Page 50 of Wild Spirit

She’d told Leo he didn’t have to worry about Vince’s hormones until high school, but she was suddenly revising that opinion.

“What do you say, Vonnie? You and me?” Leo asked.

Yvonne nodded and the four of them got in line. The boys climbed in first, then they got into the car directly behind them.

As the Ferris wheel began spinning, Leo slipped his hand along the back of their seat, drawing his fingers over the nape of her neck.

She sighed contentedly. “I can’t thank you enough for inviting me along today. This brings back so many great memories. My family never missed the fair when I was a kid.”

“Funny. I was just sitting here thinking eighteen was too old for my first visit. It’s definitely more exciting when you’re a kid.”

Yvonne twisted to look at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

Leo shook his head. “My family subscribes to that saying, ‘All work and no play.’”

Yvonne waited for him to finish, but he didn’t. “You realize there’s more to that saying, right?”

“Not in my family.”

“The fair feels like something you would do. Aren’t there contests for vegetables and canning and stuff like that?”

“If we’d come to the fair, we would have had to close the stand. My dad never closes the stand. Always said that was what fed us and kept a roof over our heads.”

“I thought it was your parents who’d promised to bring the boys.”

Leo laughed. “There’s a big difference between parents and grandparents.”

“I get that.”

“I think I’m always giving the wrong impression of my parents. It wasn’t like we begged to come to the fair and they said no. We were homeschooled, so there weren’t other kids telling us about the rides or the cotton candy or stuff. I didn’t realize how cool it was until I started school. I think it was you, actually, who turned my head. You brought me a candy apple on the first day of school my senior year, said you’d gotten it here, then you proceeded to tell me about the games and the rides. I came with Lochlan for the first time, the summer after we graduated. He was trying to cheer me up about my breakup with Denise.”

“Did it work?”

Leo rolled his eyes. “You know me, Vonnie. I’ve always been a miserable bastard.”

She bent toward him and kissed him on the cheek. “If that were true, I wouldn’t be on this Ferris wheel with you.”

“I guess all I’m saying is, there wasn’t anything horrible about my childhood. My parents loved us, but no one could accuse them of spoiling us. I’ve watched them with Vince, and I think maybe they realize there was too much work and not enough fun when we were growing up. They’re mellowing a little with age.” He sighed. “Now if only Josh would.”

Leo was the baby of his family, and there was a fairly large age gap between him and his siblings. His sister, Marie, was ten years older than him, his brother, Josh, five. He’d admitted once that his sister had always felt more like a second mom.

“Fruit didn’t fall far from the tree with your brother, I’m afraid.” Yvonne had been around Josh enough to know the man had zero sense of humor and even fewer people skills. He was gruff, judgmental, and pretty unforgiving.

Leo shrugged. “I’m afraid nothing I’ve ever done has been good enough for Josh. At least I figured that out a long time ago, so I stopped letting it hurt me.”

“I guess I was lucky. Only child. And super spoiled.”

Leo wrapped the arm resting on the back of the seat around her shoulders and pulled her close, placing a kiss on the side of her head. “You can say that spoiled thing again.”

She punched him lightly in the stomach.

“Dad’s surgery is day after tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“So I’m not sure when I’ll see you again. My time will be split between the hospital and the farm and the boys. Ryder seems to think he’ll be home more often, now that the training for his new job is just about finished.”

“It’s okay, Leo. I know things are crazy right now.”

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