Page 48 of The Christmas Catch

Ali screamed. “Fuck, Morgan! What are you doing?”

It was a valid question. “I was just seeing what’s going on.”

“Did you find anything out by hanging over the side of the fucking carriage?”

Even Morgan could detect the sarcasm wedged between those words. “Only that we’re quite high up.”

“Really not helping.”

“Sorry.” Morgan winced. “Okay, this used to happen all the time when we rode these at the funfair. They’re probably just letting someone on.”

“Or it’s broken down. Every other mode of transport we’ve been on this trip has done the same.”

Morgan couldn’t refute that, but she’d made a promise to stay chipper. “I prefer my option. Seriously, this is what they do.” She paused. “And this would also always be when your sister—”

“Stop!” Ali gripped the metal bar harder. “No more talk of Nicole.”

Morgan nodded. The carriage swayed.

“And no more nodding. It shakes the carriage!” Ali added. “No wonder they got rid of these double carriages in favour of the round ones. Nobody’s going to rock those.”

“True. I haven’t seen one of these old ones in years.”

“They all ended up in the middle of nowhere.” She paused. “I hope they remembered all the screws.”

Morgan bit down a laugh. She didn’t want to freak Ali out any more than she already was.

“I’m sure they remembered all the screws. At least the ones they were given.” She couldn’t help herself. But then she instantly felt bad. “Sorry!” She squeezed Ali’s thigh, then left her hand there.

Ali flinched, but said nothing.

Morgan glanced left, studying Ali. Her strong chin. Her sculpted cheekbones. Her ears and cheeks, red with cold. The way her hair stuck up adorably, buffeted by the wind and snow. Ali had told Morgan she didn’t wear a hat, as she didn’t want to mess up her hair. She wasn’t sure that logic applied in a snowstorm on a Ferris wheel.

“Why isn’t it moving?”

“Don’t focus on that,” Morgan said. “What can I do to distract you?” She looked at the Christmas tree farm. “How many do you think they sell a year?”

Ali gave her a look that might have been sullen, but could equally have been scared witless. Morgan wasn’t sure of the difference. What she knew was that Ali was cold and working herself into a lather. Suddenly, the perfect form of distraction sprang to mind.

They should kiss.

Morgan flinched, as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. But in a warm, fuzzy way. Heat flushed through her body from her toes to her scalp. She gulped. How was she going to sell this? Would she have to? There was only one way to find out.

“Ali,” she began.

“What?”

Sullen. Snarky. Okay, Ali wasn’t in the best of moods.

“I have an idea. Remember I told you I always had a romantic notion of being kissed on a Ferris wheel?”

Ali gripped the bar tighter still. She didn’t turn her head. “Uh-huh.”

“Well, we’re on a Ferris wheel, and you need a distraction. Think of it as doing me a service. Fulfilling my teenage dreams. Like Katy Perry.” She paused. Should she push it further? She wasn’t sure. She could hardly believe the words were tumbling from her lips, but apparently they were. “You said yourself you had a crush on me when you were 12, so maybe it’s making both of our teenage dreams come true.”

Morgan didn’t dare look at Ali.

Not after she’d just uttered the most stupid thing she’d ever uttered in her entire life. Plus, Ali still wasn’t looking at her. Had she stopped breathing?