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“Yeah. Right.” She shook her head.
“Finley, what do you think of this festival?”
“It’s the best!” she yelled, holding her jellyfish high above her head.
“See?” I raised my eyebrows at Kendall over the top of Finley’s head. “I’m gonna ask Elijah next.”
“If you can catch him,” she said with a laugh. We were back at the bottom now, which might have been helping her relax. Without giving it much thought, I lowered my arm just enough for my wrist to graze her upper back as we began to ascend to the top again.
“Just admit you pulled it off,” I said. “ADHD and anxiety be damned.”
Finley gasped as though she hadn’t heard me say that word a thousand times. Kendall giggled. “I’m just glad I don’t have to worry about it anymore after tonight. And I’m praying Sarah doesn’t ask me to do this ever—” The ride jerked as it came to a halt to unload people at the bottom. We were near the top again, and Kendall clenched her eyes shut.
My distracting her could only work for so long—I was running out of things to say. This time, however, it was Finley who came to her rescue. She stared up at Kendall’s frightened expression for a few seconds before reaching for her teacher’s hand. “Don’t worry, Ms. Devin,” she said in a perky, reassuring tone. “We’re safe right where we are.”
Kendall opened her eyes. “You’re right,” she said, giving Finley’s hand a squeeze. I looked down at my lap and smiled, instinctively letting my hand drop to Kendall’s shoulder. I hoped she would perceive it as a comforting gesture, not just me trying to make a move. As we started moving again, I thought I caught the corners of her lips lifting in a smile as she stared down at her hand holding Finley’s.
I swallowed. The three of us together like this—it was exactly the kind of connection I had been longing for. If only our circumstances were a little different. My mind swirled with thoughts of a future with Kendall, a future I knew was impossible. Or almost impossible.
I’d made that promise all those weeks ago, but if Kendall showed me just the tiniest inclination she’d changed her mind about it—I’d seize the opportunity without giving it a second thought.
I scanned her face for some kind of signal that she wanted to move forward—that she was willing to give this a try. Be it a secret relationship or a one-night thing just to get it out of our systems—I’d give her whatever she wanted.
Even if what she wanted was for me to leave her alone.
“Thanks for making sure I got a break,” she said. Her eyes lingered on mine, and for a moment, it was like Finley wasn’t sitting between us.
“You’re welcome.”
We were playing chicken with our gaze—who would be the first to tear their eyes away? Neither of us budged until Finley announced, “I hope this ride ends soon, ‘cause I’m about to pee my pants.”
That’ll do it.
* *
Just after nine o’clock, the rides came to a halt and their lights were shut off, and the crowd began to dissipate. The DJ played “Closing Time” just before shutting down and packing up for the night, along with all the vendors. My mom had been out of caramel apples for the past hour, and she and my dad dragged a tearful Finley to their car. It was well past her bedtime. “If you’re going to stay and clean up, she can sleep on the cot in our room tonight,” my mom had said, carrying Finley on her hip. My dad couldn’t hide his annoyance—we all knew Finley was going to end up in the bed between her grandparents.
Owen and I carried tables and chairs into the school, and then we loaded the cotton candy cart into a storage room at the back of the kitchen. The rest of the clean-up mostly involved picking up trash—it was everywhere. It took a group of ten or so volunteers almost an hour to get the school parking lot to look like—well, a parking lot—again.
Sarah, Owen, Kendall, and I were the last four to remain at the end of the night. “Everything we can do tonight is done,” Sarah said as she approached us on the sidewalk between the parking lot and the schoolyard. “The ride company and bouncy castle people are coming tomorrow morning to disassemble everything.”
“Do you need me here for that?” Kendall asked.
“No, you’ve done enough already. More than enough.” Sarah pulled Kendall in for a hug. “Now go get some rest.”
Owen gave me a goodbye nod. “See you, cuz.” And as the two of them made their way to Owen’s car parked down the street, he spontaneously picked her up by the legs and threw her over his shoulder. Sarah’s shrieking laughter echoed across the school grounds as he carried her off. We waved goodbye to them as they drove away. Only two cars remained in the side lot—mine and hers. Beneath the glow of the twinkle lights strung from the awning, we were completely alone.
“You didn’t have to stay so late,” Kendall said, pulling her cardigan together in the front. The temperature had dipped a bit since the sun went down. “I’m sure you need to get home to Finley.”
“She’s my parents’ problem right now.”
Kendall smiled. “She had a lot of fun tonight, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, she did.” I loosely crossed my arms and licked my lips, glancing from Kendall’s eyes to her mouth and back to her eyes. “Did you?”
She merely nodded.
“Good.”
