“I like it,” he says, staring at our reflection, then he tears the tag off mine and walks to theregister.
“I’m not wearing this,” Isay.
“You are.” He pulls his wallet from his back pocket and hands his card to the young blond behind the counter. “Doesn’t she look adorable?” He thumbs back in my direction, and my cheeks sting with giddiness I only get fromhim.
The clerk swipes his card, then glances at me. “Sure.”
“Adorable is what you call a teacup poodle,” I say, taking the cap off and staring at the curly font that reads:BrooklynBound.
“No, adorable is what I call you.” He steps behind me and takes the cap, placing it back on my head, the correct way this time, then he pulls my ponytail through the hole in theback.
“You’reridiculous.”
“Thank you.” He motions me toward the exit and back onto the boardwalk teeming with people where we weave between crying children and guys onskateboards.
“So, what now? We’ve ridden just about everythinghere.”
Without a word, we veer to the right, and I’m now staring down the iconic, concrete ramp with Coney Island painted in red block letters along the side. The creepy, clown sign over the tunnel entrance informs us more rides are thisway.
“Where are we going?” I ask, watching the lights of the Wonder Wheel blink and flash over the walkway. “This is just the kid park…” I laugh, hoping he won’t pick up on the nervous quiver behind it. “I didn’t take you for the kind of guy who likes merry-go-rounds.”
“You can’t come to Coney Island and not ride The WonderWheel.”
He picks up speed when we breeze under the tunnel—and so does my heartbeat. I can handle the thrill rides. They move so fast you don’t have time to think, but Ferris wheels are slow enough to let my imagination runwild.
“I mean.” I swallow. “You’ve ridden it once; you’ve ridden it a thousandtimes.”
“But I’ve never ridden it withyou.”
Oh shit!We head toward the line that’s nowhere near long enough and stop behind a man and woman tangled up in each other’s arms. Elijah smirks at me like a smug asshole. “So, the Thunder Bolt’s fine, but the Wonder Wheel’snot?”
“Look, it’s nearly one-hundred years old.” I rub my arm while I watch the buckets in the middle of the ride swing from one side to the other on that godforsaken track. “One of those cars is bound to come off,” Imumble.
The line trudges up. “You do realize you have unfounded fears, don’t you?” He taps the bill of mycap.
“We’ve been over this, andyes.”
When the line moves again, I’m standing right underneath the sign that reads:Swinging. “I amnotriding on the swinging ones.” I attempt to snatch my hand from his grasp, but he just cocks a brow at me. “If you’re going to make me ride this terrible thing, at least put me in a stationarycar!”
“The swinging ones are the mostfun.”
“No!”
“I’ll throw you over myshoulder.”
Exhaling, I hang my head. I’m not getting out of this. My fate is sealed. “You’re anasshole.”
“You know, you keep saying that and yet…” He shrugs and then squeezes my hand. “Here youare.”
“Well, we did shake on abet.”
His eyes flutter. This man almost rolled his eyes at me. “You know as well as I do, there was no merit to that after date numbertwo.”
I fight a smile, then shift my gaze to the ground, staring at the wads of gum and discarded napkins lost as to what we are doing with eachother.
“Next!”
The squeal of the cars coming to a halt grabs my attention, and I glance up just as Elijah leads me to a blue one. We climb in—him with a bounce in his step, and me like I’m being led down Death Row. The operator closes the door. The bolt slides in place with a click. I just shake my head as I settle onto the hard seat, and my pulse goeshaywire.
