Chapter 4
Thecarjoltedtoa stop as Brandon found a parking spot between a large SUV and a minivan. We’d left later than I wanted to that morning. I had struggled to strike a balance between encouraging Brandon to hurry up so we wouldn’t be late without veering into nagging territory. Mixed with the Saturday morning traffic, we were already five minutes late by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the amusement park.
I looked at the clock on the dashboard for the third time in as many minutes, feeling antsy. Brandon drove slowly through a parking lot filled with families and groups of teenagers. I didn’t think he had noticed my constant time checking, so I was surprised when he said, “We aren’t even that late. Calm down, it’s not a big deal.”
I tried to be still, but it was impossible. “I haven’t met Emma before. I wanted to make a good impression.”
The keys were hardly out of the ignition when I practically leapt out of the car, pulling my cross-body purse over my head as I went. “We’re supposed to meet them inside the park, just past the ticket counter.”
Brandon’s door closed with a loud thud. He was muttering under his breath about people not knowing how to park when I hurried around the front of the car to reach him before he got too far ahead. “This should be fun. I haven’t been here in ages,” I said, trying to cheer him up.
His eyes followed the path of a giant roller coaster that reached high over the top of the fence that surrounded the park. I knew he wasn’t as into rides as I was, but he hadn’t protested when I told him that Dom suggested meeting here instead of for dinner or drinks. Maybe he thought it was a good way to get out of awkward lulls in conversation, since there weren’t any guarantees that we’d be together all day.
When he didn’t reply, I reminded him, “You said you were going to give them a chance. You should get to know Dom, and I think I should get to know Emma.”
“You say that like you aren’t just an adrenaline junkie who is accepting roller coasters as an alternative to me learning to fling you in the air.”
I laughed. Flinging sounded a lot less restrained than what I really did, but I couldn’t deny that the two things had similar pulls for me. “You don’t have to go on the scarier ones if you don’t want to. There’s plenty of junk food around, if that’s more your style.”
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, clearly not sure if I was serious or not. He seemed to realize it was a joke, because his face relaxed. “Let’s get in line. This could take a while.”
I pulled out my phone and texted Dom.
We got stuck in traffic, so we’re just waiting in line for tickets now. Where are you?
Inside, to the right.
The line moved quicker than I expected. Soon we were entering the park, tickets in hand. We had to squeeze past a family with not one but two strollers, but then I spotted Dom. Standing next to him was a tall, gorgeous woman with shoulder-length brown curls. They were highlighted and styled just enough that it was clear that she put a lot of effort into it, without looking overdone. She had a pair of white short shorts that contrasted with the tan skin of her legs and a shirt that was tight enough to show that she had an amazing body. Suddenly, it was very clear why Dom had mentioned that she could bring in a lot of money in tips from her bartending job. It didn’t take much imagination to realize that a bunch of drunk young men probably thought that they’d have a shot at her if they gave her extra large tips.
“Hazel!” Dom yelled, getting not only my attention, but getting glances from everyone around us. He made his way over with Emma on his heels. He pulled me in for a hug, holding me so close that I got a good whiff of his familiar scent, before giving a nod to Brandon and offering his hand. “This is my girlfriend, Emma,” Dom said, placing an arm around her waist. My eyes rested on it for a minute, not used to seeing him reaching for somebody else like that. My stomach tensed. It was oddly unsettling. “Emma, this is my partner Hazel and her boyfriend, Brandon.”
Brandon’s arm tightened over my shoulder at the word partner. I chose to ignore it. The day had barely started. I couldn’t make a big deal about something so minor already. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said to Emma. Damn it, I even had to look up at her. I was going to be craning my neck all day with these three. “I know you’re usually busy on weekends.”
“I have to work tonight, but this sounds like it should be fun.” She had a killer smile. I suddenly wished that I had spent more time trying to look nice. “I’ve wanted to see who Dom wasspending all his days with for a while, but it hasn’t worked out until now.”
Dom had never mentioned that to me, but I wasn’t about to open that can of worms. I didn’t have the slightest idea whether she was possessive or jealous. My curiosity wasn’t worth it. I could always ask Dom at the rink when it was just the two of us. But damn, we’d only been a group for a couple of minutes and I was already trying to sidestep landmines. I focused on the first part of her comment. “We’d better get in line before you have to leave, then.”
The line for the first rollercoaster was already snaking through the barriers, so we had some time to kill. “So, how long have you two been together?” Brandon asked Emma.
“A couple of months,” Emma said. She looked up at Dom, who was watching as the ride dropped overhead, the occupants screaming on their way down.
I could see him trying to do the math in his head, so I tried to change the subject. After Worlds the previous March, Dom and I had given an interview where we’d been asked if we were dating. We had explained that while we were good friends and happy to be partners on the ice, we were each dating other people. That was long enough ago that it hadn’t been Emma, a fact I thought Brandon might just be realizing. I didn’t even think that it had been one specific person, just a few people he’d met on a dating app and was seeing casually. Even so, it had meant that Brandon and I needed to have a few uncomfortable discussions.
“I haven’t had the chance to go on the rides that are new this year,” I said, reaching out for Brandon’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “How bad do you think the wait is going to be?”
“I don’t know,” Emma said at the same time that Dom said, “Awful. Guaranteed.” He finally turned away from the people screaming overhead to look at us.
“Two very different attitudes,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “I hope you forgive me if I side with her and choose to be optimistic.”
Dom shrugged. “Maybe you’ll be lucky. There are a bunch of kids around. I doubt they’d meet the height requirement.” A devilish grin spread over his face, and he said, “Speaking of height requirements, are you sure you’ll meet them?”
A laugh escaped as I rolled my eyes. “Keep complaining and you’ll be finding somebody bigger to pick up at the rink.”
He grinned back, which was impossible not to return. He turned to Emma and said, “This is the attitude I have to put up with at work. I might prefer the drunk people you have.”
Brandon still seemed tense when the employees strapped us into our harnesses for the ride. I gripped the bars that came over my shoulders as the workers moved down the line. When I looked at Brandon, I saw he was holding on so tight his knuckles had gone white. He had claimed that he would go on anything I wanted to and that he wasn’t afraid of heights, but I was starting to doubt that.
Trying to distract him, I asked, “Will you judge me if I scream on the way down?”
