“Good seein’ you, Julia,” he said as she walked away.
“I always tried to be a mother to her,” she heard Beverly say. “You know, share my expertise. But I think there’s something wrong with her that can’t be fixed.”
Julia fought with herself, trying not to turn around and confront Beverly. Beverly had been no kind of mother to her. Julia kept walking, telling herself she wouldn’t have to put up with this, or with Sawyer, for very long.
Between the two of them, was it any wonder she was unhappy? She’d be fine as soon as she was back in Baltimore. Though she couldn’t remember ever being incredibly happy there, she knew opening her bakery was going to change things.
And at least she wouldn’t be here.
EMILY WALKED around slowly, surrounded by the hot mist from food vendors and the tinny horn music from the kiddie rides. She was trying not to look like she was looking for him. There was a chance Win didn’t mean he wanted to spend any actual time with her at the festival when he’d asked if he would see her here. But there’d been no opportunity to find out for sure until now.
She’d seen him several times that day, just passing glimpses before Julia pulled her away, or his father distracted him. Emily was so relieved that Sawyer had come up to them when he did. It had given her the perfect excuse to go out on her own, although Julia didn’t seem as happy with the idea of being alone with Sawyer as Emily thought she would be.
Barely five minutes later, as she was heading to the information booth where she’d last seen Win as he was giving out directions to visitors, she felt a familiar warm hand on her arm.
She turned around and smiled.
Win had taken off his jacket and tie and his sleeves were rolled up. He’d lost the boater hat, too. He managed to look Caribbean cool, his white button-down billowing every time the wind picked up. His eyes were intense and green as he looked down on her.
“Hi” was her brilliant opening line. She couldn’t help it. Being this close to him flustered her.
“Hello,” he said.
“Have you noticed there’s a conspiracy to keep us at least twenty feet away from each other at all times? Who would have thought being friends would be this hard?”
He waved his hand forward, indicating they should walk. “I think that’s the difference between us,” he said, looking over his shoulder, distracted. “I knew how hard it would be going in.”
“So you get the badge of courage?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m glad to finally spend some time with you.”
Slightly mollified, she said, “I wish I could figure you out, “Win.”
That made a side of his mouth lift into a smile. “If you only knew how refreshing it is to hear that.”
“Oh, come on. You mean everyone has figured you out but me?”
He shrugged, making the fabric of his shirt wrinkle at his shoulders. “Everyone in Mullaby, at least.”
“Gee, as if I didn’t feel like such an oddball already.”
“See, that’s exactly what I mean. You live in such a strange town, and yet
As they walked, their arms touched as they were jostled by the crowd. She liked the unintentional nature of it. Everything else about Win was so deliberate. “Well, I’m glad I could shake things up for you,” she said, which made him laugh.
They’d only been walking for a few minutes before he stopped and led her to a short queue. “Let’s go on this ride,” he said suddenly.
“Why this one?” she asked, following him. Being with him felt like a game sometimes, only she didn’t know the rules. Or who was winning.
“Because it’s closest,” he said. “And my dad is nearby.”
Emily looked back, trying to find Morgan Coffey, but she couldn’t see him. Win paid for their tickets and they crossed the deck to the Ferris wheel. They took the next available seat and the attendant placed the safety bar across them.
Win put his arm over the back of the seat behind her and focused on the sky as the wheel slowly lifted them up. Emily, however, looked down at the crowd as it got smaller and smaller. She finally found his father. He was standing as still as stone, watching them with an expression made of ghosts and anger.
“He’ll leave soon,” Win said, still looking up at the dusky sky. “He won’t want anyone knowing that it bothers him that we’re together.
“You and your dad don’t get along, do you?”
“We’re alike in many ways. But we don’t see eye to eye. For example, he’s very attached to doing things the way they’ve always been done. I don’t agree.”
The Ferris wheel came to a stop two seats down from the top. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot this past week,” she said, and it came out a lot more moony that she intended.
He lowered his gaze from the sky and met her eyes. His smile was mischievous. “Oh?”
“Not like that,” she said, laughing. She stopped laughing when their seat swayed back and forth in the wind. She grabbed the safety bar in front of them. Of course
“What is it?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be a werewolf, would you?”
“Excuse me?” he said.
She slowly loosened her hold on the bar and sat back.
“There are only two reasons I can think of for why you don’t come out at night: night blindness or werewolf.”
“And you decided to go with werewolf?”
“It was a toss-up.”
Win didn’t answer for a few moments. He finally said, “It’s tradition. It’s gone on for centuries.”
“Why?”
“That’s a good question. I guess because that’s what traditions do.”
“Is this another thing you and your father don’t see eye to eye on?”
The wheel started moving again. “Yes. But going against this tradition is a big deal.” He turned to her. “Of all the things I’m going to tell you, you need to understand that the most.”
She suddenly felt excited. “What things are you going to tell me?”
“Strange and wondrous things,” he said in a dramatic voice, like he was narrating a book.
“And why? Why are you doing this?”
“I told you before, we have history.”
“Technically, we don’t,” she pointed out. “Your uncle and my mother had history.”
“History is a loop. We’re exactly where they stood twenty years ago. What’s theirs is ours, what’s ours will become theirs.”
“You’ve thought about this a lot.”
“Yes, I have.”
The wheel made one more rotation before stopping again. This time they were at the very top of the ride. Their seat creaked as it swung precariously back and forth. Emily grabbed the bar again.
Win smiled at her. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
“Of course not. Are you?”
He looked out over the horizon. “I like seeing things from this perspective. I know what everything looks like from down there. I like seeing the possibilities of what’s beyond that. What’s beyond that loop I was talking about.”
She didn’t realize she was staring at him until he turned to stare back. The air around them suddenly changed. She was so close she could smell him, a hint of cologne, and she could see the perspiration collected in the indentation at the base of his throat. His eyes went to her lips. Something warm and desperate filled her body. She’d never felt anything like it. It felt like the entire universe would cease to exist if something didn’t happen
But the moment passed and his chest rose and fell as if taking a very deep breath of air. He moved his arm
