Page 93 of Kickoff

“And you know that…because?”

I stepped around her until we faced each other. “Because I’m Mason Pierce, duh. What else?”

She exploded in a fit of laughter and relaxed. “For once, that cockiness of yours is welcome.”

I winked and pumped my fist mentally at the idea I had succeeded at easing her fears with one of my comebacks.

Paige closed in on us. “You sure you wanna do this?”

Melinda blew out a breath and bobbed her head twice. “Yes. I can overcome my fear.”

Paige squeezed her arm and spun to talk to my brother when he wrapped her in his arms from behind.

“Mel, what’s going on with you and your fear of heights?” I asked in a low voice once it was just the two of us.

“When I was a kid, I jumped from the highest platform at the pool and did a belly flop. It hurt so bad. I jumped with my eyes closed, not making sure I hit the water properly. I burst into tears once I returned to solid ground, and I’ve been hating heights since.”

I could relate. We had something more in common.

I held out my hand, and after hesitating for a couple of seconds, she slid her palm into mine, my thumb lingering on the pulse point of her wrist. “No chance of your getting hurt this time around.”

The car stopped at the lowest level, and it was our time to climb inside. Craig and Paige had taken the previous one and waved at us as the wheel moved them up.

“It’ll be okay,” I told Melinda in a calm voice that I hoped would soothe the wild beating of her heart.

We settled ourselves next to each other, and I kept my arm over her shoulders in a protective stance. “You good?”

She nodded, stiff as a rod, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.

“Relax.”

“I’m trying.”

The wheel started its upward motion, and she shut her eyelids, cursing under her breath. I pulled her closer until she was almost sitting on me. I massaged her upper back with my other hand, dissolving the knots lodged there.

The ride stopped every few seconds until all the cars were filled. On its first rotation, Melinda buried her face in my chest when we reached the top instead of admiring the view. I cradled the back of her head with my hand, holding on to her.

We were about to reach the top a second time when I leaned back and kept her at a distance, my hands locked on her shoulders. “No more hiding. When we’re at the highest point, you take a moment to look around. You’ll see miles ahead and realize how beautiful our town is. I love the Ferris wheel because it’s the only spot high enough to let us see well past Elk River. Like our world doesn’t end here and there’s an entire planet out there for us to explore. It puts things into perspective. And opens us up to new possibilities.”

“Wow. It sounds inspirational.”

I shrugged. “There’s so much more we haven’t seen or experienced yet. I have all these dreams, but I’m sure there are a thousand more for me to grab in this lifetime.”

“I never thought of it like that.”

I pointed to our far left. “See that? The park next to the white building between the lines of trees?” She nodded. “It’s where I went to football camp when I was a kid. It’s where I fell in love with the sport. Craig and I, we were on the same team because we’re born in the same year, and we discovered we had talent. And that this talent multiplies when we play together.” Next, I gestured to the green expanse of lawn in front of us. “That’s our school and our football field.”

“Whoa, it looks so different from up here. So much bigger even though it’s smaller. If that makes any sense.”

“Yeah. It does. And right there?” She followed the direction of my pointer finger. “That’s our street. We can’t see our houses because they are behind those trees, but they are there. When I was little, I recall seeing my roof before the trees got so big they acted like a screen.”

I kept showing her places, and Melinda got engrossed in the pieces of information I was providing.

“I didn’t think the river was so sinuous,” she said.

“Me neither. I was surprised the first time too.”

“How many miles ahead do you think we can⁠—”