Page 28 of The Love Bus

“We have to go up it,” I said, biting my lip. I looked out the window again, watching the bright orange cable cars bobbing gently along with the slight breeze.

The amusement park was up there?

“That okay with you?”

The idea of being surprised by anything these days didn’t make me feel light and fizzy; it made me feel a little…sick. “It’s just not what I expected.”

Although, based on the pictures I’d seen, maybe I should have.

The driver cleared his throat from up in the front seat. Noah thanked him, having already paid through the app, but before getting out, he reached into his wallet and handed the driver a cash tip. The man nodded appreciatively, and I found myself momentarily distracted.

Not by the tip itself, but by Noah. By the way he did it without hesitation, without making a show of it, the same way he’d upgraded his mom’s spa treatments earlier. And, come to think of it, the same way he’d covered lunch back in Glenwood Springs, like it was no big deal.

When we climbed out of the car and stepped onto the paved walkway leading to the gondola station, I picked up the pace, just enough to slide ahead of Noah.

I spotted the ticket booth.

And bam. Two tickets. Paid.

I reached out to take them, brimming with satisfaction, until the woman behind the counter slapped a hand over them.

“Sorry, ma’am, I’m going to need you to sign these releases first.”

Did I just get ma’amed? And, wait. Releasees again? For what?

“Should I be worried?” I half-joked, hesitating while Noah scrawled his name across the bottom like he was signing a birthday card.

I, however, took an extra few seconds to actually read the fine print, because someone in this situation should probably be aware of what exactly we were absolving this park of responsibility for “injury” and “death,” which was just great.

Noah, in the meantime, had reached for his wallet, only for the ticket agent to shake her head.

“She already paid.”

He blinked. “Seriously?”

I shrugged, entirely too pleased with myself. “Consider it payback for lunch.”

Noah huffed a laugh, but the furrow between his brows didn’t disappear. “It’s too much. And this was my idea…”

When I simply shook my head, refusing to budge, he sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

I smirked. “I know.”

As it turns out, paying for the tickets had made me feel a lot calmer about the whole thing. For the first time in a while, I’d taken control of something.

Noah gave me a half-amused, half-exasperated look, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he nodded toward the empty gondola queue. It was a reminder that we were arriving late in the day, just a few hours before the park was set to close.

When the attendant opened the door, gesturing for us to enter, we wasted no time climbing on. The door slid shut behind us with a click, and then, with a soft jolt, we lifted off the ground.

As the station gradually dropped away and receded into the distance, I couldn’t help but to be aware of every creak and clunk of the cable overhead, the sway of the cabin, the sheer drop beneath us.

Noah smirked. “You’re gripping that seat like it’s the only thing keeping us in the air.”

I uncurled my fingers from the edge of the bench immediately. “I’m fine.”

He lifted a brow. “You sure?”

I nodded jerkily. “Positive.”

Meanwhile, he looked way too relaxed. “That was sweet what you did for Babs,” he said.

“That was sweet, what you did for your mom.”

Noah rolled his lips together. “Well.” His looked like he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to say. “She’s been through a lot this year.”

Something about the way he said it—clipped, careful—made me hesitate.

I thought about that not-at-all-friendly look Mrs. Grady had sent me earlier. Maybe I had misread it. Gran always said that we couldn’t know what other people were going through…

“When I agreed to come on this trip,” I said as I watched the scenery pass by out the window, “I expected a bunch of tourist traps. But honestly, some of it has been pretty cool.” The view was pretty amazing.

“Even the snow?” he asked.

“Well…” I glanced down at my poor, precious sandals, which had dried but were stiffer than usual. At the same time, my mind flashed to the moment he’d lifted me onto his shoulder and then carried me from the bus to that visitor center. “Even the snow.”

“Yeah,” he said, and I could feel him staring at me. What was that look in his eyes? “You’re right. Some of this has been pretty cool.”

I swallowed hard. Did he think I was pretty cool? Oh my God. I felt like I was back in high school.

For a few minutes, we talked about the places we’d seen so far.

We agreed that the chapel had felt like a spiritual place, argued over what made the Stanley Hotel feel haunted, and then agreed again, that, when it wasn’t snowing, the sky seemed bluer here.

And then we sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or two, just appreciating the view.

“I’ve been thinking…” Noah said. He was tapping his fingers against his knee. “About your video.”

My stomach tensed, but I forced a casual, “Oh?”

At the restaurant in Granby, Noah had implied that by dumping the lobster over Leo’s head, I hadn’t given myself the chance to rationalize.

And then he’d told me Leo was a fucking bastard.

But we’d run out of time, and the conversation had felt a little unfinished.

Now that he’d brought it up again, I was suddenly curious, but also a little nervous about what he was going to say.

“Are you sure you didn’t know something was going on before you saw those messages come through?”

The gondola swayed a little, and my pulse jumped. “What do you mean?” I asked.

Noah glanced out the window and then back to me, the picture of nonchalance, but his gaze stayed steady.

“You lived together for, what, five years? And I can’t help but wonder…

” He hesitated. “If there weren’t other problems in your relationship.

Like, if things had been great, when you saw those messages, wouldn’t you have given him the benefit of the doubt? But you?—”

“Freaked out instead?” I cut in, a little sharper than I intended. “I thought you said I was right to dump him.”

Noah didn’t flinch. “You were! And I’m not one to judge. Trust me.” He let out a breath, almost a laugh, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “My marriage dragged on way past the point we both knew it was over. Sometimes staying feels easier—until it really, really doesn’t.”

I crossed my arms and turned to look out the window, not really seeing the valley stretching out below us. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

My insides were getting all twitchy. Because I couldn’t ignore it. Hovering. Circling.

I hadn’t known he was cheating until I saw those messages, had I? But I’d procrastinated when it came to setting a date. And looking at dresses… I hadn’t opened a single one of the wedding magazines Ashley had brought over.

Luckily, we were almost at the top of the mountain, and we were here to have some fun, not dive into all my issues.

“So,” I exhaled. “I saw they have a rollercoaster and that death swing. What else do they have up here?”

Noah thankfully let the issue drop and tilted his head toward the park entrance. “I don’t know, Faraday. Are you ready to find out?”

“Yep.”

Because…

Limitless…