“Where were we?” Gabe asked as soon as the gondola rose higher in the night sky, and turned back to face me.
He pressed me against the side of the gondola as he kissed me. Part of me knew I should be afraid. We were nearing sixty feet off the ground, and we were leaning back over the side of a swaying car.
But I didn’t care. I barely even noticed.
When he stopped kissing me, his arm was still around me, and he smiled crookedly as he stared into my eyes. Then he leaned back, putting what little space he could between us.
“You know, since I have you hostage on this ride, I should be using the time to find out more of the deep, dark secrets that you refuse to tell me,” Gabe said.
I laughed. “Why are you so obsessed with me having secrets?”
“Because you have them,” he insisted with an unrelenting grin.
“How do you know?”
“Am I wrong?” he countered.
“There’s nothing deep or dark about me,” I replied evasively. “I bet you’re the one with all the secrets.”
“Never.” Gabe tried to look me in the eyes when he said it, but there was a subtle shift, a glimmer of something dark, and I knew he was lying.
“No, I can tell. I can see it in your eyes,” I told him. “You’re hiding something.”
He didn’t deny it this time. “So are you.”
“Okay.” I folded my arms over my chest and stared expectantly at him. “So tell me your deepest, darkest secret.”
“I…” He started to say something, but his expression became pained. He turned away and leaned forward on the railing in front of us, resting his arms on it. “I would if I could.”
“Why not?” I asked, surprised that he was admitting hiding anything.
“We’ve only … this is what? Our second date?”
“We’re counting last night as a date?” I asked, thinking of my earlier conversation with Roxie.
“Any night that ends in kissing is a date,” he assured me with a smile. “How about on our…” He paused, thinking. “Fifth date, we tell each other our big secrets.”
“You think we’ll make it to a fifth date?” I tried to make a joke of it, but my smile felt forced.
It actually stung a little thinking about future dates. The sideshow never stayed anywhere for more than a week or two, and I knew for a fact that Gideon planned on pulling out of here next Sunday. Unless we saw each other every day—and I doubted that even the clingiest of suitors would plan for that—there would be no way we’d make it to five dates.
“I’m trying to bribe you,” Gabe said. “If you tolerate me for three more dates, you get to know a secret. That’s a heck of a deal, really.”
“But what if I don’t have a secret?” I asked.
“You do.”
“And what if you’re lying and you don’t have one either?”
The corner of his mouth was curled up slightly, but his eyes were serious. “I’m not.”
“Okay. It’s a deal,” I said, knowing I’d just agreed to something that would never happen anyway. The carnival would have closed up, and I’d be long gone before I ever heard his secret, or he ever found out about mine.
The ride came to a stop, and Gabe got off first. He took my hand, helping me down, and then, with our hands still linked together, we walked around the rides, but we didn’t go on any more. We talked, not about anything important, and he made me laugh.
It was the closest thing I’d ever had to a true date, the way I imagined dates would go. For a little while, I even forgot to worry about who might see Gabe and me together, and how they might react if they did.
That all came to an abrupt halt when we approached the shimmering tent where my mom worked. The curtain was tied open, meaning she didn’t have any clients, and though she couldn’t see us from where we stood, if we went any closer, she definitely would.
“Do you wanna get your fortune read?” Gabe asked, since I’d stopped short.
“Um, not tonight.” I let go of his hand and stepped away from him. “What time is it?”
He checked his neon-colored Swatch. “It’s nine thirty.”
“I should probably get going.” I offered him a rueful smile. “The acrobat show is over. I need to find my friends.”
“What’s the rush? Are you Cinderella?” Gabe asked. “Will you turn into a pumpkin at nine thirty-one?”
“No, it’s just later than I thought. That’s all.” I took a step back, moving away from my mom’s tent, but he stayed where he was, giving me a curious look.
“Okay. So can I call you?”
“Um, I’m kinda in between phones now.” Since I’d spent so much of my life on the road, I hadn’t had a real phone number in years.
He took a step toward me now. “What about our third date?”
“You still wanna do that?”
“You don’t?” Gabe asked, sounding surprised.
“I do,” I said. “When?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Okay,” I agreed, before even trying to decide whether I’d be busy or if that worked or not. “Where?”
“How about we meet here again? Since you don’t have a phone. Unless you want to give me your address—”
“Here’s great,” I replied quickly. “Does eight work for you?”