Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) by Claudette Melanson Page B

your birthday?” I asked to
distract him.  I hated to see that look on his face. 
    “September ninth. .   And
let’s see, yours is June twenty-fourth?”
    How did he know?  All I could
do was look at him open-mouthed, shocked.
    “Hey!  You two had better get
over here!” Shane yelled over to us.
    Shane and his girl had reached the
boarding station—that was gloriously covered.  Quickly, we slipped back in
line behind them, given the others waiting in line around us were so
forgiving.  I was still pondering how he’d known my birthdate.  We’d
only been speaking to each other a few weeks, and I was sure I’d never revealed
that bit of information to him. 
    “Are you ready for this?” Ron
asked, excitement in his eyes.  Then he looked worried again, “Are you
sure you’re up to it?  You feeling okay?”
    I rolled my eyes at him, trying to
distract him from his worry.  “Are you going to ask me that before we get
on every ride today?”
    “Just making sure.”  He took
my hand again.  He must have thought I still felt cold, because he rubbed
it between both of his like he was trying to warm mine up.  I smiled at
his caring gesture.  Just standing beside him made me feel warm.
    Shane was fairly bouncing with
excitement when we were next to be loaded into the coaster cars.  I
thought he was going to drag Merina off her feet before they crossed the short
distance to their seats.  Ron led me over, considerably more gently,
holding my hand while I stepped down into the car. I felt the first twinges of
nervous elation when our shoulder bars were clicked into place.
    “You nervous at all?” I wondered if
he had some uncanny ability to read my mind that he was keeping from me.
    “Nope,” I lied, “you?”
    “In a good way,” he responded,
laughing a little. I decided right there his laugh was my favorite sound in the
world.  “But despite what you say, I think you are a little
scared.  So, I’ll just hold your hand for you.”
    “You’re my white knight,” I
responded, loving the way it felt when his fingers intertwined with mine.
    It had been a couple of years since
Caelyn had brought me to this park, so the second drop—the big one—seemed to
make my heart stop for a few seconds.  Ron and I were both laughing wildly
as our coaster shot up from under the tracks of the wooden coaster beside it. 
It was a great effect.  When we’d dropped down our coaster’s biggest hill,
the path under the other coaster made it seem, for a moment, like you would
crash right into the wooden struts supporting it.
    “That was GREAT ,” Shane
exploded when we were climbing back onto the platform, back at the
station.  Merina looked a little pale.  Her legs shook once she was
upright again.  Shane snickered and hugged her close.  Watching their
easy intimacy made me hug Ron to me, almost unconsciously.  I didn’t even
realize I’d put my arm about his waist until I was squeezing him against my
side.  He beamed at me...of course, I blushed in response.
    It seemed we were getting closer,
whether I wanted it to happen or not.

 
    The rest of the day was just as
much fun…mostly.  I did end up getting sick somewhere between our ‘drive’
on the Turnpike and the walk through Noah’s Ark.  At that point, I didn’t
know if it was the rides or all the junk food we’d consumed.  As much as I
didn’t want to admit it, it was probably the sun.  Ron and I were munching
on a funnel cake—after the cotton candy and gravy-covered fries we’d
consumed—sitting on a bench out in the open.  I’d felt hot and queasy, but
had told myself it was nothing and tried to ignore it, desperately wishing for
once to be normal.  When it was too late, I realized the mistake I’d
made.  I ran, humiliated, for the nearest bathroom. 
    When I’d finally emerged, even
paler than usual and sweating, Ron was waiting worriedly, right outside. 
“Are you okay?”
    “I’ll be fine,” I promised. 
    “You