Chapter Fifteen

 

Elle

 

 

 

The Magic Wonderland looks creepy in the dark. I’m glad Colton is here because I wouldn’t dare to step one foot inside the gates without him.

He looks confident, and that puts me at ease. Part of me desperately wants to ask if he’s ever been here on a date with another girl, but that would make me come across as an envious person—which, truth be told, I would be if I found out that yes, he does take girls here on the regular. In order to protect myself, I think it’s best to steer away from that topic altogether. I strongly believe that in this case, ignorance is bliss.

We have only exchanged a handful of words since running out of the diner and the tension between us is so palpable, I can hardly contain myself from grabbing his shirt and planting my lips on his while roaming my hands along his back.

“Is that okay with you?” he asks.

“Huh?”

With all this fantasizing about pulling him close, I haven’t heard a word he said. I look at him and there’s that smile again. The one that makes me all mushy and warm inside.

“Do you want to head in and walk around for a bit?” he repeats.

“What a delight that would be.”

I cringe. Even I am not sure why sentences like these erupt from my subconscious when Colton is near. One moment I sound like a rapper, the next I’m a lady in a historical romance novel, and then there are times when my brain doesn’t even work properly and no words at all come out. I take a deep breath in. Pull yourself together, Elle. You’re at The Magic Wonderland with Prince Charming himself. The park is deserted. The possibilities are endless.

Okay, those thoughts aren’t calming at all. If anything, they make my pulse race even faster.

“So, you come here often?” I ask.

Colton laughs and I’m not even offended. I would laugh too if he said something stupid like that to me.

“Are you okay?” he asks, studying my face.

I nod furiously. “I am. I’m sorry, I’m just nervous.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder and slowly lets his fingers trail down to my elbow, then my wrist, until he reaches my hand. Feelings of pure joy rush through me. There could be a zombie apocalypse happening right now and I wouldn’t even notice.

He entangles my fingers in his and lets his lips caress mine. “You’ve got nothing to be nervous about, Elle. Let’s enjoy the evening. Just the two of us.”

“Uh-huh.” It comes out as a low murmur.

Colton disables the alarm system and the gates to the park swing open. He flips some switches, causing some of the streetlights along Main Street to come on. The rest of the park is bathed in moonlight, casting a romantic shadow everywhere I look. I take back my words about this being creepy. This is anything but.

We walk through the park, passing the hot dog cart where I now work. I sigh dramatically when I spot it.

“What’s wrong?” Colton asks.

“Oh, nothing.”

“That sigh didn’t sound like nothing.”

I smile at him. “The hot dog cart reminds me of the unflattering costume I get to wear every day.”

Great. Now he’s going to think of me in that ridiculous outfit again. It’s bad enough that he gets to see me dressed like that every day. Why do I feel the need to give him extra mental reminders of my predicament? Not the way to appear desirable, Elle. So not the way.

He snorts, probably because he remembers how stupid that hot dog suit makes me look. “You don’t like the outfit?”

I shake my head. “I hate it with a vengeance. It’s ugly and brownish and it makes me sweat like crazy. I’d rather be one of the condiments.”

He stops and turns to me. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I think you look unbelievably hot in that costume.”

Wow. Prince Charming sure has a knack of making me weak in the knees. “Really?” I ask. I find it hard to believe he’s being honest about this.

“I’m serious.”

I level him with a look. “Even with that hat dripping fake red ketchup over my face?”

“Especially with that hat. You’re the sexiest hot dog I’ve ever seen. Almost no one can pull off that costume without looking silly, but you do. Everything about you is beautiful. Your face, your smile, your kindness, your funny comebacks, and the way you sometimes struggle to find the right words.”

Heat flushes my cheeks. I’m not great at receiving a compliment, especially not from a dream guy like Colton. “Thank you.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. I hardly ate at the restaurant,” he says. “So, what do you say?”

“Do you want me to make you a hot dog?”

“What? No, that’s not what I mean at all.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’d hate for you to think I see you as my personal hot dog provider. I thought we could get something from the cotton candy machine.”

“Is that even possible?” I ask. The machines all get cleaned and powered down before the park closes every day, so I don’t know how he’d pull this off.

“Of course. It doesn’t take long to set it up or to clean it. No one will ever know we sneaked in and got ourselves a nice treat.”

I follow him to the castle grounds where several shops are scattered around the courtyard, all of them with faux facades that remind me of a fairy-tale land. The only sounds are our footsteps on the cobblestones and the soothing splash of the courtyard’s fountain. I sigh and take a long, slow breath in, trying to savor it all.

“The park looks amazing after closing time, right?” Colton asks.

I nod. “Do you come here often after hours?”

“Sometimes. Frank doesn’t mind, and it helps me clear my mind,” he says while powering up the cotton candy machine. The equipment whirs to life with a soft humming sound, and he grabs a stick to make the sugary treat for us. He spins it around like a pro, his wrist flexible as if he’s been doing this for years and making cotton candy comes naturally to him.

“What?” he asks with a smile when he catches me looking at him.

“I was just wondering if there’s anything you’re not good at.”

He laughs. “Of course there is. If you’re wondering about my expert handling of this machine, you should know that I manned one of these stands before I got the Prince Charming job. Practice makes perfect.”

He shuts the machine off and hands me the cotton candy.

“Aren’t you going to get yourself one?”

His eyes glisten. “I thought we could share this one.”

“Oh, sure, we can share.” I sound casual—I hope—but my tone doesn’t match my feelings. I feel like a blob of Jell-O in his vicinity, about to go wiggling all over the place should he touch me.

I flash him my biggest smile in an attempt to come across as relaxed, but the way he frowns suggests that I probably resemble one of those poor people you see in constipation medication commercials, so I immediately tone it down to what I hope is a normal smile.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I give him a thumbs-up. “Never better. So, where do you want to eat this thing?”

“I know the perfect spot. Come on,” he says, grabbing my hand.

First, I think he’s taking me to the Ferris wheel, but when we whiz straight past that, I realize he’s got a different plan. Solar Adventure Town towers in front of us, the part of the park that houses not only a super cool space-themed roller coaster but also the planetarium.

He leads me to the building where the planetarium is located and switches the lights on. After fumbling with some other levers and buttons, the ceiling transforms into a sea of stars and planets.

We nestle ourselves in the plush seats, the cotton candy between us. I pluck a piece off and put it in my mouth, munching it slowly.

Colton, on the other hand, sinks his teeth right into the soft texture of the candy. When he pulls back, his nose is all pink.

“You’ve got something on your nose,” I say.

He grins. “Really?”

I swallow and touch the tip of his nose, trying to sweep it off, but it’s too sticky. He takes my hand, then places soft kisses on my fingers. “Thanks for that.”

“No worries. Maybe you should use your hands to eat instead.”

“I don’t think so. You should try my way of eating,” he says with a laugh. “The sticky nose is more than worth it.”

I smile and take a bite without using my hands this time. He’s right. This is much more fun.

We both take another bite. Our noses touch, and I chuckle. Not because this situation is funny, but because I’m way too excited and I need an outlet for my pent-up feelings.

Slowly but surely, we finish off the entire cotton candy. When we’re both at the last bite, our lips touch. The kiss is sweet and sticky, the kind of imperfectness that makes a kiss simply perfect. A soft sigh escapes from my mouth and I realize I want more. I want—I need—certainty about where this thing between us is headed. I can’t cope without there being fine lines and definitions. Call me a control freak, but I don’t want to keep wondering if we’re in an exclusive relationship or not.

As I come up gasping for air, I tell him how I feel. “Colton. I want to go all-in. I don’t want to keep guessing where we’re at. I need this to be clear.”

He nods. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I want us to be together, Elle. So bad.”

I bite my lip. “Do I sense a but coming? Is this about Maggie?”

“No,” he says. “It’s not. I mean, we both know her not approving of us dating is nothing but a weak excuse. We’re adults, right? We can do what we want. It’s just that…”

“Yes?”

He sighs. “What if Maggie is right? What if I break your heart when I leave?”

Oh, right. The leaving.

“How set are you on leaving?”

“Very. It’s not that I don’t want to stick around for you, Elle. I might. I just don’t want to end up like my father.” He winces as he speaks those words, as if he’s eaten an entire lime and can’t get the taste out of his mouth.

“What happened between you two?” I cautiously ask.

He flicks me a gaze, assessing me, almost as if he’s not sure about sharing the details of this particular part of his life with me. Then he puts his hands in his lap and sighs. “He bolted. Said he didn’t want to be stuck in a small town like Summerville Creek and that we were the reason he had to give up his dreams.”

“That must’ve been rough.”

He nodded. “Yeah, but that wasn’t even the worst part. He left when Mom got sick. They had always dreamed of traveling the world together, but they never did. First, it was lack of money, then it was us. They had four kids in a short amount of time. And then, when we were old enough to go and see the world with them, Mom’s health deteriorated. When we found out she was terminally ill, he left. Can you believe that? He just left. Didn’t even have the decency to stick around until after she was gone. I can’t understand how he could do that to her. We helped Mom buy the house at the beach and made sure her remaining time was spent in a loving way. Even after all that, we never heard from him.”

The anger in his eyes and desperation in his voice breaks my heart. I don’t speak, instead I pull him close and envelop him in a tight hug. We sit in silence for a while, until my arm is sleeping, and I need to change positions if I still want my extremities to work after tonight.

I clear my throat. “I can’t understand why someone would do that either. But I need to know this. Why do you think staying here will turn you into him?”

“It all sounds ridiculous, I know. But what if leaving during a difficult time is a genetic thing? My grandfather did it as well. I don’t want to wake up one day and realize my life is not what I wanted, and then bolt, you know?”

“You’re not your father, Colton. Anyone can see you’re a good guy. You stuck around and helped your mom and Maggie, right? Besides, you’re aware of all that was wrong with the way your dad behaved, which means you can tell right from wrong.”

“Thanks. I needed to hear that.” He smiles at me. “You’re the best girlfriend a guy could wish for, do you know that?”

My heart skips a few beats. “Girlfriend?”

“If you still want to be,” he says with a grin, knowing all too well there’s nothing I want more.

I smile back at him and give him my answer with a tantalizing kiss while I try out the words Colton is my boyfriend in my mind. Gah, this is it. This is what heaven is made of.