Page 41 of Chasing Forever
“Giddy-up, horsey!” Wren squeals, kicking his side now that she’s on his back. “To the Zipper!” Her hand goes up like a general leading the charge into war.
Brooks slows his walk with her cradled on his back and looks at me. “Ready?”
“For?”
“The Zipper. Last ride of the night.”
I look at the remaining tickets in my hand. Yep. Enough for all three of us.
“Why don’t you two go?” I offer. “I’ll just hit the Ferris wheel again.”
Brooks stares at me with a look so intense, I almost crumple. It’s the kind of look that says he knows I’m not fine, and he hates that I won’t say it out loud.
“Kayla!” Wren screeches, nearly tumbling off Brooks’s back onto the ground.
“Who’s Kayla?” I ask as I help her down.
“My friend from school!” The second her feet hit the ground, she sprints toward another little girl as if they’ve been separated for six years instead of six hours.
Brooks and I catch up, and I smile politely at Kayla’s parents. “Hi, I’m Wren’s aunt, Lottie. And this is?—”
“Sheriff Watson,” the man says, shaking Brooks’s hand. The woman shakes mine, then we swap.
Of course they know him. Everyone does.
“How are you liking Willowbrook?” Brooks asks, shoving his hands into his pockets. He gives me a drawn-out stare with a meaning I don’t catch. “The Millers just moved to Willowbrook.” His tone says I should be cluing into something by now, but I’m not.
“Greg Miller.” The man raises his hand. “Mayor Watson’s opponent.”
“Oh… ohhhh, of course.” I nod.
The guy running against Brooks’s dad.
This is awkward.
I plaster on a smile, debating on whether telling him “Good luck, I hope you win” is wildly inappropriate.
Before I can decide, Wren tugs on my arm. “Can I go with Kayla? They’re heading to the big slide.”
“Um…” I look at Brooks, and he nods as though it’s okay, they’re good people. “We can go too.”
“After the Zipper.” Brooks steps closer, his arm brushing mine. I ignore the way my body hums in satisfaction.
“No way.”
He arches a brow. I don’t want to get into a back-and-forth in front of someone who could be the next mayor.
Wren begs while Kayla’s eyes look hopeful.
Finally, I give up the fight. “Are you okay if she joins you?”
“Well, I didn’t want to go down the slide.” Samantha laughs. “Greg will walk them up and go down.”
I tear off the tickets Wren needs and hand them to her. “You stay with them, okay? We’ll be right over.”
Wren thanks me, and we tell the Millers we’ll meet them over there. Wren and Kayla fall into a fit of giggles about somebody at school who Kayla already saw here at the fair, and the parents follow them toward the slide.
Brooks turns to me. “You afraid?”
