Thrill Ride Read online

  And I looked up constantly, not down. It was that afraid-of-heights thing that I had. The cast-iron steps were a latticework of holes. Looking down meant seeing how far up we’d gone. Better to look up and see how close we were to reaching the top.

  When we did reach the top, I couldn’t imagine what I was thinking. Heights weren’t my thing. Yet here I was, trying not to think about how I was going to get back down.

  A hollow sound echoed around us as we walked the perimeter of the room. An emptiness. That sadness again. A crack in one of the windows was probably responsible for the shrieking of the wind. In the center of the room was where the light had once burned.

  “It must have been so lonely living out here,” I said.

  “I think it would be cool to live away from everything,” Parker said.

  He was still holding my hand. I still didn’t object.

  “You wouldn’t like living alone,” I said. “At the park, you know everyone and everyone knows you. You’re Mr. Popularity. Popular people don’t do well on their own. They need others.”

  “Oh, so now you’re the psychology major? Explain to me someone who won’t go on a tall ride, but will walk up to the top of a lighthouse.”

  “It’s not the height so much as it is the plummeting drop.”

  “So if I could find a roller coaster without the drop, you’d ride it?”

  “Would it be a roller coaster without a drop?”

  “Good point. Did you hear the ghosts?”

  “It was the wind, coming in from the open door and through that cracked window there.”

  “Ah, come on, Megan, what’s the fun in having a logical explanation for everything?”

  “It’s my practical nature.”

  “That practical nature is going to get you in trouble some day.”

  “What?”

  He released my hand and walked to the lake side of the lighthouse. “Look how vast it is. Awesome.”

  I moved up beside him and couldn’t help thinking that this was an incredible kissing place. I could see a lighthouse keeper’s daughter sneaking up here with her boyfriend. I was glad that Parker and I had decided to be just friends, because this was the kind of place that made a girl think about passionate kisses. Especially when the sun started to go down.

  “It really is nice to get away from the crowds,” I said.

  “Yeah, that’s why Cole and I jumped on the chance to stay in the cabin, away from everything. The dorm is nice the first year or two because it gives you a chance to meet people, especially when you’ve never been away from home before. Eliminates that homesickness. But there are always people around. At the park all day. At the lake near the hotel. That’s one of the reasons that I really like taking the roller coaster cars out first thing in the morning. It’s like this. Quiet, peaceful. With the sun coming up.” He looked over at me. “Even if you’re not interested in riding, I wish you’d come to the park with me first thing in the morning sometime. It’s a totally different place.”

  When he was looking at me like that, with those green eyes focused on me, I had a difficult time thinking. “I’m not much of a morning person.”

  “Neither am I. But some things are worth getting up for.”

  “You promise not to make me ride Magnum Force?”

  “I wouldn’t ever make you do anything you didn’t want to do.”

  “You won’t nag about it?”

  “Nag is what my mom did before she and Dad got divorced. I simply ask.”

  “If you ask more than once, it’s a nag.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Okay. If that’s what it takes to make you come with me in the morning, then I promise not to ask you to ride the roller coaster.”

  “You are a nag, but I’ll go anyway.”

  “Great! You won’t regret it. I’ll come for you at six in the morning.” Before I could protest at the ungodly time he’d suggested, he grabbed my hand. “Let’s go swim.”

  Chapter 16

  I loved Parker’s enthusiasm as we walked back to the picnic site. He pointed out different birds and plants and strange cloud formations.

  “Tell me that you’re not this energetic in the mornings,” I said, as we walked along. Not holding hands.

  I really couldn’t figure out a pattern as to when he would hold my hand. When he thought about it or when he didn’t? Was it reflex or planned?

  Having never been just friends with a guy, I was walking an uncharted path. I mean, I knew what to expect in a boyfriend/girlfriend situation. But with Parker, I hardly ever knew what to expect.

  By the time we got back to the picnic area, everyone else was already in the water. I kicked off my sandals. I was wearing my bathing suit underneath my clothes so I took off my shorts and top. Parker was already in his swim trunks so he just tossed his shirt onto the blanket.

  He ran into the water, then dove in, and came up sputtering a short distance away. Which left only me on the shore.

  “Come on, Megan!” he called out. “There are no sharks.”

  “I’m not a total chicken,” I said, as I walked into the water.

  It was pretty chilly, and I thought about how nice it would be to lie in the sun afterward and warm up.

  “It’s easier if you just go under,” Jordan said. “You’ll get used to it faster.”

  Only I didn’t want to get used to it faster. I was perfectly fine taking my time.

  I was up to my knees in the water, had just stepped forward when pain sliced through my foot. I screeched, stepped back, lost my balance, my arms windmilling…

  I fell backward, went under…

  I felt strong hands grabbing hold of me, jerking me upward. I found my wet body against Parker’s, skin to skin, as he held me in his arms.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I felt something sting—”

  “Omigod, she’s bleeding,” Jordan cried.

  Parker carried me out of the water, set me on the blanket.

  “Were you a lifeguard in another life?” I asked jokingly.

  “Yeah, a couple of summers during high school,” he said distractedly, while examining my foot.

  “What do you think happened?” Ronda asked, kneeling beside Parker, looking at my foot.

  “Broken glass maybe,” he said. “I think it’s going to need stitches.”

  “Stitches?” I practically shrieked. “You’re kidding, right? I’ve never had stitches in my life.”

  I pulled my foot free of his hold, bent my knee, and tried to view the damage. But there was so much blood. “Oh,” was the best I could manage. It looked ghastly.

  Ross handed Parker a strip of shredded towel. Parker took my foot and began wrapping it.

  “We need to get you to the hospital.”

  “It’s just a little cut.”

  “You know you were swimming in a lake, not a pool. No chlorine to kill the germs. When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?”

  When I was about two?

  “I don’t know.”

  “Come on. Everybody, pack up,” he ordered. “We’re going.”

  “Don’t do that. It’s not an emergency. We can go later.”

  “Now isn’t the time to prove you’re not a chicken,” he said, and sounded seriously irritated.

  I wasn’t trying to prove anything. I just thought he was overreacting.

  “Fine,” I finally said. I wasn’t really ready to go, but he was bigger than I was.

  “See, I told you it wasn’t that bad,” I said, as we pulled away from the hospital emergency room.

  When we’d arrived at the dock, Parker had left the boat for the others to put away and he’d driven me to the hospital. Since Jordan had her car there, she and the gang had a way to get home, so I hadn’t been concerned about them.

  “I don’t call a huge bandage wrapped around your foot and a tetanus shot not bad,” Parker said.

  The tetanus shot was a precaution since I wasn’t sure exactly what I had step