Thrill Ride Read online

  Thrill Ride

  Rachel Hawthorne

  In memory of Fargo,

  who always kept me company when I wrote.

  We’ll meet again at the rainbow bridge.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  And that’s how I, Megan Holloway, a life-in-the-slow-lane, carousel-ride type…

  Chapter 2

  It was unmistakably obvious that Jordan had moved in already.

  Chapter 3

  “I’m starved,” he said. “We gonna eat or what?” The…

  Chapter 4

  On the way back to my room, I stopped off…

  Chapter 5

  As it turned out, I could have slept without worries.

  Chapter 6

  “Remember: The customer is always right. No matter how old,…

  Chapter 7

  “Okay, so tomorrow is the big day, right?” Patti asked…

  Chapter 8

  “I’m sure that my son did not eat a little…

  Chapter 9

  Monday was my day off, and I was so incredibly…

  Chapter 10

  It could.

  Chapter 11

  While Parker was taking his shower, Jordan and I began…

  Chapter 12

  “She wants Aunt Vic’s holy terror to be ring bearer!”

  Chapter 13

  I was sitting on my bed, staring at the words…

  Chapter 14

  The rest of the performances were a blurred haze, and…

  Chapter 15

  We couldn’t have picked a nicer day to go out…

  Chapter 16

  I loved Parker’s enthusiasm as we walked back to the…

  Chapter 17

  “So how long have you been seeing this guy?”

  Chapter 18

  “It was so awesome,” Sarah said for, like, the hundredth…

  Chapter 19

  My foot healed nicely, and the days settled into a…

  Chapter 20

  I wanted to kiss Nick. I mean I really, really…

  Chapter 21

  The next day was the longest day of my life.

  Chapter 22

  Decisions,decisions …

  Chapter 23

  It was strange to check my e-mail and not find…

  Chapter 24

  The pool party was a turning point. I stopped worrying…

  Chapter 25

  “So have you slept with Parker yet?” Sarah asked.

  Chapter 26

  When the plane landed Sunday evening, I was wiped out.

  About the Author

  Other Books by Rachel Hawthorne

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Chapter 1

  Summer job possibilities…decisions, decisions

  Work at Hart’s Diner

  Pros: Weekly paycheck; Nick, my new boyfriend, works there; chance to kiss in the cooler in between serving customers?

  Cons: Aching feet; aching jaw from continually smiling to get better tips; living at home while Mom and older sister, Sarah, go through the insanity of planning Sarah’s summer wedding (They can’t agree on anything! Mom? Hello?!? Sarah is twenty-three, old enough to plan her own wedding. Note to self: Stay out of it!)

  Work at the local movie theater

  Pros: Weekly paycheck; watch the latest blockbusters for free; eat complimentary no-limit-on-the-butter popcorn until I pop.

  Cons:Aching feet from standing behind the concession counter; sweeping up spilled popcorn; sticky floors; see less of Nick; live at home while Mom and Sarah…

  Work at amusement park near lake far, far away

  Pros: Weekly paycheck; get on all the rides for free; gone all summer; dorms are available; being totally absent from home while Mom and Sarah…

  Cons: Share a dorm room with someone I’ve never met; never seeing Nick; and okay, I have roller coaster issues…like, I totally don’t get what is so great about the whole queasy-stomach, heart-in-throat, up-and-down, faster, faster, higher, higher experience.

  Decision: No brainer. Living with a stranger has got to be better than living with Mom and Sarah while The Wedding is being planned. I don’t have to ride the big roller coasters. It’s only three months. True love can survive that, can’t it?

  And that’s how I, Megan Holloway, a life-in-the-slow-lane, carousel-ride type of girl, packed up the essentials of my life following my junior year in high school and headed to the Thrill Ride! Amusement Park, vacation destination extraordinaire on Lake Erie.

  That afternoon I’d flown into the airport. With my backpack dangling off one shoulder, I pulled my large wheeled suitcase to the passenger pickup area outside the main terminal. An impossible-to-miss bright red Thrill Ride! shuttle bus was parked nearby, motor running.

  So I headed over to it and peered in the door.

  “Going my way?” I asked the driver.

  He wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. White-haired, wrinkled, slightly hunched. Still, he laughed and climbed out of the bus. “You here for the summer?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  He wore a red shirt, cargo shorts, and his name tag read PETE (SANTA FE, NM).

  “You from Santa Fe?” I asked.

  “Before I retired. Got tired of playing golf so came up here to work. Being around young people keeps me young.”

  He took my suitcase and put it in a holding bay at the back of the bus. “Climb aboard,” he said.

  I settled onto a seat. I heard laughter and two other girls clambered onto the bus.

  “Hi!” one said.

  “Hiya!” the other chirped.

  “Hi.” Not exactly an original response, and maybe part of the reason that our conversation didn’t last longer.

  They sat in front of me and immediately started talking to each other like long-lost friends. Pete returned to the driver’s seat, closed the bus door, and headed away from the airport.

  I figured the two girls were returning summer employees. Maybe a little older than me. Definitely friends. They were giggling, talking, and screeching periodically.

  I looked out the window, trying really hard not to feel ignored and lonely. I so did not want to be lonely.

  I was already missing Nick. We’d only been dating for three months, and he was totally bummed that I’d applied for a job at the park, and even more bummed that I’d been hired to work there for the entire summer.

  “That sucks,” he’d said.

  Not exactly what I’d wanted to hear when I told him. I wanted him to be ecstatic about my good fortune. I mean, a thousand people had probably applied. I’d had to fill out an extensive application and submit an essay about the reasons that I wanted to work there. And I’d gotten in just under the wire on the minimum age requirement of seventeen. My birthday was yesterday.

  So I’d been feeling pretty good about myself when I received the letter telling me that I’d been hired.

  After I’d shared my good news with Nick, he’d moped around most of the evening. I’d shown him a video of the amusement park that my dad had ordered for me. My dad is really into watching the Travel Channel, so he was the one who discovered Thrill Ride! and told me about it. It sounded like it would be an awesome experience.

  But Nick was less than impressed with the rides, the park, and all the facilities that the tour guide on the video walked us through. The video was geared toward enticing teens to come work there and making parents feel comfortable sending their kids off into the scary unknown. There were dorm moms and curfews and all kinds of safety features.

  “It’s just the same as Six Flags,” he’d said. “You could have worked there over the summer, commuted from home, and been a lot closer to me.”

  “It’s not the same. It’s the