We drove on in silence, and I peered out the window. Then we passed the freeway on-ramp and kept driving the side streets.
I turned to Maddy. “Where are we going?”
“Great Wolf Lodge. I forgot my purse.”
“Where?”
“In Justin’s stroller. In the bag with the shirt he bought.”
I pulled my face back. “Why did you put it in his shirt bag?”
My phone started to ring. It was Justin.
I hit the answer button. “Hey,” I said, eyeing my best friend.
“Hey,” he said. “I think Maddy left her purse in my bag.”
“I know, we’re heading to the Great Wolf Lodge now.”
“Cool, I’ll bring it down. Where should I meet you?”
I looked up through the windshield at the parking lot we were driving into. “There’s a waterslide that comes out of the side of the building. I think it’s the east parking lot? We’re pulling in there.”
“Okay. I’ll be down in a bit.” We hung up.
I sat back in my seat and looked at my best friend. “Why do I feel like you did that on purpose?”
She shrugged unapologetically. “He couldn’t kiss you goodbye in front of the kids. Figured if we timed it right, he could get them back to the hotel room, then run down by himself. I drove around aimlessly for a few minutes to give him time to get them situated.”
I shook my head at her. “You are unbelievable.”
“What?” she said, pulling a mint out of the change tray and handing it to me. “You have to manifest your own destiny.”
“He’s just going to run it to the car,” I said, unwrapping it.
“No, he’s not, ’cause you’re not gonna be in this car. Get out.”
“What?”
“Get OUT.”
She leaned over and unbuckled me. “Get the fuck out. I mean it.”
I put the mint in my mouth and looked at her, amused.
“Emma, go meet him at the door, or I will lose my shit. I didn’t push a clunky car stroller around the universe’s largest mall for five hours so you could shake hands with this guy on the way out. As soon as he shows up, I’m going to park around the front at the lobby to give you some privacy. Go get your damn forehead kiss.”
I was laughing now. “Fine. I’m going.”
“Good. Leave.”
“I am.” I opened the car door. “You are the worst.”
“Don’t care. Bye.”
I shook my head and closed the car door.
The parking lot was empty. It looked like the direct entrance to the water park, which probably closed the same time the mall did. Several large green waterslides snaked out of the building and looped back in. All you could hear was the whir of something electrical and the splattering of dripping water from the slides on the pavement below.
I got to the entrance just as Justin got to the door. He’d changed into a pair of running pants and a hoodie. His hair was wet like he’d taken a shower. Probably getting ready for bed. I noted how snuggly he looked and had to force myself to not think about the docking station.
“Hey,” he said, coming out. “Just admit you’re obsessed with me, you don’t have to plant things in my stuff for excuses to come see me.”
I laughed and took the purse he held out.
Justin looked over my shoulder. “Where’s she going?”
I turned around to see Maddy in the car, vanishing around the front of the building. I rolled my eyes. “I think we’ve been set up,” I said.
I started to turn back to him, but before I knew what was happening, his hands were on my waist, and I was being pulled against him. I blinked up at him, surprised. His eyes dropped to my mouth, he tipped his head down and kissed me. A warm, long soft press of his lips to mine.
I melted. My legs lost their bones.
Once when I was twenty I spilled some hot oil on my foot while I was cooking. The searing white pain was so intense it was like everything else vanished. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear. I could only feel.
This was the polar opposite of the same thing.
Every single molecule of my body was in the place where his mouth touched mine. I hadn’t even seen it coming and then suddenly it was everything and all there was. The headlights of a truck, so close and fast it’s all you can see before it hits you.
