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“Looks like maybe.”
Cars were streaming down the road that led to the showgrounds, and they joined the throng of pedestrians that flowed through the entrance, children with glow sticks hanging on strings around their necks bobbing and skipping through the crowd as they made their way to the grandstand.
They’d only just sat in the bleachers when the first performers, a musical group of elementary school aged kids, began. From the first off-key and high-pitched note, he knew he was in trouble. Unless there was a mosh pit involved, concerts weren’t high on his list of fun activities in the first place. He liked to be doing, not sitting. It was never his strong suit, and especially not on such a hard, uncomfortable seat.
Carissa, on the other hand, was rapt, and he was pretty sure her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “Oh, this is precious.”
“Sure is.” He was looking at her when he said it, willing her to turn and see that he meant her. The kids were fine, they were cute, but Carissa…
He didn’t realise he was jiggling his knee until Carissa put her hand on his thigh, like she’d done in the plane, but with a lighter touch. It was distracting enough that he stopped fidgeting, but when she shifted her hand upwards it sent a rush of blood straight where he didn’t need it going, not in public anyway.
He dropped his hand on hers and twined her fingers through his, gripping tighter when she tried to slide her hand upwards again. When she tried a third time, a smirk playing across her lips, he moved their clasped hands so they were resting on her thigh instead. He wasn’t sure it was any better.
He lost count of how many songs the group was on when they launched into a slow one, and he wondered how many more acts were on the program they hadn’t remembered to grab. There was a reason he never came to these things, and it wasn’t because he didn’t like music or appreciate performers. It was just that with nothing to occupy his hands or channel his energy, he found himself restless and antsy. With Carissa beside him it was even worse than usual. He was buzzing inside, had been since the night before when he’d left her on her bed, that skirt of hers barely covering her. Tonight, every little touch, every time she moved a finger or her thigh brushed against his, every time she smiled or her lips parted as she mouthed along with the Christmas carols, he just wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere private.
“Oh wow. I love this. But…” Carissa leaned out and scanned the crowd before sitting back and tipping her head toward his. “Are we supposed to be doing something with our candles?”
“Ah, I forgot.” There was a sea of candles, both real and battery operated ones like theirs, flickering throughout the audience. He pulled his hand free of hers and found theirs in his pocket and flipped the ‘on’ switches. “Here you go.”
Her face glowed with the faint, flickering artificial light, and she swayed to the music, whisper-singing along to yet another Christmas song. She’d never looked prettier.
“What?” She’d caught him staring.
“Nothing.” It was a lie though. What he was feeling was too much to put into words. It needed to be put into action, but the middle of packed bleachers was not the place for that.
When the applause for the kids’ performance died down and the next group was getting ready, Carissa turned to him. “This isn’t really your scene, is it?”
For a split second he considered lying, but she must’ve caught his hesitation because she narrowed her eyes. “No. Not really.”
She was on her feet the instant he said it. “Let’s go.” She pulled on his hand.
He could’ve kissed her right then and there, except after their mistletoe kiss, he wanted the next one to bereal.Not that he’d faked any part of that first kiss. Every part of it had been good, except for the audience. It was just that the next time he kissed her, he wanted it to be between the two of them, and no one else. If he was going to explore anything more with her, he didn’t want to feel like he had to hold back.
Carissa didn’t even bother trying to be sneaky getting down from the bleachers, and as soon as they got out into the carpark, she took one look at him and then took off running.
“C’mon, Big Nick! I’ll race you!” He liked the view from where he was just fine, though, so he let her win all the way until the very last. Then he poured on the speed and beat her to the motorcycle.
“You’re a closer, are you?” Carissa panted the words out breath by breath.
“Always. I like to be the one to bring it home.” Their eyes met, and he swore a charge went through him. “There’s somewhere I want to take you.”
Maybe it was his imagination, that she pulled on her helmet and jacket faster than before. What he knew for sure was that the instant she was settled on the motorcycle behind him again, it felt more than good. It felt right. She was close to him, where she belonged, and once they were speeding off into twilight, the wind rushing past them, it was even better.
With almost the entire town at Carols by Candlelight, the roads were as good as abandoned, and the farther he got outside of town, the faster he pushed his motorcycle.
“Where are you taking me, Big Nick? Some secluded murder spot?”
Shit. The last thing he’d meant to do was make her nervous. “Secluded, yes. Murder spot, no. It’s my favourite place in Akuna Park. You’ll love it.”
It was onlyabout twenty kilometres to get from town to the park entrance, but the place he wanted to go was a bit beyond that. The entire time he drove, Carissa never once loosened her grip on him, even though there were handles she could grab, now that they weren’t blocked by her luggage. It almost made him want to keep riding all night, just to have her hold him.
But when he finally parked at the end of the dirt road, and she dismounted and pulled her helmet off, shaking her hair out like some sort of motorcycle-girl cliché, he was glad he’d stopped.
“This is incredible.” She threw her arms wide, encompassing the wild landscape. “It reminds me so much of home. We spent every summer in the river.”
Before them was the deep gorge the river ran through, the swimming hole below cut into the rock, as if some giant had used a spoon to carve a bowl. Above, the clouds still hung in the sky, but peeking through them were the bright pinpricks of thousands more stars than were visible in town. The moon cast a silvery glow and the night was filled with the night sounds of crickets, frogs, and owls.
“What’s that sound?” Carissa turned to him, her eyes wide.
