The Cinnamon Bun Book Store: TikTok Made Me Buy It (Dream Harbor, Book 2)
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store: Chapter 8

Hazel usually avoided the carnival like the plague and so she hadn’t been here in years. Probably since she was in high school. In fact, she was pretty sure the reason she broke out into a cold sweat every time she looked at the Ferris wheel was because she once got stuck at the top with Annie for nearly an hour in a lightning storm and she was convinced she was going to die unkissed.

Annie had offered to do the job but it just didn’t seem the same as kissing Heath Ryan, who she had a horrible, unrequited crush on at the time. So she politely declined even as the two girls huddled together, shrieking at every rumble of distant thunder.

By the time the fire department arrived, she and Annie were both soaked and terrified. And she hadn’t been back to the carnival or on a Ferris wheel ever again. But that traumatic moment wasn’t actually why she avoided the carnival.

She just didn’t think she liked it.

Too hot.

Too crowded.

Too noisy, and chaotic, and buggy, and…

She couldn’t really remember her other reasons because Noah had stepped up to the ring toss and flashed her a cocky grin like he had big plans to win her a stuffed animal. And since Hazel was a fully mature, grown woman she was not at all excited about that prospect.

She was holding his cotton candy and shoved another piece into her mouth. Sugar moved fast through her bloodstream, which was obviously why her stomach was doing weird things as she watched Noah toss three yellow rings one at a time toward the wood pegs. He missed every time.

He handed the teenager working the booth more tickets. ‘That was just a warm-up.’

‘Hmm. Yes, important to warm up.’

Noah grinned at her and then turned his focus back on the pegs. He missed again. Three times in a row. He groaned.

‘Jane did warn me this was a tough game.’

Hazel laughed.

‘She said try to do my best.’

‘Good life advice.’

‘Smart kindergartener.’ He winked at her and then tossed another ring. It spun around the peg and then clattered to the ground. Noah hung his head. ‘Damn.’

‘Come on, champ. Maybe you’ll have better luck at the next one.’ Hazel put a hand on his arm to guide him away from the game and found her fingers lingering there on the muscles of his bicep. His arm was so … solid.

He let himself be led and caught Hazel’s hand in his before she could pull it back. His hand was solid too, big and strong and probably capable of doing so many more interesting things than ring toss.

She cleared her throat. ‘You know if we hold hands the whole town will have us married off by Monday.’

His laugh was low and just for her when he leaned down to whisper in her ear. ‘Fine by me.’

She peered up at him, a frown on her face as they meandered through the crowd. ‘Oh, please.’

‘Oh, please, what?’

Hazel let out a little disbelieving huff. ‘Everyone knows you don’t date women for longer than a summer. Two months max. At that rate, you’d be dumping me on my birthday.’

His copper brows rose. ‘Oh, really? This is common knowledge?’

‘Yep. You like tourists, temporary guests, out-of-towners. There was even a rumor that you spent a very interesting weekend with an entire bachelorette party.’ Her cheeks burned at the thought. Why had she brought any of this up? Well, it was one thing to engage in this … flirtation for the duration of their summer of fun, but to pretend it was anything more would just be ridiculous.

Not that she thought Noah actually wanted to marry her by Monday, but the town would talk. They would make assumptions. And she wanted Noah to be clear on what was going on here.

She’d like to be clear on what was going on here.

She expected him to grin and make some kind of joke about the bachelorette party but he’d gone quiet instead.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. I only … I just … people will talk. And I know we’re just doing this as friends. A friendly summer of fun…’ Hazel trailed off when Noah’s gaze met hers and the look in his eye said he wanted to be something other than friends. Her breath stuttered. Oh, damn.

‘No, no. You’re right. I don’t do long-term relationships.’

‘Right.’

‘And it wasn’t the entire bachelorette party.’

‘Oh.’

‘But there’s a first time for everything.’ He winked at her, the smile back on his face as he pulled her through the crowd. A first time for everything? Wait … for the entire bachelorette party or the long-term relationship thing?

She was about to ask more questions she shouldn’t, but he was already at the next game booth, handing tickets to the perky high-school attendant and assuring Hazel that squirting targets with a water gun was more his game. And it didn’t matter anyway because she hadn’t intended on anything serious happening between her and Noah this summer. In fact, serious was the opposite of what she intended.

A buzzer sounded and the players, seated on small stools, started shooting their targets. The more you hit it, the faster your little racehorse ran. Noah was competing against two eight-year-olds and the mailman, Mr. Prescott.

Lights flashed and tinny music blared from the speakers. Noah was all focus, though. Hazel couldn’t help but smile as he crouched over the fake gun, a furrow of concentration in his brow. And she also couldn’t help the cheer that escaped her when he won.

‘For you.’ He proudly presented her with a giant penguin. It was easily three feet tall and stuffed with material she could only assume was carcinogenic. The entire thing felt highly flammable and utterly toxic but she held it to her chest like a kid on Christmas.

‘I love him.’

Noah laughed, his eyes crinkling in the corners. ‘Just imagine what the rumor mill will crank out now.’

‘Noah and Hazel elope in Antarctica. Bring home new pet.’

‘Hazel gives birth to three-foot-tall tuxedoed baby.’

Giggles fizzed from her as they walked away from the booth, penguin tucked beneath her arm. The cotton candy was long gone.

She grinned up at him. Maybe she liked the carnival after all.

‘Noah’s much more handsome brother comes to town and sweeps Hazel off her feet.’

He feigned offense at that one. ‘Hey. More handsome? Now that just hurts, Haze.’

‘Do you even have a brother?’

‘Nope. Two sisters. Both older than me. Both smarter and more responsible.’

‘But definitely not handsomer.’

He laughed again, taking her free hand in his. She let him. Let the Dream Harbor rumor mill say what it would. She wasn’t afraid of them.

‘Definitely not. But don’t tell them I said so.’

‘Never.’ They’d wandered toward the food trucks. ‘Should we get something to eat? Like some real food?’

‘Sure.’

After much deliberation they settled on chicken gyros and an absurdly large fresh squeezed lemonade to share. They sat at a sticky picnic table across from each other while small children ran screeching by. The night was hot and humid and Hazel’s thighs stuck to the metal bench, but somehow she didn’t seem to mind as much as she usually did.

‘I’d like to meet them,’ she said.

‘Meet who? The bachelorette party I allegedly debauched? Lovely girls.’

She smacked his arm. ‘No! Your sisters.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, of course.’

‘Why?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. You’re kind of a mystery around here.’

‘A mystery? I like that.’ He waggled his eyebrows, taking another bite of his gyro.

‘I’m serious. You just kinda showed up here one day and I feel like I don’t know much about you.’

‘Believe it or not, Haze, there are a lot of towns out there that people come and go from without anyone noticing.’

‘Well, that’s sad.’

He shrugged but was no longer meeting her eye. His playfulness was gone. Hazel had managed to suck the fun out of the freaking carnival.

‘I’m sure plenty of people noticed when you moved here.’

‘Oh, they definitely noticed when I bailed on the family business.’

‘Oh.’

‘I’m not so much a mystery as a screw-up. Sorry to disappoint.’

‘You don’t disappoint me at all.’

He met her gaze again, a look of quiet surprise on his face. He quickly covered it up with a charming grin. ‘I think we need to get back on track.’

‘We do?’

‘Yep. I promised you a fun night. HANSOF, remember? We can’t be sitting around talking about my family drama on a HANSOF night.’

‘Sounds like a German cousin or something.’

Noah laughed, the playfulness back in his eyes.

‘And HANSOF says no more family talk. It’s time for the Ferris wheel.’

Hazel hugged her penguin tighter. ‘I think I’ve had plenty of fun for one night. I should probably get to bed.’

‘Haze, it’s nine o’clock.’

‘I’m tired.’

‘Haze, nine o’clock is an old-lady bedtime.’

‘I’m an old lady.’

‘No, you are young and vibrant and fun. And sexy.’ Another wink. How did he make winking not creepy?

‘Sexy?’

‘Terribly.’

She rolled her eyes, but heat had crept into her cheeks anyway. Noah, debaucher of entire bachelorette parties, thought she was sexy. It made her head spin.

‘Okay, fine. We can do the Ferris wheel, but if I vomit on you, that’s your fault.’

‘Understood.’ He held out a hand and helped her up from her sticky bench. ‘Kinda wishing we did the rides before eating, though.’

She laughed. ‘No turning back now.’

He held her gaze another second, something heavier there now, before pulling her toward the rides. No turning back now.

The Ferris wheel couldn’t do anything to her stomach that Noah’s stare wasn’t already doing.

‘Just squeeze my hand … oww … a little less squeezing.’

‘Sorry.’ Hazel eased her grip but did not open her eyes. She was crammed into a Ferris wheel seat with Noah and her penguin, slowly rising up over the carnival, but she wasn’t thinking about that. Or about the fact that this Ferris wheel had literally been assembled that morning, and by whom?! And what if they’d missed a screw or something? She wasn’t thinking about any of that.

She was focused instead on Noah’s fingers wrapped around hers, and his warm body against her side, and his deep voice in her ear. And frankly, all of that was making her dizzy in an entirely different way.

‘You should really open your eyes. It’s beautiful up here.’

‘Why are we stopping?’ Hazel’s heart lurched as the wheel stopped.

‘They’re letting more people on.’

‘I hate that.’

‘That other people get to ride, too?’

She had to open her eyes to smack his shoulder and found him grinning at her. ‘No. I got stuck at the top once.’

‘For how long?’

‘Like an hour. But it was storming.’

‘Shit, Hazel. You didn’t tell me you had like actual trauma around the thing.’ He loosened his fingers from hers and wrapped his arm around her instead. She didn’t hate it.

‘I’m fine. I think.’ She peered over the front of the carriage and found the carnival lit up below her. Music and laughter drifted on the evening breeze, muting the frenetic energy of the fair and giving an ephemeral quality to the night. Beyond the carnival, the twinkling lights of Dream Harbor made the town feel both cozy and distant, like another world she had the opportunity to see just for a moment. She could even spot the marina from here and the lights on the docks. The beauty was nearly enough to make her forget to be afraid.

‘Any urge to puke?’

‘Uh … no. Not at the moment.’ The wheel started turning and they continued their descent. Hazel’s stomach dipped and she squeezed her eyes shut again, burrowing her face into Noah’s shoulder.

Salt air and sunshine and soap. She breathed deep. Noah’s arm stayed firm around her shoulders as they reached the ground and swooped back up for another rotation. Hazel looked this time.

‘This might be fun.’

‘You sound surprised.’

‘I am.’

He laughed, the feel of it ghosting over her cheeks. Their heads were close together, the seat was small and the penguin was big. They didn’t have much choice.

‘You know what might be even more fun?’ he asked.

‘What?’

‘If we made out up here.’

His smile said he was teasing but his eyes said he was dead serious. He was closer now, his nose brushing against her cheek, his forehead leaning against hers. And everything about this felt reckless.

Hazel leaned in.

Her lips brushed against his. Noah made a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh so Hazel deepened the kiss, her tongue swept into his mouth and he was cotton candy and lemonade and summer and Hazel liked it.

She pulled away as the wheel turned to bring them back down and caught Noah’s dazed expression in the multi-colored lights of the rides.

‘Damn, Hazel Kelly,’ he whispered.

And she smiled.