She laughed as she pushed the gas harder.
“Please, for the love of God, go the speed limit,” I added.
“JP, I’m literally going under the limit right now,” she said with a laugh. “C’mon, you have to admit I’m good at this.”
I wasn’t about to fully agree, but her confidence had a grin tugging at my lips. It was nice to see the wild, reckless side of her hadn’t been fully tamed.
A few minutes later, she patted me on the back. “You okay, big guy?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s nice.” I gently took her hand and placed it back on the wheel. “But hands on the wheel, please," I said, making her giggle even more.
________
When we finally arrived, she gave me a bright smile. “Don’t you love traveling? It’s like we’re on this grand adventure, ya know?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. But in all honesty, I couldn’t care less where we were going or what we were doing. I just liked being with her.
Scrambling out of the car, she tugged me forward. “The flowers around here are so gorgeous, just wait ‘til you see. Your dad would absolutely love it here. And there’s this whole area that looks like a fairy garden,” she rambled on. “And then there’s the castle, of course. I’ve never actually gone up inside the castle before. We usually just get some food and discover different parts of the gardens.”
I blinked at her little revelation. “Do youwantto go up thecastle?” I asked, looking at the towering grey structure in the distance.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Doyou?”
“Uh…” I tried reading her face. It looked like she really wanted to try it. “Why not? Like you said, it’s an adventure.”
Her face brightened with a grin.
After purchasing tickets, we walked through beautiful grounds as we followed the pathway up to the castle.
Ali was busy studying every angle of the ancient building, clearly enjoying herself, until she set her gaze on the staircase.
“Oh.” Her eyebrows pinched together.
“What’s wrong?” I rubbed her shoulders.
She worried her bottom lip. “It’s a little tight, isn’t it?” she asked, studying the stairwell.
“I mean…” I watched a guy about my size dunk his head as he made his way up. “I think we’ll fit, but we don’t have to keep going if you want to turn back.”
“No, no.” She fixed a small smile on her face. “I think you’ll really like it. Let’s…let’s just go, right?”
I shrugged. “Sure, if that’s what you want to do.”
With a nod, she pulled us into the line of people moving toward the extremely narrow staircase. While climbing, I had to tilt my head forward to avoid skimming it on the ceiling. As we moved up in the line, Ali almost slipped on a step. My hands darted to her hips to steady her.
“You good?”
“Yeah, why?” she asked, a little breathless.
“Because you were always…” afraid of heights,I finished in my head. I knew her fear of heights is what kept her out of pairs skating. But by the way Val and Brandon had been tossing her up in practice, I figured she’d gotten over that fear in the last decade.
As soon as we reached the top platform, the view around us came into sight, and it knocked the breath clean out of me. From this vantage point, the woodlands surrounding the castle were even more sprawling and impressive than I originally thought. We honestly had the perfect day to come up here. There were blue skies for miles, making it an even prettier scene to take in.
“JP.” Ali’s voice wobbled behind me.
“Yeah?” I asked, mesmerized by the incredible view. “This is insane. Come over here,” I said, moving to the wall.
“No, no, no.” Her voice was strained. “I can't.”
