Page 30 of Sweet Courage

“Let’s see how you do with bocce.”

The next thing she knew she was standing in front of a long dirt lane holding the heaviest ball she’d ever lifted and having more fun than she ever remembered having in her whole life. All because of Hanson Taylor.

Chapter Thirteen

Day one of the county fair was finally here, and to Hanson’s surprise, everything looked good to go. Food trucks lined the north end, the smell of fried everything drifted across the grounds in a way that made it impossible to walk past without stopping. Vendor booths stretched in two long rows down the center. Kids ran between adult legs with the focused energy of people who understood exactly how much daylight they had left and intended to use all of it. At the far end, anchoring the whole operation like a beacon, the Ferris wheel turned slow and steady against the cloudless sky.

Around him the Sweet family moved through the fairgrounds the way they moved through everything—together, loud, and entirely at ease. Preston argued cheerfully with Carson about something involving the livestock judging. The kids pulled in four directions simultaneously. Garret had found the corn hole courts within seconds of arrival, which surprised nobody. But the most important person—Kat—was beside him. Walking hand in hand, he’d never been happier.

“Looks like the fair company knew what they were doing after all.” Jillian’s gaze darted across the expanse of the busy grounds.

“Seems like it,” Rachel agreed. “So far everyone’s having fun.”

Hanson glanced up at the Ferris wheel. He was more surprised than anyone that this whole event had finally come together. Between the lack of communication and last-minute scrambling ensuring everyone had access to the right areas, including the local attendees, his money would have bet that none of this would have happened even close to on time.

“Ooh. I love kettle corn. Let’s get some.” Kat pointed to the nearby vendor, almost dragging him in that direction.

Though everything smelled terribly tempting, besides not wanting to let go of her hand, he had his doubts. “Last time you offered me food at a public event I was on fire for twenty minutes.”

“That was jalapeños. This is kettle corn.”

“You understand why I’m cautious.”

She laughed and he felt it somewhere between his ribs, the same place he’d been feeling it for weeks. He was beginning to understand that the feeling was not going away, and that he had stopped wanting it to.

“Look at those two.” In line with Rachel and Jillian and now Sarah Sue, Kat nodded toward the Ferris wheel.

Alice and Clint stood at the boarding platform. Clint had his hand at the small of her back, his head bent toward hers, and even from this distance, Hanson could read the love in the couple’s eyes. It was the same with the whole family. They would blow national divorce statistics out of the water. Alice waved a hand without turning around and stepped into the gondola. Clint followed. The operator latched the bar. The wheel moved them up and the next gondola came around for boarding.

A harsh, metallic screech shattered the cheerful noise of the fair. The Ferris wheel jerked, shuddered, and came to a dead halt. Above them, the gondolas swung wildly back and forth. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, followed immediately by the murmurs of confused onlookers pointing toward the sky.

His grip tightening on Kat’s hand, Hanson scanned the massive structure. Down at the control booth, a teenager in an oversized polo shirt frantically yanked at a pair of metal levers. Another horrific grinding sound echoed from the center hub of the wheel, sending a visible vibration down the steel supports. Hanson dropped Kat’s hand. “Stay here.” He moved quickly through the gathering crowd. His boots kicked up dust as he bypassed the low chain-link fence separating the operator from the public. Hanson kept his voice flat and authoritative. “Stop.”

The teenager froze. His eyes were wide and panicked. “I didn’t do anything. It just locked up.”

“Take your hands off the levers.” Hanson stepped up to the control panel. He studied the gears and the smoking brake housing near the primary drive motor. “You’re stripping the gears. Where is your maintenance crew?”

The kid swallowed hard. “The engineer isn’t supposed to get here until tomorrow morning. I’m just supposed to run the start and stop sequence.”

Hanson looked up at the massive central hub. His mind automatically broke the machinery down into its component parts, the same way he used to diagnose damaged transport vehicles in the desert. The primary brake assembly had seized. Unless the pressure was manually released from the catwalk behind the hub, the wheel was not going to move an inch.

Footsteps crunched heavily in the dirt behind him. Hanson turned. Kat rushed up to the control booth. Her face had drained of all color, and her phone was clutched tightly in her hand. She stopped, catching her breath. “Alice just called Sarah Sue.”

His gaze automatically shot up to the top of the wheel where Clint and Alice’s gondola had stopped and then back to Kat. “Are they okay?”

Kat shook her head. “It’s Clint. Alice says he’s sweating profusely and breathing hard. He’s flexing the fingers on his left hand and rubbing his left arm.”

A cold, sharp clarity dropped over Hanson. “Heart attack.”

Kat nodded quickly. “Sarah Sue already called her dad. He’s on his way.”

Whirling around, Hanson shouted at the kid. “Cut the power.”

“But—”

“No buts. Where is your emergency harness and climbing gear?”

The kid blinked, pointing a trembling finger at the box. “In there, but you can’t—”