“Just look how kids have ruined this bridge.” He thumped the railing with one fist and strode toward the fish’s tail.

With a quick jog, she snagged his hand and tugged him close. Maybe the fish didn’t win him over, but nothing evoked childlike joy better than a carnival ride. “Let’s go on the merry-go-round. Bet you a funnel cake I catch more rings than you.”

He glanced at his phone. “It’s late, and those kids wiped me out. I knew there was a reason I didn’t go into pediatrics.”

Swallowing a frustrated sigh, she made a last-ditch effort to spread sunshine in the face of gloom. “How about the Ferris wheel then? Riding that doesn’t take any energy. You just sit back and enjoy the view.”

He swiped the tiny screen again and again.

Did he really think assaulting his phone would somehow result in service? “Okay, that’s mine now.” She extricated the device and, thrusting a hip against his, slid it into her front pocket. Slowly. Maybe kind of steamily? “I’ll give it back…after we ride the Ferris wheel.”

He slid his gaze up her body, from the phone bulging in her shorts pocket to her freckled shoulders, and his face relaxed. “I can’t seem to say no to you.”

The Benton’s Grove Ferris wheel was no London Eye, but it was a decent size for central Pennsylvania.

“You sure this thing can hold us?” He peered into the rusty framework. “I swear, everything in this place looks a hundred years old.”

“You’re paranoid. It’ll be fun.” The Ferris wheel line snaked back on itself several times, and she nibbled the inside of her cheek as each car emptied and reloaded. When she finally slid onto the seat beside him, she realized they were the last to join that round of riders. “Lucky us!”

The young operator threw a rickety lever, and with a jolt and the grinding squeal of metal on metal, the Ferris wheel jerked to life.

Richard scowled. “That didn’t sound good.”

It didn’t, but in a moment, she was airborne, and every rational thought flew from her mind. The car soared toward the sky at a belly-turning speed, seemed to slow as it scraped the stratosphere, and plummeted back to earth, only to whoosh upward again. From the top, she could easily see over the flume ride and beyond the sprawling, wooden roller coaster to distant ridges on the horizon. Her wind-tossed ponytail tickled her cheeks, and she giggled, punch-drunk on frosting and adrenaline. All traces of grumpiness gone, Richard threw his arm around her and kissed her senseless at the tippy top of the wheel.