“Funland? I would have thought you more of a fan of something more up-to-date,” Ada remarked, appraising the surrounding park and the trickle of visitors heading in, hoping to get in before the late-morning rush.
Theo kicked the stand down, then got off, helping Ada off with a hand. “We both know I enjoy modern technology. But sometimes you can’t compete with a classic.” He tapped the chrome-rimmed handle of his bike, and she grinned.
“Let’s be honest. This has to be your first time here. I don’t think anyone could imagine Dr. Lancaster going anywhere so kitschy, can you?” She folded her arms, her cleavage bunching together in the thin shirt, making him remember the delightful things they’d done on the overlook.
The truth was Theo had simply been Googling “best locations to go on a date” in his area, and Funland had been near the top of the list, with its old-school quirks and vintage vibes.
Though, the true irony was Theo was slightly older than the park itself.
But Ada didn’t need to know that.
“Well, I’m just full of surprises, aren’t I?” He helped Ada take her helmet off, locking it inside a compartment, then took her arm and headed toward the ticket office.
Once they were inside the park, though, Theo couldn’t avoid a very real sense of feeling out of place as they passed vendors and gift shops on the way into the park proper. On both sides, families with children glared up at him, and young adolescent couples glanced over with confusion as he tried to decide where their first stop was.
Outside of the hospital, all the normal humans surrounding him seemed so short. So unable to hide their surprise at seeing a clean-cut, professional-looking man here with his date.
That, coupled with the retro atmosphere of the place with old buildings looking as if they dated to the early twentieth century, made him feel uneasy.
It reminded him of decades long past. Of a time when he didn’t have contacts to hide the red in his eyes, when people used to laugh or stare or call him a demon.
A time before modern technology and privacy, before he’d amassed the wealth he was currently enjoying. A time when there hadn’t been security, where the only safety had been found hiding in the shadows, ensconced in darkness.
A time when he’d been afraid.
“Hey, what’s on your mind?” Ada asked, pulling them both to a stop.
“Just work. That and the fact that I might have made a gross error in coming here.” All around them, bright colors and sweet smells assaulted his senses. No wonder the cold, white sterility of the hospital felt so comfortable.
“That’s just because you’re overthinking it, Theo. You need to forget about the rest of the world for a minute and just enjoy yourself.” Her smile at the end was the only thing in the world that could thaw the century-thick ice surrounding his heart.
“How do you suggest we do that?” A child passing nearby, holding its mother’s hand, walked on wobbly feet, gawking openly up at him with infantile stupor.
A more spiteful Theo would have made a scary face to frighten the toddler, reminding him of all the times he’d accidentally scared children in the past. But it was hard to think like that when Ada’s warmth shone on him like the sun.
“Well, how about we go ride the carousel like proper adults?” At that, Ada yanked him forward toward a nearby ride. Animals in every shape and size bobbed up and down, slowing to a stop as the ride opened for new passengers.
Theo wanted to point out the fact that this ride was for much younger people to enjoy, but Ada burst out in a chuckle as she pressed him toward a white tiger with a plastic jewel-laden halter in its fanged mouth.
But before he sat down, he helped Ada up onto a white unicorn, its head rearing back in a never-ending whinny. And as he pulled the buckle around her and did it, he placed a quick kiss on her lips before mounting on his own wooden steed.
When he looked back over his shoulder at Ada, she was blushing, and the sight made his chest throb.
And yes, he could feel people staring at him, watching the huge man wearing a leather jacket riding a kid’s ride, going around in circles.
But for perhaps the first time in his life, Theo didn’t really care.
* * *
Ada wiped a mirthful tear from the corner of her eye as she listened to Theo drily extol the advantages and disadvantages of different carnival rides they passed on their left and right as they strolled through the park.
The second they’d entered the park, she’d felt Theo seem to freeze up. Something perhaps about being in such a public place or maybe just the way people stared made him self-conscious.
Which was strange because for the years Ada had known him, nothing had made the infamous Dr. Lancaster hesitate for even a second.
Then again, nobody had ever seen or known him outside the hospital. Even Ada, who everyone generally regarded as the closest person to the incorrigible medical professional, had known utterly nothing about his personal life beyond his role as a surgeon.
She’d had her doubts when the awesome motorcycle ride had brought them here to Funland of all places. Growing up in the area, Ada knew everyone generally regarded the place as a rundown, discount slice of old-time Americana that was more of a relic of times past than a genuine place to have fun.
Yet being here with Theo made her feel giddy, like a teenager on her first date with the boy she’d been crushing on since freshman year.
She tried to remind herself that this was temporary, that she was leaving in less than two weeks, that she’d made up her mind to finally give up. But Theo was making it hard to remember such trivial details when his arm wrapped behind her felt so damn good.
“How about we try some games?” Ada offered up, noting the stands surrounding them with every possible game one usually found at places like the carnival or the state fair.
“What’s the point?” Theo looked generally miffed by the concept.
“To get prizes. You know, I could really use a…” She scanned the brightly colored plushies hanging from above and stacked in piles at the side and chose a random one. “A pillow shaped like a donut.” She pointed up at it.
Theo chuckled. “Clearly. Shouldn’t everyone have a pillow resembling a sprinkle-covered pastry?”
“Pretty much everyone,” she responded, pulling them toward a booth where stacked metal bottles rose in small pyramids. She pulled out her wallet, but Theo waved her off, producing a thick black billfold from his pocket and laying down several crisp new bills on the table.
“Only if you go first, though.” Theo looked down at her, eyebrows raised in challenge.
She was going to embarrass herself; Ada just knew it. But as the worker, who couldn’t have been a day over fifteen, stacked three beat-up baseballs in a tray in front of her, she cracked her knuckles.
Three throws later—and three complete misses, with one exception where she grazed the top of one pyramid but failed to actually knock anything down—Ada was ready to throw in the towel.
“You truly are terrible at this game,” Theo said casually, picking up a baseball and handling it like some foreign object in his fingers.
“I’d like to see you do better, Mr. I’m-too-cool-for-fun.” She stuck her tongue out at him at the end, even though she knew it was juvenile, and Theo’s mouth quirked up in a smile.
“Maybe I will.” His voice was confident, that same tone he used when other doctors told him a procedure was impossible but he was going to do it anyway.
Ten minutes later and a half dozen prizes now in her overflowing grip, Ada was starting to wonder if there was anything Dr. Lancaster wasn’t good at.
Theo was now throwing baseballs at thin plastic plates that made a satisfying crash sound as they shattered into a hundred bright-green pieces as the baseball whizzed through like a bullet.
The youthful worker shook his head and produced the second prize from this booth, a pink plastic necklace some young princess would probably love to have for their outfit.
&nbs
p; “For you,” Ada said, putting aside the stuffed animals in her hands for a second so she could receive the prize. She turned to Theo, holding the regal award up for him.
“I’m not wearing that.” Theo’s whole face frowned, arm half cocked, ready to throw the last ball in the stack.
“You have to. It’s just the rules,” Ada shook her head ruefully and shrugged as if there were nothing she could do about it.
Theo frowned harder but still leaned over so she could put the necklace over his head. The bright pink only further accentuated the utter breadth of his shoulders, powerful muscles showing even through the thick leather of his jacket.
Such a mouthwatering body.
“Happy now?” Theo sounded like the bedazzled accoutrement was burning his skin.
“Yes, you are now the prettiest princess in all the land.” Ada waved her hand, sprinkling the air with invisible magic. Theo’s lips flattened into a straight line, a single eyebrow raised high up his forehead as he looked down at her wordlessly, his whole body tensed.
But he didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned the baseball a few more times in his hand, then cocked his entire body back, arm extended far behind him.
When he threw it, the air around Ada whooshed with incredible force. The tiny white ball rocketed forward so fast Ada could barely see it as it sped at a plate in the far corner of the booth. The plate exploded, but it wasn’t until then that she noticed the ball struck the wood support behind it, which held up the parallel slats whereupon the rest of the unbroken plates all rested.
There was a snap, a creak, and the entire booth lurched downward. The wall of plates behind the worker tilted forward, then crashed to the floor as the worker dodged back, barely avoiding the cascade of planks and plastic. A cacophony of shattering sounds pierced the air around them, and passersby glanced curiously to look at the source of the sound.
For a moment, the worker just gaped in amazement, then whirled on Theo, pointing up at him.
“Hey, you’re going to have to pay for that,” the twenty-something-year-old threatened.
Theo raised his hands placatingly, not at all looking ashamed of himself (except for the necklace, of course), when Ada grabbed his hand.
“Run, Theo!” Ada cried out in adolescent glee, snatching as many of the prizes at her feet into her hands that she could manage. For a split second Theo just looked confused, wondering what was going on, but then joined Ada in picking up their hard-earned booty before racing away from the booth toward the south end of the park.
Behind them, the worker called out angrily, and people just gawked.
“Why are we running?” Theo asked, long legs carrying him forward effortlessly.
“So we don’t get in trouble.” It took every ounce of energy she had to keep up with him. He was so tall, so powerful when in motion.
“Why would we get in trouble? We didn’t do anything wrong. I blame faulty engineering.”
“They still could throw us out of the park.” As a kid, Ada hadn’t been much of a troublemaker. But even someone like her had gotten into the odd scrape here and there.
Somehow, she couldn’t picture Theo being like that as a kid.
In fact, she couldn’t picture Theo as a kid at all.
“Over there.” Ada pointed toward the sky conveyor, a slow-moving ski lift that carried passengers from one end of the park to the other.
Her legs were about to give out from underneath her when she felt herself picked up, plush toys and all still in hand, into Theo’s arms. She didn’t have the breath to ask questions, just held on as he approached the ride then sat her down in the wide plastic of the enclosed seat before getting on next to her. A heavy bar swung down to hold them in, and the seat wobbled forward and up into the sky.
For several seconds, Ada just caught her breath, the adrenaline of youthful shenanigans slowly wearing off as they dangled above the park, the branches of decades-old trees just below their toes. On Ada’s left, Theo sat stoically, face finally relaxed as he appraised the earth beneath.
“I’ll go back and pay for it when we’re done,” he remarked thoughtfully a few moments later.
“First time at a theme park, and Dr. Lancaster is breaking stuff.” Ada tsked playfully, shaking her head back and forth.
Theo looked unamused. “That wouldn’t have happened if a certain someone hadn’t insisted I wear a certain something right before my throw.”
“Don’t blame me. The necklace gifts strange powers to the wearer. Blame the magic.” Honestly, though, she had no clue how something like a mere baseball could have knocked over the thick wooden boards of the carnival game. Maybe he’d played in college or something.
She remembered the night with the mugger and the truck’s hood.
Maybe he was just really strong?
She nestled into Theo’s side as cool air wafted over them from an eastern breeze, carrying on it the scent of popcorn and cotton candy below. The sounds of gleeful children and screaming rollercoaster riders rang in her ears.
Then Theo’s arm came around her, pulling her in tightly, making her feel safe as the chair they were in bobbed on the steel wire slightly.
“So what sorts of plans do you have for when you move?”
“Probably not much. I’ll have a lot to get used to. New apartment, new hospital, new co-workers. Just surviving, I guess.”
His arm tensed slightly as she talked about it, but he didn’t interrupt her.
“Well, whatever it is, it won’t be as good as this.” His voice was calm, but there was a hint of longing in it, like the sound your heart makes when you miss something but can’t express why.
Ada had to admit he was probably right. Even when the dust settled in her new place, even when she was able to make new friends, it wouldn’t be the same.
Because Theo wouldn’t be there with her.
“All the more reason to enjoy these moments together, I guess.” Just as Ada looked up into Theo’s sky-blue eyes, the ride stopped in midair, the car tottering forward then backward a bit.
But before her fear of heights could kick in, Theo tilted her chin up and his lips crashed over hers, a warm contrast to the cool air all around. Her tense body melted into his, relaxed as his tongue swiped inside her mouth for a moment.
Across from them, two kids facing their direction covered their eyes in mock disgust in the opposite lane, but she ignored it, just reveling in the way her and Theo’s bodies meshed together.
If there was such a thing as perfect moments, why did all of them have to be with Theo?
The ride moved forward again, and they broke away for a moment. Theo’s gaze was stormy, turbulent, lips slightly parted as the rush of their mutual attraction settled over them.
“Look away, Mr. Bear. It’s about to get adult over here,” Ada remarked, turning the bright-blue stuffed bear seated next to her away from them.
Theo chuckled, then pulled her in for another kiss.
Chapter 11
Ada was still warm and buzzed from a wonderful day with him as he dropped her off in front of her apartment.
She hated getting off his bike and hated giving him a hug good-bye and hated that the night had to end there.
But it did, and things needed to go back to normal.
He was walking her up the stairs to her apartment when his phone buzzed, and he looked down at it with a frown.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Surgery. An emergency.” He shoved the phone in his pocket. “Will you come?”
She nodded quickly. “Of course.”
She didn’t mind at all that she got to put her helmet on again and straddle the bike with him. She had everything she needed in her locker at work, just for times like this.
A part of her was grateful to spend more time with him without the pressure of doing anything more romantic.
And a part of her just felt at home, comfortable when they were working together. They’d become a really solid team, and she would miss tha
t when she left.
She wrapped her hands solidly around his jacket as he turned onto the road that would head in the direction of the hospital. Sometimes it felt if she could just hold on to him in that way, she wouldn’t have to ever let go.
But the realistic side of her knew it wasn’t possible. Whatever this was with Theo, it wasn’t some calm, settled, average romance. It wasn’t the kind of thing that lasted forever, even if it was so good that she wanted it to.
Just heated, sexual attraction with friendship beneath it. A friendship she would miss very much.
When they arrived at the hospital, Theo went into business mode, hurrying through the glass doors and running to the scrub room to get ready.
Surgeons had to be very careful in how they prepared for surgery, and she helped him get everything on after he’d cleaned up, making sure to keep everything sterile. Then she worked on her own scrubbing because she would be handling the instruments.
When they went into surgery, it felt oddly different than any other time.
Yes, there was Theo, calmly asking for what he needed and nodding when she put it into his hand.
Yes, there was a family waiting outside, all their hopes and dreams planted in this room, praying for this person who would try and fix the one they loved.
Yes, Theo wasn’t treating her any differently despite their date or the time they’d had sex together because he was only in surgeon mode.
Yet she couldn’t help admiring him even more than normal, watching each smooth pass of his hands, the narrowing of his eyes as he focused, the way he seemed to intuitively sense things about the patient no one could see on an X-ray.
Watching him right now—and sure, her love could be clouding her judgment—it felt as if she were watching pure magic.
She could have zoned out staring at his handsome face as he worked, but she knew people were counting on them, so she focused back in.
Her thoughts about Theo could wait until the surgery was over.
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