Page 124 of Where Roads Lead

As the last of the daylight faded, I hoped the darkness would be enough of a reason to drive us out, but then the square lit up by the artificial lights strung up around the perimeter, and I realized the night might only be starting.

“This is perfect,” Elsie breathed out. “The only thing missing is—hayride!”

Her eyes lit up at the sight of Tom pulling around the bend in his pickup truck. It didn’t matter to her that the hay wagon attached to the back was currently filled with families and small children—I knew right then that Elsie wouldn’t let us get away with skipping out on it.

After the families unloaded, Theo climbed on first, and before Elsie had a chance to go up after him, Ava cut in front of her and planted herself firmly in the seat next to Theo, leaving Elsie and me at the end.

Theo looked pissed, but I didn’t care, and before he could object or ask to switch spots with someone, Ava had him engaged in one of her conversations that left little room for him to escape.

I bit back a smirk. I’d been on the receiving end of one of those talks more times in my life than I could count, and now for the first time, I was oddly grateful for Ava’s uncanny ability to hold someone hostage with words.

Tom waited a few moments for the back of the trailer to fill up with more people, while Elsie and I sat in silence, staring at Theo and Ava on the seat across from us.

Ava spared one glance toward me in the midst of her monologue, her eyes widening in a way that I knew was my call to action.

The opening she left me would be a waste if I couldn’t figure out what to say to the redhead sitting beside me.

I cleared my throat.

“Are you having a good time?”

She looked over at me, as if surprised that I had broken the silence.

But why? Talking was the one thing that had never been an issue between us. What had changed so drastically between us since the morning?

“I am,” she said, and then after a moment’s delay asked, “Are you?”

I couldn’t tell her that I could watch paint dry with her and have fun, so I just nodded while we slipped into silence once more.

The truck started with a rumble and set off on its course around the town square.

Elsie’s legs bounced up and down restlessly, and at first I thought it was nerves or maybe excitement, but after a few minutes I realized.

She was cold. And I was sure the slushie she was sucking down didn’t help.

I slipped my jacket off. If she wanted us to sit in silence, that was fine—but I wasn’t going to let her freeze, no matter how pissed at me she was.

“What are you—” she started, as I draped my jacket over her legs.

“You look very pretty, but I can’t watch you shiver anymore, okay?”

She smiled at me, grateful. And to my relief, her shivers subsided. “I think I have brain freeze,” she admitted glumly.

“I know.” I snorted, taking the slushie from her hands and replacing it with the hot cider I hadn’t touched. “That’s why I made sure to get you a backup option.”

She beamed at me with gratitude, as if I’d handed her the moon. It was too easy to make her happy. Dangerous, too. Because it made me want to keep pushing it, to give her more, if only so she’d keep staring at me like that.

But then, before my eyes, her face fell.

“What?” I asked quickly, ready to remedy whatever it was.

“You don’t need to do this, you know.” She stared down at the jacket, and then back at the cider. “Make yourself uncomfortable to take care of me.”

“I’m not uncomfortable,” I told her. “What made me uncomfortable was seeing you freeze your ass off, okay?”

She was silent, which, in a way, said everything.

“Are you pissed at me about something?”