The next morning, it was raining when Kevin came into work.
"Look at you!" Lalie called out from her desk observing Kevin's soaked jacket and dripping umbrella.
"I know!" Kevin held up his umbrella. "Tonight was supposed to be the first night of that carnival but I guess it got rained out now!"
"What carnival?" Lalie inquired walking over to Kevin.
"The annual one downtown they have every spring. It attracts all ages," Kevin replied as he went into his office and put down his umbrella and took off his wet jacket.
Lalie followed him into his office. "I love carnivals. I always trying winning something at those booths but I never do!"
"I don't either," Kevin said as he sharpened some pencils in the electric sharpener. "If it clears up, maybe we can go tonight and try our luck at the booths."
"Sure!" Lalie exclaimed. "I'll meet you there after I eat dinner. Probably around 7:30 or 8."
"That sounds good," Kevin smiled. "It's always better at night. The lights look nice."
"They do," Lalie agreed. "Did you ever find out about why your Mom was here yesterday?"
"I didn't really talk to her that much last night," Kevin shrugged. "She went someplace with her friends and I was upstairs watching television. I really am considering moving out and getting a place of my own," he added.
"That's right," Lalie remarked, sounding a little disappointed but Kevin didn't pick up on it. "You and Heather will be getting married soon and will need a place to stay."
"Hopefully I can find something," Kevin said with a bit of worry, knowing that he and Heather will be walking down that aisle soon.
"I'm sure you will," Lalie encouraged. "Well, I'm going to head back out."
"Okay," Kevin replied. "I'll see you tonight, though, if it clears up!"
"I sure hope it does!" Lalie smiled looking out the window at the pouring rain before leaving Kevin's office.
Marcia jokingly shook her head at Lalie as she came out of Kevin's office.
"What?" Lalie asked, having observed what Marcia did.
"You're always in his office!" Marcia yelled out. "Or, you're waving at each other!"
"Is it wrong for friends to show kindness to one another?" Lalie rhetorically asked. "He's getting married to Heather anyway," she once again said as she had a disappointed statement as she looked at his office door.
That evening, Lalie had finished her dinner earlier than 7:30 and she was sitting in the living room waiting to leave for the carnival. The rain had stopped and the clouds had cleared. It was a breezy night but the afternoon sun had warmed the air a little bit.
"Law and Order sounds pretty good tonight," Carole stated while flipping through the TV Guide listings.
"Does it?" Lalie asked. "If I'm home by 10, I'll watch it!"
"If you're home?" Carole looked up from the magazine.
"I'm going to the annual spring carnival with Kevin tonight," Lalie answered as she looked at her watch waiting for 7:30 to come so she could drive downtown.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to be seeing Heather's fiancée like that?" Carole innocently asked with an uneasy look on her face.
"We're friends, Mom," Lalie answered but looked a little uncomfortable. Why was Kevin engaged to her sister, of all people?
"Well, hope you have a nice time. Just glad it cleared up in time," Carole smiled.
"Me too!" Lalie said sounding excited. At least they weren't talking about Heather and Kevin's wedding.
The moment was a brief one, however. "Heather should be back sometime tomorrow," Carole confirmed.
"Great," Lalie lied. "Well, I'm going to get going to the carnival now. I'll see you later tonight!"
Lalie left her house and drove downtown to the carnival. It was only 7:20 when she left but the traffic in the center of the city took 15 minutes to get through so she was glad she left ahead of schedule.
Lalie parked her car in a makeshift parking lot and looked around at all the different lights, booths and rides while sitting in her car. Kevin was right. There were senior citizens, adults and little kids all there having a good time.
"How am I going to find Kevin in this crowd?" Lalie bit her lip as she sat in her car and unbuckled her seatbelt.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the passenger side window. Lalie jumped and turned around to see Kevin standing there.
"You scared me!" Lalie nervously laughed, sighing relief and stepping out of the car. "How'd you find me in this crowd?"
"I saw how crowded it was, so I stood by the end of the parking lot and waited for your car to pull in," Kevin confirmed walking over to Lalie.
"Thank God for that!" Lalie thanked him as she almost took his hand as they headed to walk into the carnival.
"What do you want to do first?" Kevin wondered, looking at the numerous booths and then looking up into the sky. "I know what I want to do!"
Lalie laughed, "And what might that be?"
Kevin pointed up and Lalie followed his finger to the top of the Ferris Wheel.
"I'm not one for heights," Lalie sighed.
"It'll be fun!" Kevin tried to persuade her. "It doesn't go upside down or anything."
"That's a relief," Lalie said, looking up at the Ferris Wheel. "Okay, we'll go up there, but first I want to try winning one of those!" she said as she pointed to a booth.
"A Pokemon collector set?" Kevin asked in disbelief.
"No!" Lalie slapped Kevin's wrist. "That booth next to it!"
"Oh, I see it now!" Kevin confirmed. "Let's go try!"
Kevin and Lalie walked over to the booth where you could win a big, white stuffed bear. Lalie placed her money down on the counter and encouraged Kevin to do the same.
"I don't think so," Kevin nervously laughed watching Lalie signal him to put money down on the counter.
"Don't be ashamed to win a bear!" Lalie told him. "Do it for me!"
Kevin gave in and put his money down on the counter.
The person behind the counter came up to them, took the money and told them they needed to get one of the three darts in the center to win the bear.
Lalie looked on as Kevin went up first. He was outside the center on all three tries.
Lalie smiled as she went up to the counter. "Okay, I'm going to concentrate on this."
The first one was extremely far off. The second one came a little closer.
"Come on, Lalie!" Kevin cheered her on as she aimed her third dart directly for the center.
The dart went straight into the bulls eye. Lalie's jaw dropped as she saw her dart stuck firmly in the center of the bulls eye. "Oh, my God!" she gasped as Kevin even looked shocked.
"Congratulations!" the man behind the counter applauded. "Now, which one of these lovely bears would you like?"
"Let's see," Lalie examined all the bears. "I like that one in the back!"
The man reached behind him and pulled the bear of her choice out and gave it to Lalie. "Come again!" he smiled as Lalie and Kevin walked away.
"I can't believe I won this," Lalie beamed holding up her bear and looking it over.
"You did great over there!" Kevin praised looking at Lalie.
"Any other booths you want to try?" Lalie asked. "I think you're my lucky charm, Kevin!"
Kevin laughed, "I don't know about that. We'll see later about the other booths. You know what I want to do now!"
Lalie was afraid to ask but she knew the answer. "Ferris Wheel?"
They walked over to the Ferris Wheel and got on the line. There were some kids on the line and some adults all waiting to go around that wheel. They paid what they needed to and got in their seat to go around.
"This isn't so bad," Lalie said sounding a bit relieved as they got closer to the top and put her bear between her and Kevin.
"I told you," Kevin replied. "Look at that view over there."
Just as they reached the top, they made a sudden stop.
"Um, Kevin, is this part of the ride?" Lalie asked with a tone of worry in her voice.
Kevin looked over the edge of the seat as the man in charge of the Ferris Wheel walked over to some other guy and pointed to the wheel.
"What's going on down there?" Lalie asked trying not to look over the edge.
"The ride got stuck," Kevin replied looking at Lalie.
"And that's supposed to comfort me?" Lalie nervously asked, grabbing her white bear.
"Don't worry," Kevin assured her, taking the bear and placing it back in the middle of the seat.
"We're stuck high up in the air, Kevin, I think you can consider this a time to worry!" Lalie feared as she looked over the edge with a gasp.
"Rides always get stuck," Kevin said with a tone of ease and relaxation.
Lalie appeared more relaxed and was able to look out over the carnival after he said that. She saw a technician walking over with a toolbox.
"Well, they're in the process of fixing it, it looks like," Lalie guessed and then starting to laugh.
"What are you laughing about?" Kevin asked observing Lalie laugh.
Lalie looked into Kevin's eyes. "I've always thought about being stuck somewhere. Some place where I can't get out of with my own two hands. It's up to someone else to get me out of that predicament."
Kevin didn't respond but nodded as a sign of encouragement to continue.
"Sometimes, in my dreams, I've even with the person who can make the situation better with just a couple of words," Lalie explained.
"And who is this person?" Kevin softly asked.
"It's the person who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with," Lalie replied with a smile as she looked into Kevin's eyes. "The strange thing is that this person in my dream doesn't have a face but I can hear their voice. He always knows the right thing to say."
"Lalie," Kevin started. "Who does this person sound like?"
"It's hard to say," Lalie answered. "I know I've heard the voice before and I know I want to hear it again and I want to hear it for the rest of my life."
Kevin nodded and asked with a serious tone, "What kind of person could fill these shoes?"
"Someone who knows the right words to say. Someone with a sense of humor. Someone who is trustworthy. A generous person who shares the same interests as myself. Someone like-" Lalie didn't finish her sentence as she looked into Kevin's eyes.
"Who, Lalie?" Kevin asked not taking his eyes off Lalie once. "Someone like who?"
Lalie and Kevin began to lean into one another to kiss each other when the seat suddenly jerked back and went forward again and continued it's way to the bottom.
"Well," Lalie whispered as the seat moved again. "That was some ride."
"Yes," Kevin whispered with a little sweat bead on his forehead. "It was."
Chapter 26
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