Thrill Ride Read online

  “No, they’re wondering if they’ll survive.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Cole said. “Don’t you like roller coasters?”

  Until that second, I hadn’t realized that our conversation had an audience. I looked over to find everyone watching us, waiting….

  Why did I feel like I was at some addicts’ anonymous meeting?

  “I’m not a big roller coaster fan, no,” I admitted.

  “Why?” Cole asked, appearing truly perplexed.

  I held out my hands. “It just doesn’t appeal to me.”

  “But you told me that you rode Magnum Force,” Jordan said.

  I was so embarrassed. “I lied.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I get tired of trying to explain why I so don’t get roller coasters.”

  “Could be acrophobia,” Ronda said.

  Cole looked at her.

  “Fear of heights,” she explained.

  “It’s not a phobia,” I assured her, although I couldn’t stand to ride in elevators that were on the outside of buildings.

  “Or illyngophobia, fear of dizziness,” Ronda said. “Or tachophobia, fear of speed.” She grinned. “I aced my psychology course. There’s probably a definite phobia for roller coasters, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “I’m not afraid of anything. I have no phobia.”

  “She just has no interest in roller coasters,” Parker said, unexpectedly coming to my defense. “We’ve already discussed it.”

  “When did you discuss it?” Jordan asked.

  Parker shrugged. “Sometime when our paths crossed. The point being, it’s not important. Different strokes, that’s all, so give her a break.”

  “Aren’t we touchy?” Jordan asked.

  “I just fixed your car. I can unfix it, you know,” he said.

  Seeing them parrying back and forth, I realized how totally insane it was that I’d thought they were anything except brother and sister. I could even see the similarities now…not in the eyes or the hair or the smiles, but in the mannerisms, the confidence. They were as different from each other as Sarah and I were, but I could detect shadows of similarities. I just had to look hard, and I’d really tried not to look hard at Parker.

  But the truth was that looking at him was a pleasure.

  Since Jordan and I had cooked, we got out of cleanup. Parker got out of it, too, since he’d fixed Jordan’s car. While everyone went inside to get a brownie, I stayed on the porch, standing at the railing, gazing out at the lake while twilight came.

  “It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Parker said quietly from behind me.

  I glanced over and he was extending a brownie on a paper towel.

  “We’re not too fancy here,” he said, as though to apologize for the offering.

  “That’s fine.” I took it, bit into the brownie. Like Parker, I preferred the original to any fancy variety.

  He stood beside me, eating his brownie, without a paper towel.

  “I’m just curious,” he began. “All the cold shoulders you gave me, was that because you thought Jordan was my girlfriend?”

  “Not completely. Like I said, I have a boyfriend.”

  He finished his brownie, hitched up a hip, and sat on the edge of the railing, looking at me. “What’s he like?”

  “Smart. Dependable, loyal—”

  “Those are the same words I use to describe my dog.”

  I glowered at him.

  He held up his hands. “Sorry, but look, I’m interested in you. Just trying to size up my competition.”

  “Read my lips. I’m not interested in you.”

  “You really shouldn’t draw my attention to your lips.”

  I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t really take offense, though, because he said everything like it was a joke. And somehow, as much as I didn’t want to, I found myself fighting to hold back a smile.

  “Does he make you laugh?” he asked.

  “What has that got to do with anything?”

  “My father’s advice when it came to women. He said, ‘Find a woman you like being with, who views spending money the same way you do, and makes you laugh.’”

  “Sounds like he’s an expert.”

  “Totally. And you’re avoiding my question.”

  I sighed. “Yes, he makes me laugh.”

  “That’s good.”

  Thank goodness he didn’t ask for examples, because at that precise moment I couldn’t think of any time when Nick and I had laughed. I knew there had to have been laughter; I guess it just hadn’t been memorable.

  “So maybe you’ll come back for the hump party,” he said, with no hint of it being a question.

  “Maybe.”

  I didn’t know why I felt guilty. I’d come here to work, but surely Nick didn’t expect me to have no fun whatsoever. All work and no fun would make Megan a dull girl.

  Only 47 Nick-less days to go, and counting….

  Chapter 12

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

  The “she,” of course, was Mom. Aunt Vic was my dad’s youngest sister from my granddad’s third marriage, and the holy terror was her three-year-old son, Vincent.

  “Why?” I asked, beginning to think that Sarah was right and that Mom may have indeed gone off the deep end.

  “Because he’s cute.”

  “In photos, yeah, but he’s like the Tasmanian Devil in person.” Honestly, the kid worked up a gust of breeze wherever he went.

  “Talk to her, will ya?”

  “Me? This is your wedding. You talk to her.”

  “Come on, Megan, you’re her favorite.”

  “Only because I’m not there.”

  It was Tuesday night and I’d just gotten off my shift. I was walking along the lighted sidewalk that stretched from the theme park to the dorm. To my right were the sand and the lake. People were still out on the beach, and I could hear people at the hotel pool as I walked by.

  In my backpack was a wish-you-were-here postcard I’d picked up at H & G’s today to send to Nick. The neat thing about a theme park is that it has lots of postcards, tiny gifts, and I’m-having-a-great-time-but-miss-you stuff. I’d actually bought a six-inch stuffed bear that I was going to send to Nick, too. Just a little something so he’d know I was thinking about him.

  “It’s your wedding, Sarah. You’re about to become a wife. Shouldn’t you be able to tell someone when you don’t like something they’re doing?”

  “Are you saying I shouldn’t get married?”

  Although there were people around, especially other people walking back to the dorm after finishing their shifts, it seemed so quiet without all the rides going. I thought that unlike an hour ago, now someone would hear me if I screamed. And I was really tempted to do that.

  “No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that you have to stand up for yourself.”

  “It’s just that I can see him running around, dropping to the floor, kicking—”

  “You’re preaching to the choir here.”

  She growled. “This would have been so much easier if you had stayed here this summer.”

  For her maybe. No way would it have been easier for me.

  “So what are you doing?” she asked, suddenly changing the subject.

  “Walking home. I really like it here, Sarah.”

  “You are going to come home for my wedding, right?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it. Now go talk to Mom. Tell her it’s your wedding and you don’t want the little monster.”

  “Okay. Love ya, sis.”

  She hung up before I could say, “Love you back.” Her timing was perfect. I’d arrived at the dorm. I really hoped it would be the same for her wedding. Perfect timing on everything. Maybe I should call Mom and suggest that she lighten up.

  I walked into the dorm and went to the elevators, saying hi to a couple of the people standing around.

  On the sixth floor, Zoe was greeting us, like she did every