After one more round of hugs, we divide up. Connor and I are on our way to the parking lot, but he takes hold of my hand and yanks me in another direction.
“What’s up?” I wonder.
“We have a few minutes to spare.” He begins to tow me in the direction of the Ferris wheel, and a twinkling star inside of me travels from my heart to my stomach. “Come on. One time around.”
It would be impossible to scrape the giddy look off my face, from the time he suggests his romantic scene to the moment that I’m sitting next to him in one of the cars on our way up to overlook Lake Spark.
Interlinking our arms, I cozy up close to him and rest my head against his shoulder and a deep long relaxing breath escapes me.
“Connor Spears, what am I going to do with you?” I say softly, with my words sounding floaty. Probably, because I need to pinch myself that this isn’t a dream.
“I could give you a list of about a hundred options if that helps you,” he offers.
I rest our connected hands on my lap and admire our wedding rings. A happy accident in the end. I was supposed to be watchful and cautious around him, but I only seem to be falling in the best possible way.
“It’s not so bad… being married… to you,” I state flatly, but I mean so much more.
His deep, smooth chuckle rumbles in the back of his throat. “Why thank you, I think.”
We glance briefly at one another with sheepish smirks. Then our balloon that kept us at a distance bursts when he leans down to kiss me like it always matters. Soft to start, then his lips take me on a journey to being commanded. I love every second of it.
“Mmm,” I hum because I feel as though I’m drowning in a pool of glitter. Inside, everything sparkles. We’re being sappy, but our nights in bed are anything but.
Getting comfortable in my seat, we approach the top of the wheel and both look out ahead when the car stops. Something tells me he may have bought us a little extra time up here.
“It’s hard to imagine living anywhere else,” I note. Connor makes a sound but doesn’t answer, and I feel his muscles tighten slightly. I realize why. “If you transfer teams in a year, then… we will figure it out.” That’s the best that I can say.
He kisses the top of my head affectionately. “Someone is thinking long run,” he teases, but I hear the vulnerability.
“Maybe I am.” It comes out faint.
“You know, the off-season is when I should be relaxing and resetting my mind and body for next season. I wasdeeplyconcerned when we woke up in Vegas that plan went out the window.” I hear the humor drenched in his sentence. “But I think it’s worked out quite all right.” Now that part was just honesty, and it causes me to ensure our eyes meet and lock.
“I think so too,” I agree.
We both lean in, with our foreheads touching, and I’ve never felt so alive.
“What kind of guy would I be if I don’t kiss you at the top of a Ferris wheel overlooking the lake?” The desperation in his voice causes my cheeks to heat up.
“I don’t know, you’ve been the guy to not kiss me before,” I taunt him.
His response is to growl and bring his hand to cup my cheek, demanding my full attention. “That was another time. Tell me we’re past that.”
I slowly nod without hesitation that we are. It must make him happy because before I can register, his lips are on mine, and I’m certain it’s his way of sealing my confirmation.
No going back.
But it doesn’t cross my mind anyway.
* * *
Sitting outsideat the table on the deck of the house, we all are in a filled-belly slumber. Dinner was delicious, partly because I didn’t have to cook, and the bottle of wine that my mom picked out was a perfect pairing.
Now we’re taking a rest before ice cream for dessert.
My eyes break away from the candle keeping mosquitos away and draw a line to my mother.
“Okay, so I’ve planned for a wedding dress fitting in Chicago just in case, and of course, your grandmothers and Isla could join us,” my mom casually mentions.
