I woke up with a groan as a car door slammed shut. My head was foggy and I shook it, trying to clear my thoughts. “Ouch!” A yelp came from me and whatever I had hit as I rubbed the side of my now tender scalp. I leaned back, turning to face a flushed Alex, feeling heat climb into my cheeks as I realized I had fallen asleep on him and then head-butted him in the nose—if the way he was grasping it was any indication.

“You getting rough back there?” Max’s voice was choked with laughter as he addressed us, and I glared at him in the front seat before turning my attention back to Alex who was patting his nose gently.

“Sorry, Alex. It’s not bleeding.” At least I hadn’t broken it.

His grin was rueful. “I guess I better be careful how I wake you up from now on.” I opened my mouth to respond but words completely failed me. Maybe I hadn’t been the only one asleep if he hadn’t caught the meaning of that sentence before saying it.

“If you’re done beating up Alex, we’re here.” Troy’s voice was dry as he wrenched my door open, catching me as I started to tumble backwards out the door.

I looked up at him with a wry grin, the back of my head resting against his hard abdomen. “I figured from the stop.”

Surprising me, he helped me from the car, letting me stretch out the kinks. Falling asleep during car rides was a bad habit left from my childhood, and I seriously hoped I hadn’t drooled or snored or talked in my sleep. I winced slightly as all those ideas collided at once. Maybe I had slept with my eyes open again. I did that occasionally when napping. Jenna had once screamed bloody murder finding me like that, apparently thinking she’d found my corpse. That had been fun to explain to the cops as a cowering, sobbing Jenna hid in a closet. Guaranteed, she’d only been about ten at the time, and I had played up the ghost angle a bit once I caught on to what she was screaming about, but I didn't deserve to be grounded for the next four months.

“Ever been here before?” Alex had stepped from the other side of the car and was mimicking my stretching poses, apparently as stiff as I was after the car ride.

I tried to study him subtly and I didn’t see any offending drool marks, thank goodness. “When I was younger. I think I was last here when I was about sixteen.”

“There’s been a lot of changes since then. What were your favorites?” Max asked, doing his own stretches by the car.

I shifted a bit in embarrassment. “I like the ones that spin--Matterhorn, the racing carousel,” I admitted. “The Iron Dragon. The indoor roller coaster.”

Max paused for a moment, considering. “They tore down the indoor roller coaster years ago. What about some of the big ones? I know that Dragster and Steel Vengeance weren't a thing back then. Millenium Force? Corkscrew? Raptor?”

I shrugged, smiling a bit. “Honestly, I didn't really ride the roller coasters.” All three gawked at me. “I’m a little afraid of heights,” I confessed sheepishly. “You would be too if you fell as often as me!”

Alex’s chuckle broke the shocked silence. “Well, at least we won’t always be fighting over who sits next to you.”

“Hey, I won’t hold you back. Give me a caramel apple and I’ll wait around all day for you,” I teased. I grabbed my bag, debating what to take in. I knew they had lockers, but it seemed a bit pointless. We didn’t plan on hitting the waterpark until tomorrow, but I was already wearing my swimsuit beneath my clothes just in case.

“It’s that easy huh?” Max walked over to tug on my hair with a grin.

“Well, make me wait long enough and I'll have a cotton candy too.” I smiled up at him as I dug through my bag for my sunscreen.

Their eyebrows raised as they watched me apply it and I just shook my head. “It’s scorching out here and my skin is light. Plus, I’ve spent too many years as a mom to break the habit.” I explained despite the snickers coming from Troy and Max.

“Here, let me.” Alex scooped my hair off my neck, gentle fingers spreading the sunscreen over the base of my neck, up behind and atop my ears, and then under the shoulders of my shirt. I could nearly purr at the touch; I wanted to just let him continue rubbing for hours. Who needed roller coasters when you could have massages? “I’ll take some too if you don’t mind.”

I nodded, though I was slightly disappointed when his hands pulled away to put sunscreen on himself. Max and Troy seemed to be considering him with confusion, and I figured he didn’t normally apply sunscreen, he was simply being sweet and trying to keep me from being embarrassed, not that I was. I’d much rather put on sunscreen than deal with massive burns later, or having to stay inside all of the time. I’d learned that lesson in my teens. I slid my wallet from my bag, putting it in the pocket of my jean shorts and tugging my t-shirt down to make sure the outline was completely covered.

“Everyone ready?” Troy’s words were gruff, and from the look he was giving the park entrance I could tell he was excited to get inside. I couldn’t help but stifle a giggle. Broody, imposing Troy loved the amusement park. It was cute, really.

At our assent, he locked up the car and we headed for the main gate. Alex pulled a ticket from his pocket, passing it back to me. “Here, you’ll need this.”

“Do you guys have yours?” I asked, curious why he didn’t pass them to Troy and Max as well. Both shook their heads.

“We’re all season pass holders.” Max tossed over his shoulder. “It just makes more sense with how often we come here.”

I nearly stumbled as I glanced at my ticket, wincing a bit as I realized Alex must be a passholder as well. These three were really inseparable. “You didn’t need to buy my ticket. I could’ve bought it.” I didn't want them thinking I was a charity case.

“This is our payback for the dinner, remember?” Troy called back, several steps ahead of our group. He really was excited.

“Seriously, I didn’t expect to be paid back for that.” God, he had long legs. I puffed, trying not to show the strain on my breathing as I took three strides for every one of his. Having short legs really was a hindrance. “Besides, I know how much Cedar Point tickets go for. This was way too much, guys.”

“Deal with it ” Max called back with a grin, turning to watch as I avoided falling over the randomly raised curbs. “We’re here, the tickets bought. Not much else to do,” he pointed out.

Alex slowed his speed closer to my own, letting us fall back a bit as I tried to catch my breath. Damn, this was going to be a long day if we kept going at that pace. “You may know the cost of the ticket, Emily, but we know the cost of the groceries.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth, cutting me off. “I’m sure you had some stuff on hand already. I’m also sure you’ll deny the cost, explain it away saying you had to eat anyhow, or that it was a habit because of the kids.” Well, damn. He nailed all of those points. “It doesn’t change the cost of it. We all chipped in, it’s not breaking our banks by any means. So don’t worry about it and let’s have fun, okay?” His smile was charming as he held out his hand for mine. I paused for a moment before taking it and letting him pull me along after the others. Screw it. I was making them cookies no matter what they said.

We passed the main gates and the check-in areas without hassle as Max and Troy began arguing about where to go first. We’d gotten here right at opening, and Troy was insisting on getting in line for their favorites to ensure they’d hit them, while Max was insisting on doing a close one so they could get in their first rides of the day. I shook my head, smiling nevertheless. These two bickered enough to be brothers. That gave me a moment of pause as I turned to Alex. “None of you are related are you?” Troy cut off in the argument, turning to gape at my question while Alex chuckled.

“No, none of us are related. We just act like it sometimes,” Alex added with a pointed look at Max and Troy.

“I can’t believe you thought I was related to this numbskull,” Troy muttered.

“Hey, you stopped arguing, which means I win,” Max pointed out. Well, that was one way to run a system. Troy just snorted, though he didn’t return to arguing.

“Smile for a picture?” A young girl approached us, her own smile wide and bright, a camera held up. I opened my mouth to refuse but Troy jumped in, answering before I had the chance.

“Yeah, sure.” It was my turn to gape. Surly, introverted Troy wanted a picture of us? Troy and Max joined back up with Alex and me, crowding together for the girl to take our photo. Troy’s arm went around my waist while Alex’s went over my shoulder. Max stood behind me, and if the chuckle I heard was any indication, most likely put bunny ears on at least one of us.

“Great!” She handed us a little card. “You can pick it up in the photo shop on your way out.” She indicated a building up ahead before turning to more patrons coming in.

“Blue Streak or Raptor?” Troy tossed at Max. I was amused, and more than a little shocked that he had yet to remove his arm from around my waist.

Max considered for a moment, squinting into the crowd, I assumed trying to see where the flow of people was going. “Raptor,” he said decisively.

“You guys go ahead.” Alex hung onto my shoulder as Troy tried to drag me forward by my waist. “I’m going to take Emily on the carousel.”

“You don’t have to.” I hurried to say as Troy and Max paused, debating their next move. “You all go, I’m totally fine waiting.” Surprising me, Alex didn’t bend.

“You’re afraid of heights,” he reminded me, not that it was necessary. “We’re all here to have fun. We can rotate out. We always end up riding separately anyhow since there are three of us. Some of us will hit the rides you like with you.” His eyes had gone from electric blue to steely as he met his friend’s gazes and then mine.

I didn’t want to be a drag, but he did make a point. Slowly, I nodded. “We’ll make this contingent then.” His grin went a little wicked as I argued back with him. Hm, apparently boy-next-door had a dark side. It was interesting seeing this part of his personality. I hadn’t realized he could have so much steel behind him, but it made sense with him being an attorney. “If a ride line is incredibly busy, and the wait time would be insane to do more than one round in it, you’ll all go. I’ll amuse myself nearby.”

“We can’t convince you to join us?” Max asked. “Even if we promised to protect you?” He smirked at me, winking to soften it.

“Sorry, no go.” I shook my head emphatically. “I mentioned I’ve ridden the Corkscrew? I threw up for like twenty minutes afterward.” Troy paled a bit and Max grimaced. “So unless you want to be holding my hair, I suggest just letting me stick to the spinny rides.” I giggled at the looks of horror on their faces. I waved them off as they jogged over to the Raptor, deep in conversation about the next ride they wanted to hit. Alex and I headed to the carousel, waiting patiently as the line wasn’t very long. “Thanks for riding with me,” I offered as we chose our horses.

“Of course.” Alex offered back with a smile, straddling a white and gold horse. I held back a snort of laughter. Of course he’d choose the prince charming horse. Why was I not surprised? Children around were laughing, people were snapping pictures with their phones, a group of teenage girls ahead of us were squealing with excitement as they discussed something that was apparently of dire importance. I felt a little tug, wishing my kids were here for this. “Off we go!” Alex interrupted my maudlin train of thought as the ride began, and I couldn’t help but giggle as the horse rose and fell, the ride spinning. I wished they still had a gold ring to try and catch but they’d done away with that years ago for safety reasons.

Alex was chuckling as we came to a stop, his eyes bright and his smile wide. “You’re nearly as excited on this as Troy is on the coasters. It’s cute.”

“So you think Troy’s cute when he’s excited, hm?” I grinned as a flustered Alex struggled for words before giving a rueful shake of his head.

“Come on, trouble. Let’s go wait for the other two weirdos.” He grabbed my hand, pulling me through the crowds towards the Raptor’s exit and my smile widened. It had been a while since I had held anyone’s hand, so I wasn’t going to object. I liked the contact, even if we were just friends.

We hopped from ride to ride, each of the guys rotating to ride their favorites while I rode smaller things or checked out some of the fun shops along the Midway, one of the guys always with me. I debated cotton candy before deciding it would be better to save it for later. Troy and Alex had just left us for the Dragster when I pointed towards the Scrambler. “Want to ride?” I asked Max as we wandered aimlessly.

“Yeah!” He checked his watch quickly, considering for a moment. “Dragster’s line is usually long. Want to ride Iron Dragon too? It’s just down the other path.” I mulled that over for a moment, then nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.” The Scrambler’s line was short and we were strapped into the car, the insanely loud calliope music cascading around us as the attendant started the intelligible warnings list. I couldn’t believe it actively counted as a warning when you could barely hear or understand what they were saying, but it didn’t matter. I bounced slightly and Max chuckled.

“Like this one, do you?”

“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites,” I admitted. When I got the kids to the fairs I’d usually try to find a version of Scrambler to ride. Although they were usually slower, they were still fun. The cart picked up speed, tossing me further into Max’s arms as we spun over and over. I couldn’t help but laugh as the world went crazy around me. Max’s arms tightened and pulled me further against him, making me nearly as breathless as the spinning. As the ride slowed to a stop, Max’s arm released me quickly, and I reached up for the pull handle to open the cart. I turned back to ask Max what he thought, only to see him hang his head, his face pale and a sheen of sweat coating his forehead.

“You okay?” I reached for his arm, helping to support him as we left the enclosure.

“Haven’t been on that in years,” he gasped. I led him to the benches next to the ride, letting him sit and hang his head between his legs. Sitting beside him, I rubbed his back lightly, trying to distract him from what was apparently raging nausea.

“How did you get into law?” I asked, hoping I could pull his mind away with conversation.

“Can’t talk.” The words were nearly a whimper as he breathed deeply. Got it, he was trying to avoid throwing up. Luckily, we were right next to a restroom—my guess was it had been placed there for just this occasion—should he need to make a fast break. I figured it’d be better to ramble at him instead of trying to force him to talk, the way I did when the boys were sick. I couldn’t exactly sing to him, but at least I could talk.

“I was surprised that you all were so close,” I admitted, continuing to rub his back in small circles. “When we met that first night, I figured you may be co-workers, but I didn’t expect you all to be the little pack you have formed. I swear I’m going to end up writing the three of you into a book at some point. You could definitely be shifters or some kind of alien pod. I feel like you could all be a three-headed alien, though I think Alex would have to have his head in the middle, because you and Troy may try and take a bite out of each other.” Max chuckled weakly.

“Oh, yeah!” I dug my wallet from my pocket, pulling out a few chewable stomach pills. I felt stupid for forgetting they were there, I’d brought them for just this reason, although I had assumed I’d be the one to need them. “Here, take these. It’ll help calm your stomach.” I tore open the tablets, placing the flat pink discs in his hand. “It won’t make you drowsy, don’t worry.” He took the pills, continuing the deep even breaths in through his nose and out his mouth.

“It’s been nice getting to know the three of you.” I let myself ramble, trying my best to just keep his mind occupied. “I didn’t expect anything more than a few hours of hanging out and keeping my mind busy that first night. It’s been a lot of fun to have so much interaction. One of the biggest problems with being a writer is most of my interaction happens in my head or online.” I began massaging the back of his neck and his shoulders, hoping to relax some of the muscles. His muscles were hard as rocks underneath my fingers, but slowly the knots began to unwind as I dug and rubbed, trying to soothe as best I could.

“You all force me to interact with actual people, outside of my sister, though at times I question if she is a human,” I muttered the last part, still mad at her. Last night she had stopped by my house to drop three boxes of magnum condoms off, insisting that I ‘be prepared.’ After throwing her out of the house, I had debated before sliding a few condoms into my bag. I didn’t let my daughter go out without them, I may as well emulate the safety procedures.

Max’s chuckle was brighter now, and I could see some of the color was back in his skin as he sat up more, no longer forced to dangle his head between his knees. “You two are a bit of a riot together.” His voice was rough and he cleared his throat a bit. I moved one hand from his shoulder, threading it through his hair to massage his scalp, enjoying the little humming sound he made.

“Yeah, we’re quite the pair. It’s been hard living so far apart all these years, only seeing her once or twice a year during the holidays or through Skype calls. Life gets away from you after awhile,” I mused, enjoying the silken strands of his hair threaded around my fingers like sunlight.

“My sister lives in Vermont, so I only see her occasionally. We’re not as close as you and your sister are though, so it’s not that big of a deal.” He leaned his head back into my hands, encouraging me to continue the massage. “I do miss seeing my nephews; they’re a bit younger than your kids. I send gifts at Christmas and their birthdays.” A slight grin twisted his lips. “Especially if I know they’ll annoy my sister.” I chuckled and then lightly slapped his shoulder.

“You’re the reason those toys even exist. Most parents won’t even buy them for their kids. It’s crazy relatives like you who want to torture us that send the toys that whistle or scream or never stop singing.” I shuddered remembering some of those from when my boys were younger. I had quickly learned to put tape over the speakers and to replace the new batteries with weak ones while the kids were sleeping so the obnoxious sounds would die quickly.

“I bought the four-year-old a drum set last Christmas.” Humor laced his voice as I gasped in mock outrage.

“No wonder you and your sister don’t get along. I’d have wanted to strangle you.” I couldn’t hold back the laugh, though. “You just have the one sister?” I figured it was ok to ask him a question now as he was responding a bit more.

“Yeah, it was just the two of us. She’s several years younger than me, which I think is one of the reasons we didn’t connect as much.”

“I worried about that with mine,” I admitted. “Brooke is so much older than Jake and Cal. I mean, there’s six years between them and five years between the boys.” I paused for a moment, considering before I revealed, “Carrying them was hard for me, so it took a while.” I tried to keep my voice nonchalant, not wanting pity. I had adored having Brooke, but the older I got the harder it seemed for me to become pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term. I had believed she’d be a miracle baby, my only one, but I had always wished for a big family and wanted to keep trying.

As much as my kids drove me up a wall, I adored being a mom—although I wouldn’t admit to that on certain days, depending on how large of a margarita I needed after their behavior. Max didn’t comment but he reached up to where my hand was rubbing his neck, giving it a tight squeeze, sliding his thumb across my fingers, his support silent but very real.

“She asked me once to come up to Vermont, to work there.” His words were low, his eyes now on all of the people around us, though his gaze seemed to steadfastly avoid the Scrambler still moving on our left. “My life is here though. I don’t want to have to try and get my license in another state, or pick a different career.”

“You’ve got Troy and Alex.”

He smiled and nodded. “I do.” He seemed to debate a moment before adding, “I was kind of like you when Alex and I started hanging out. It was meant to be a casual thing, reinforce our friendship since we had the law office together. Troy and I didn’t end up meeting until later, after I moved here. We didn’t expect to become as close as we all are now. It all just kind of happened somehow. Despite the fact that we’re very different, we bonded.” He shrugged, possibly embarrassed a bit and trying to play down his words.

“I think it’s nice how connected all of you are. You seem more like brothers than friends.” I grinned thinking about how mad Troy had been when I mentioned it earlier. Max snorted and I imagined he was thinking of the same thing.

“These last several years have been a little crazy for us. Alex and I opened the law office, not even sure if it would succeed. He’s the one who invited me to come to live in Oakville. I had been working a completely soulless job that I hated in Philadelphia. We’d kept in touch after law school. We were just bitching together about the way we hated our offices and I joked around with Alex about opening our own. Once he got the bit in his teeth, man, he took off like a rocket. Did tons of research, had full proposals on my desk, everything. I even stayed with him for a bit when I first moved down here.” He snickered at the memory. “That didn’t work out very well. Neither of us can cook, Alex is a neat freak, and I was a total slob at that point.”

“At that point?” I raised an eyebrow though I knew he couldn’t see me, my tone wry enough to convey my disbelief.

“I got tired of living in a disaster zone after a while,” he admitted, his voice finally back up to its full strength, the tension dissolved from his body. “Thanks for the pills, by the way. That would have been embarrassing.”

I pulled my hands from him, only a little disappointed that I had to stop touching him. Okay, extremely disappointed that I had to stop touching him, but it wasn’t like I should admit it. He wasn’t mine to touch, I’d only been trying to make him feel better. A part of me hoped that next time I’d get to feel his hands on me though. I shivered at the thought despite the heat of the sun pounding down on me. I had a feeling he definitely knew what to do with those hands.

“No big deal, it happens. Ready to start walking again?” I hoped he didn’t want to try a ride just yet, but I figured walking couldn’t hurt. We could head towards Troy and Alex, see what they were up to.

“Yeah, walking sounds good.” He stood, turning to face me as I fumbled my way inelegantly off the bench, a small smile playing on his lips. “Thanks, Em.” He reached out a hand, brushing it lightly down my face and cradling my chin. “You’re really adorable.” He turned, shoving his hands in his pockets as he strolled up the midway, leaving me to gape after at him and then scramble to catch up. What the hell had that meant?