My perfect woman. “Definitely.”
Thirty minutes after we’d left The Zipper, I was on my second beer and feeling practically euphoric. The combination of alcohol and the fading adrenaline rush from the carnival rides had put a smile on my face that would stay all night. On top of that, Finn had just texted that he’d brought the kids to the fair, and I couldn’t wait to see their happy faces.
“Hey, would you care if we met up with my brother and his kids?”
“Of course not.” Cole grinned, then drained the last of his beer.
I smiled and did the same, tossing my plastic cup in the trash on our way out of the beer garden.
As we stepped through the gate, Cole’s hand came to the small of my back. “Lead the way.”
A tingle traveled from his fingertips to my neck at the unfamiliar gesture. Jamie had never done that for me—guided me as we walked. He’d been more of a grab-my-hand-and-drag-me-behind-him kind of guy.
But I liked this with Cole. I liked that it was different. I liked that it was subtle. I liked that in a sea of people, it tied us together. And when his hand fell away a few steps later, I missed the pressure of his fingers as we walked through the Friday-night crowd back toward the rides.
Unlike when we’d arrived at the fairgrounds, the sight of bright lights and spinning rides didn’t make me nauseous. An enormous weight had been lifted now that we were done with this particular list item. From now on, I’d never feel compelled to do more than ride the Ferris wheel.
“Thanks again for coming with me tonight.” If not for Cole’s help, I doubt I would have made it through.
“Sure.” He nudged me with his elbow. “Thanks for not puking on me.”
I laughed just as I spotted Finn standing outside the gate to the small dinosaur-themed train. “There they are.” I pointed and changed directions.
“Ugh,” he groaned, glaring at the dinosaur cars.
He’d barely been able to fit on that ride. He’d had to sit in the caboose by himself because it was the only car big enough for his long legs. Even then, his knees had come up nearly to his chin. But he’d toughed it out through the four slow laps, and when we’d drawn a crowd of adults, staring at him with puzzled faces, Cole had just smiled and waved, pretending like it was no big deal that a grown man was on the kiddie train.
“You didn’t like this one?” I teased. “I think this was my favorite ride of the day.”
Cole scoffed. “My favorite part was when I got stuck trying to get out of the damn car.”
I laughed. I’d had to help him off the ride by holding his arm so he could balance as he yanked his feet free. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh.” I tried to rein it in, but I couldn’t stop picturing the faces of the parents who had been watching. They’d had vise grips on their children as they watched Cole curse at the triceratops. “Did you see that one mother? She looked like she was about to call the cops on you.”
“Thank god she didn’t.” He shook his head. “I never would have lived that down at the station.”
I smiled up at him, conveying silent thanks. It was hard to believe that I’d had such an awful lunch with Jamie’s parents earlier. Cole had turned my whole day around by bringing me here.
Him, and doing this for Jamie.
Even though his parents were against it, today had reinforced my decision to finish the birthday list. No matter how much Debbie and Kyle objected, I was seeing this through. A year ago, nothing would have helped after such a bad encounter with Kyle and Debbie. I would have let it ruin my day, probably an entire week. But doing something fun, something for Jamie, had made it all go away.
“Aunt Poppy!” Kali screeched, waving wildly from her seat on the dinosaur train.
“Kali!” I waved back as I reached Finn’s side. My brother gave me a quick hug before I bent down to Max in his stroller. “How’s my Max?” I kissed his cheek.
“Pop, Pop.” He pointed to Kali. “Wook.”
“I see that. Isn’t it cool?”
He stared at his sister with a dazed look, probably wondering what she was doing or wishing he were old enough to follow.
I smiled and kissed him again, then stood just as Cole and Finn were shaking hands.
“I know you,” Finn said.
Cole nodded. “Cole Goodman.”
“Right.” Finn looked to me and then back to Cole, letting go of his hand. “Well, it’s nice to see you again under better circumstances.”
“Same to you. Is this your son?”
“This is Max.” I patted the stroller, then pointed to the ride. “And that’s Kali.”
“The mini-Molly?” Cole asked.
I smiled. “That’s the one.”
“What are you two doing here?” From Finn’s furrowed eyebrows, he wasn’t quite sure what to make of me and Cole, but I’d explain later.
“Well, your sister spent the better part of the afternoon dragging me along on every ride at the fair. Every. Single. One.” Cole circled his finger around, indicating each of the kiddie rides surrounding us.
“Yikes.” Finn chuckled. “How’d you even fit?”
Cole and I looked at each other, then burst out laughing. “Finn,” I held my side, “you should have seen him try and get into the little flying bumble bees. He had to beg the guy running the machine to even let him try. Then they had to balance the ride with me and a bunch of kids on the opposite arm. All of these people were standing around, glaring at Cole for being a pain. It was hilarious.”
Cole shook his head at my teasing. “I knew I should have snapped a picture of your green face when we were on The Zipper.”
“Sorry, Detective. You missed your chance, because that will never happen again.”
“You got her on
