Ryan took her by the hand, catching her off guard, and drew her out of the crowd. His hand was big and warm around hers as they came to a stop in front of the milk bottle game. To either side and across the top of the yellow and red striped awning hung stuffed brown monkeys and black gorillas of all sizes. The largest was a gorilla holding a half-peeled banana.
“Want to knock down a few bottles?” Ryan asked as he let Megan’s hand slip from his.
“Sure.” She smiled as she found herself wishing he were still holding her hand.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out a couple of ones and gave them to the carnie manning the game. The young man handed Ryan three balls.
“You first.” Ryan gave one ball to Megan.
She took it, feeling a little self-conscious as she threw the ball. She missed the three metal milk bottles by a good six inches.
He smiled. “Give it another try.”
She took another ball from Ryan and shook her head. “I never said I knew how to throw.”
This time the ball brushed by one of the bottles, causing it to rock, but not enough to knock any of them down. She threw the third ball and missed the bottles entirely once again.
“Good try.” Ryan handed the carnie more cash, and the young man in turn gave Ryan another three balls.
He set the balls on the wood barrier in front of them, then took one of the balls and pitched it hard at the milk bottles. The bottles scattered and she grinned up at him. He pitched the next two balls and nailed two more stacks of bottles, winning a small prize.
Instead of taking the prize, Ryan paid for more balls. He never missed and kept upgrading his prizes until he’d won the biggest prize, the huge gorilla with the banana. Megan hadn’t realized a crowd had gathered until the people started applauding and congratulating Ryan.
The carnie took the gorilla down and gave the enormous stuffed animal to Ryan who in turn handed it to Megan.
She laughed as she embraced the gorilla. “No one has ever won a stuffed animal for me before.”
“I’ll carry it for you.” Ryan took the gorilla from her and held it under one arm.
“You must have been on your high school baseball team,” she said as they moved past a crowded shooting gallery.
He gave a nod. “I was an outfielder.”
“Baseball is one sport I actually like.” She sidestepped an empty popcorn carton. “My favorite team has been the San Francisco Giants ever since I was a little girl and we saw a game when we visited the city.”
“The Diamondbacks are my team,” Ryan said. “I’m also a Dodgers fan from way back, before Arizona had a team.”
“Looks like we’ve got a little competition already between us.” She gave him a teasing look. “Considering both the Giants and the Diamondbacks are fighting for first place in the National League.”
“We’ll have to come up with a good wager,” he said.
She raised her brows. “Now that’s thinking ahead. The playoffs are almost a month from now and we’ve just met.”
He shrugged. “I have a good feeling about you. My feelings are rarely wrong.”
A tingling sensation went through her belly at the fact that he was thinking that far ahead and she’d just met him, and she couldn’t think of anything to say.
He saved her by asking, “How about something to eat?”
In all of the fun spending time with Ryan, she’d forgotten she was hungry. “That sounds great.”
He bought them corndogs and sodas, and a churro each. They continued talking as they walked and it wasn’t long before the food was gone. When they finished, he bought a cone of cotton candy. “No fair is complete without cotton candy,” he said as he pulled at some of the pink and blue sticky stuff.
“What about siblings?” she asked.
He put it in his mouth. “Four brothers.” Ryan crouched as a little boy ran straight toward him. “And a whole lot of cousins,” he added before he caught the boy by the shoulders. “Hold on, pardner. Where’s your mama?”
“Matt, I told you to stay with me.” A pretty redheaded woman scooped the boy up into her arms. “Thank you, Ryan.”
“Giving your mama a hard time?” Ryan straightened and tugged on the little boy’s earlobe and the boy shook his head. To the woman Ryan said, “Carrie, this is Megan Wilder.” He turned to Megan. “The ornery boy’s mama is my cousin, Carrie Parks.”
“Hi.” Megan gave Carrie a smile.
The woman returned the smile. “Great to meet you.” She turned to Ryan. “I’ve got to run. Jack has Cindy and they’ve been waiting for us by one of the ticket booths. Matt busted loose before we could get to them. I was afraid he’d manage to get lost in the middle of the crowd before I could stop him.”