Page 51 of Unravel Me

I peer up at the large white and red spinning wheel, and bells go off in my head.

“Oh, no thank you. I’m afraid of heights,” I admit feeling childish, but Rhett pauses, pulling my hand up to his chest. My palm rests on his thick muscle, the warmth of him radiating down my fingertips.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Audrey. Promise.”

I bite my cheek, wanting to fight against it, but his thumb draws faint circles in my palm.

Excitement lingers in his blue eyes, so I nod.

With nervous flutters in my stomach, I let him guide me closer. There’s almost no line, and while he gives the attendant our tickets, his hand not leaving mine, I smile, pushing my fear deep down. Rhett lets me scoot onto the red bench before getting in beside me. He drapes his arm over my shoulders, and instantly I feel a little safer.

As the views of all the lights and people beneath us get smaller and smaller, my knuckles get tighter on the bar over my lap. This is ridiculous. I’m nearly twenty-seven years old and about to have a panic attack on a Ferris wheel at the county fair in front of an impossibly kind and handsome man. This cannot be happening.

Rhett must sense my unease because he softly tilts my face towards his with his fingertips on my chin.

“Hey, hey.” Rhett softly smiles, all ruggedness gone. “Keep your eyes on me. I’ve got you.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I exhale deeply, then open them, focusing on Rhett. Scooting my body closer, until I was nearly on his lap, I let him continue talking.

“Okay, on a scale of one to ten, tell me how your first county fair experience is going?”

I laugh, taking a moment to ponder it.

“Other than feeling like I might fall to my death at any moment, it’s a ten.” I bite my lip, glancing sideways at him. He smirks.

“A ten? Wow, I really set the bar high here.”

“I’m serious! Truthfully, tonight is the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” I admit sheepishly.

Rhett’s brows twitch. “Really?”

“Is that embarrassing? That probably makes me sound like I don’t have a very fun life.”

Jackson would’ve never taken me here. His idea of a fun date was a day at the golf course, finished with two many scotches at the club his father owned. Something that entirely didn’t involve my preferences.

Rhett shakes his head. “Nothing embarrassing about that. You know what’s sad? The way society acts like we have to have less fun as we get older. It’s a scam. We need more fun as we age.” His voice is filled with conviction, and I study him closely.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Rhett Anderson.” I rest my head on his shoulder. We ride like this for a moment until he clears his throat.

“My dad used to take me and my sister to this fair every summer. He’d give us twenty dollars each, which was a lot of money for us back then.” Rhett’s fingers trace the bar across our laps as he talks. “We never went hungry, but to say we grew up frugally would be an understatement.” He glances up at all the stars starting to peek out above us.

“You were eighteen when your dad passed, right?” I ask, piecing together conversations we’ve had.

“Right before I turned eighteen, yeah. I had plans to go to college before he died. But my mom couldn’t run the farm by herself, so I stayed home to help.”

“I’m so sorry Rhett…that must’ve been so hard.” My throat was tight, watching this incredibly strong man open up to me. Rhett shakes his head, a humorless chuckle escaping his lips. “It’s ironic, just as I was starting to get my freedom, about to have a summer of fun before leaving for school, everything fell apart. But that was so long ago. It’s another lifetime, really.”

I could never put myself in his shoes; to know what it was like losing a parent or having to pick up the pieces for your family. I had spent my life scrambling for my family's approval, only to be shoved to the side, feeling unwanted and yet on the hook, unable to free myself.

“Well, I hope you eventually had that fun and free summer.”

His heavy blue eyes lift to meet mine as we start to descend from the top of the Ferris wheel.

“I think I’m having it with you.”

If I wasn’t held in by a metal bar across my lap, I think I would float away into the night. I blink away tears I refuse to let him see, and lean into him, resting my head in the crook of his neck. I hold his hand in mine, choked by the words racing through my mind.

The Ferris wheel starts rising again and as the ground grows smaller, the tight pinch in my core never comes. I expel a breath, letting myself feel the truth. Right here, right now, with Rhett is the safest I’ve felt in a long time.