival section, looking for Sebastian and Austin.
We spot them on one of the many spin-until-you-puke rides, both of them grinning and laughing as it whips them around and around.
“Declan used to make the four of us ride until we threw up.”
“And you thought that was fun?”
“It was a rite of passage. Whoever hurled first had to do all the chores in the morning. We would eat until we were so full that we thought we couldn’t make it to the ride, and then... then we manned up.”
“I don’t know what the hell is wrong with the Y chromosome.”
He playfully nudges me. “We’re not all that bad. We do have our advantages.”
“Name one.”
“We can open the jars you can’t.”
“I guess that’s one. Give me five then,” I challenge him.
“The jars count as one. We can reach things up on the shelf, carry heavy things—”
“I can carry heavy things.”
He sighs. “Okay, fine, we can carryveryheavy things. That’s three. Hmm . . .” Jacob stares off to the side. “Orgasms.”
I burst out laughing. “I assure you that we women can handle that on our own too.”
“Oh, can you? Please enlighten me.”
I smile and look away. “Next.”
“Babies.”
I’ll give him that one—kind of. “You know, thanks to modern medicine, we don’t really need you for that either. However, we do need the sperm, so I guess we kind of need you.”
Jacob turns against the fence, facing the crowd, while I look at the ride. “You’re making me feel rather insignificant.”
“Has that ever happened before?”
