803 Wishing Lane by Shaw Hart

Seven

Caroline

I hadn’t even thoughtabout getting a babysitter for tonight, so I’m lucky that Gracie stopped into the diner today for lunch and volunteered to watch Charlotte for me tonight. She’s the town florist and had promised that closing a little early wouldn’t be a problem.

I never really dated much growing up, and I’m so used to hanging out with Charlotte that I hadn’t thought about not taking her on our date, but I agreed with Heath that I needed some ‘me time’, so taking her with us would have defeated the purpose.

“So, she can have macaroni and cheese or I left some money on the kitchen counter if you want to order a pizza or something,” I tell Gracie as I grab my purse from the hook by the door.

“We’ll be fine!” Gracie promises, her ever-present smile on her face. “Won’t we, Charlotte?”

“Yeah!” Charlotte yells and the dogs start barking with her.

Heath knocks on the door a second later and I have to sidestep the dogs to answer it.

“Hey,” I greet him, blushing slightly as he passes me a bouquet of flowers that I’m sure he bought from Gracie earlier today.

“Hey,” he says, handing me the flowers and grabbing Remy and Rory before the dogs can make it out the door.

“Alright, be good, bunny. I’ll be back in a little bit,” I promise as I scoop down and grab Charlotte.

She giggles as I hug her, peppering her face with kisses.

“Have fun you two!” Gracie says, waving as she closes the door behind us.

“Ready?” Heath asks, holding his hand out to me and I smile, slipping my hand into his as he leads me over to his truck.

He helps me up and I breathe in deep. His truck smells just like him. Outdoorsy with just a hint of some kind of cologne. It drives me wild.

He buckles up and we start down the quiet streets of Cherry Falls. He heads toward Kissme Bay and I raise an eyebrow at him.

“What?” he asks with a low laugh, one that rumbles along my skin.

“Just surprised that we weren’t staying in Cherry Falls.”

“Where would we go? The diner for dinner?” he asks with another laugh and I join him.

Cherry Falls is pretty small and the only real date options are the Fireside Bar and Grill, Virgin Street Diner, or the Cherry on Top Ice Cream Parlor.

I try to relax as we head out of town but I’m still a bundle of nerves. Part of me is still worried about leaving Charlotte for the first time that wasn’t school. I know Gracie has it covered, though. She’s awesome with kids and I wonder when she’ll find someone and settle down.

The bigger part of me is worried that I’m going to embarrass myself and will never be able to show my face around Heath again.

It doesn’t take long to reach Kissme Bay since it’s the next town over. Heath slows as we enter the town and I look out the window, taking in the different storefronts.

I’ve haven’t been to Kissme Bay before but it’s been on my list of places to take Charlotte for a while.

“Mini golf!” I say excitedly as we drive past a place called Dimpled Balls.

“Want to play?” Heath asks and I nod, but he’s already pulling into the parking lot.

He helps me out of the truck and we head for the door. There’s only one other couple playing right now, and they’re already on the seventh hole, so I know that we won’t catch up to them.

He pays and I pick out my putter and ball, grabbing another one for Heath. He comes over with a slip of paper and a golf pencil, and I pass him his putter. It isn’t until we’re on the first hole that I realize how much I missed playing.

“I used to go with my brother all the time in high school,” I say, a pang of sadness hitting me.

“So, you’re trying to warn me that I’m about to get my butt kicked?” Heath asks and I smile at him, grateful that he’s trying to lighten the mood again.

“Oh yeah,” I say with a laugh, hitting my ball and watching as it rolls down the green, banking off of the wall, and rolling to a stop a few inches from the hole.

Heath groans and I grin, walking over and easily putting it in. He marks my score down on the card before he shoves the paper and pencil back in his pocket.

He bends down, setting up his ball, and when he stands up to putt, I can’t help but laugh. I swear that his arms are longer than the putter and he’s crouched down so low that he’s practically at a ninety-degree angle. I can see him grinning as he hits the ball.

He hit it way too hard and it goes sailing over to the green on the next hole.

“Just want to remind you that we’re still on the first hole,” I joke and he laughs, heading over to hit his ball again.

The rest of the game continues that way. I don’t think Heath makes a hole without hitting it at least ten times and by the time we’re done, his score is three times higher than mine.

“Thanks, that was a lot of fun,” I say, grinning up at him and he laughs.

“Yeah, it was.”

I love that he can take a joke and he isn’t super competitive. I don’t know why I thought he would be. Heath is the literal definition of a gentle giant.

“What should we do next?” he asks and I check my watch, surprised to see that we spent close to an hour and a half playing mini golf.

“Can we grab something to eat?”

“Of course,” he says, taking my hand in his and leading me over to the Reef Beach Bar.

The place is right across from the water and everything in it seems to be painted some neon color. Heath pulls out a neon pink stool for me and I hop on, watching as he takes the neon green one beside me.

The waitress comes over to take our orders a few minutes later and we both get burgers with a Coke.

“You’ve lived in Cherry Falls all of your life, right?” I ask him, taking a sip of my drink.

“Yeah,” he says with a nod, his eyes locked on my mouth wrapped around my straw and my body starts to tingle as his eyes heat.

“You’ve probably been here a million times then, huh?”

“Not really. I used to come with Jacob sometimes, but I was always more of a loner. I’d rather be up in the mountains camping or something than around all of these people.”

I nod. He did seem more comfortable up in the woods than in this crowded bar.

“What about you?” Did you go to a lot of places like this when you were younger?”

“Well, I’m from New York City, so besides Coney Island, there really aren’t that many places like this in the city. My friends Sayler and Coraline would drag me out there sometimes but I always felt like a third wheel.”

“Why is that?” Heath asks with a frown.

“They were always like sisters. I met them when we were freshman in high school, and by then they had been best friends for close to a decade. It’s hard to compete with that kind of history.”

Our food comes and we both dig in.

“What did you like to do at Coney Island?” he asks after a minute.

“The arcade,” I answer right away, smiling as I remember the flashing lights and laughing as we tried to beat each other.

Sayler was terrible at the games. She’d get distracted and she’d rather be moving than just sitting there pretending to drive a race car, but Coraline and I loved it.

“We should go to Holidaze Arcade after this,” he suggests and I nod.

“Only if you’re sure,” I say and he looks confused.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I was just worried that you were sick of losing to me already,” I joke and he grins.

“Never.”

We finish our food and Heath pays before we head back to the truck. The arcade is actually right across from the mini golf place. Heath parks and I race him inside, laughing as he picks me up before I can reach the door.

“Cheater!” I cry as he enters first and he laughs.

We grab some tokens and Heath follows me around as I check out all of the games. When I find the racing one, I grin, taking a seat. Heath crams himself into the seat next to me and I smile as I put my tokens in.

We’re more evenly matched in the arcade and by the time we’re out of tokens, we’re both tired and my side hurts from laughing so much.

“Come on. One more stop,” he says, taking my hand and crossing the road.

We walk over to Frenchie’s Ferris Wheel. It’s all lit up now and I realize that another three hours have passed without me realizing it. It feels good to go so long without worrying about Charlotte, the diner, or anything else.

“What made you decide on taking me here for our date?” I ask Heath as we take our seats on the Ferris wheel and start to rise into the air.

“It just felt like you hadn’t had much fun in a while. You’re always working so hard, and I rarely see you smile. I just wanted to do something to make you happy.”

My heart dips in my chest at that. Heath starts to blush and I realize that I’ve just been staring at him for a solid minute.

“Besides,” he says, clearing his throat, “I wanted to be prepared. I wasn’t sure if you were bringing Charlotte or not and if you did, I wanted her to have fun, too.”

That does it.

Hearing him say that has me falling for him right then and there and I can’t help it. I lean over, my lips brushing against his as we continue to rise into the sky.