“Kacie! How could you not tell me you’re friends with Brody Fucking Murphy?”

“Tommy!” Lauren and I both reprimanded at the same time.

“Is he going with us? Are you going with us?” Tommy blurted out, his eyes jumping back and forth between Brody and me.

“Jesus, calm down, Tommy. I hope you’re this excited to meet our firstborn one day.” Lauren sounded annoyed.

“Uh, well if our kid comes out as the NHL MVP, then yes.”

“Okay, can we just stop all this and go, please? Girls! Come on!” I hollered down the hall. Lucy and Piper came running and huddled around Molly, hammering the poor girl with questions.

“Yes … but … is Brody going?”

“Yes, Brody is going. Come on already.” I threw my hands up in the air and grabbed my bag off the counter, slinging it over my shoulder.

“I am?” Brody looked at me, utterly confused.

“Yes, you are. Let’s go.” I started pushing everyone toward the front door.

“I smell like fish.” He argued, spinning around to face me.

“You smell great, hush.” I grabbed his shoulders and turned him back around, thoroughly enjoying the view from behind.

Once outside, Lauren turned to me. “Uh, my car isn’t going to fit everyone, we’ll have to take two.”

“No biggie, I can drive too.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Mommy, can we ride in Molly’s car?” Lucy asked, sticking her bottom lip out.

Piper stepped up behind her, clasping her hands together. “Pleeeeeeeeease?”

“It’s fine with me.” Lauren opened the car door, waving them in.

“Can I ride with Brody?” Tommy copied the girls, sticking his bottom lip out and clasping his hands together.

Lauren narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Only if you want him moving to Italy with you instead of me.”

Tommy’s eyes drifted up toward the sky, pretending to contemplate her offer. Lauren sighed and got in her car with Tommy right behind her.

“Wanna drive my truck?” Brody grinned at me.

Before I could answer, he tossed his keys to me and walked to the passenger’s side of his truck. I looked down at his keys in my hand, panic-stricken.

“Your truck? No way! I can’t drive a truck.” I fiercely shook my head.

He peeked his head around the back of the truck and grinned at me. “Get your ass in the truck and turn the key.”

I climbed into his truck, my heart thumping so loudly against my sternum, I was sure he could hear it.

“What do I do?” I tried to act composed, but my insides were rattling.

Brody’s hand reached over and squeezed my knee. “Hey, look at me.”

His face was relaxed, with a lopsided smile showing off one of his sexy dimples. His eyes were serene.

“Relax, it’s just a truck. It’s an automatic. You know what to do. Come on, start her up, they’re about to leave without us.”

I don’t know if it was his warm hand on my knee or his soothing voice but I felt much better, calm even. My confidence grew with each second as I put the key in the ignition and started the engine. It took me a few minutes to get used to the bigger truck and the engine, which was much more powerful than my little SUV.

“So, what made you change your mind?” Brody asked, propping his foot up on the dashboard.

I turned my head toward him without taking my eyes off the road. “Change my mind?”

“About me coming along.”

“Oh, I don’t really know.” I shrugged. “I thought it would be fun … and friends go to fairs together.”

“Touché.” Brody smirked and looked out the window.

We rode the last ten minutes in silence, not awkward silence where you feel uncomfortable just being together; it was content silence. I knew he was thinking about me, and he knew I was thinking about him. That silence was louder than any words we could have spoken.

His hand never did leave my knee, and I liked it.

We walked through the fair gates, and the scent of cotton candy and funnel cakes filled the air.

“Wow! Crowded today, everyone stay together,” Lauren said, aiming her attention at the girls.

“I’m gonna go grab tickets, be right back.” Brody’s hand grazed the small of my back as he walked by, sending shivers up my spine like another hit in my bloodstream.

“Hey Tommy, can you take the girls over and get them some water before we start with the rides?” Lauren asked.

Tommy grabbed Molly’s hand, which was already linked up with Lucy and Piper and off they went.

“What. The. Hell?” Lauren blurted out, spinning to face me. “I’ve been dying to get you alone. When did this start? Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?”

I laughed. “There’s nothing to tell, Lauren. We’re friends.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever. Seriously, what’s going on with you two? Hurry, before he comes back.”

I looked over toward the ticket booth at Brody who had been stopped by a small group of teenage boys. He was signing autographs and taking pictures, giving each kid a turn with his undivided attention.

“Really, there’s nothing going on. He showed up last weekend when he couldn’t get through town because of the flooding at the bridge, and we became friends. That’s all.”

“I’m not an idiot, Kacie. In that kitchen I watched him, watching you. Tommy would never look at me like that, except maybe if I were walking toward him butt naked carrying a heaping plate of bacon.”

“We’ve talked about this, Lauren. You know what I’m looking for. He doesn’t exactly fit the mold, ya know? I’m playing it safe.”

“Screw your mold, Kacie. Make a new one. He’s completely smitten with you, and you are with him.”

I sighed, growing frustrated. “Can we just not talk about feelings and futures and any of that crap today? I just want to have fun with everyone and give my brain a rest for a few hours. Fighting with yourself is exhausting.”

She didn’t have time to argue again because Brody jogged back over.

“What did you buy?” I exclaimed, gaping at the sheets of tickets in his hand.

“Uh … like thirty sheets of tickets? Think that’s enough?”

Lauren’s mouth hung open. “That’s like six hundred tickets!”

“We better get moving then.” Brody reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward Tommy and the girls.

We spent the next six hours filling up on hot dogs and nachos and riding every single ride there … twice. I wasn’t a big fan of fair rides, not the high ones anyway. I had a crippling fear of heights that kept me grounded the entire day. I was perfectly content sitting on a bench while those crazies spun and flipped their day away.

“Okay guys, one more ride and then I think it’s time to call it a day. Auntie Lauren isn’t used to all this. I need a bubble bath and a bottle of Tylenol.” Lauren plopped on the bench next to me.

“Whose idea was it to wear the cute wedges to a fair, knucklehead?” I shoulder bumped her.

“Can we do that one again?” Lucy pointed to a bizarre contraption that took them up in the air in a car-looking thing and spun them for four minutes. I would rather have a root canal.