Free Tempted by Megan Hart Page A

said.
    We docked at the marina. Alex had, indeed, proven himself a capable sailor. I hadn’t been to the Point since last year. As always with each season, fresh paint and rides made even the familiar new again.
    We were lucky. The crowds were thin that day, mostly busloads of kids on school trips who arrived early, but hung in herds leaving vast areas uncrowded.
    “I had some good times here,” Alex said as we picked a direction and meandered down one of the tree-covered paths toward the back of the park. “This was my first real job. First real money. This was the first place I realized I could actually get out of Sandusky for good.”
    “Was it?” We stepped aside to let a fast-moving swarm of kids pass us. “Why?”
    “Because I knew there were other places to work than here or the automotive parts factory,” he said. “The Point hires a lot of college kids. Hearing them talk about where they were going and what they were going to do made college seem like something I could really do.”
    I already knew he hadn’t gone.
    He looked at me. “I didn’t go, though.”
    “And now you’re back here.” I wasn’t trying to be a smart-ass, just pointing out something interesting. A circle.
    He laughed. “Yeah. But I still know there’s more to the world than this place. Sometimes it’s good to remember there’s home, though, too.”
    “You still think of here as home?” We were heading toward what once had been the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster in the park, The Magnum XL-200. It was still an impressive structure. I liked to ride in the front.
    “Someplace has to be, right?”
    The queue wasn’t as long as it sometimes got in the height of summer, when wait times could be hours long. Still, we did have to wait, and the line moved along slowly enough to give us ample time for conversation.
    “I got the feeling you weren’t a big fan, that’s all.” Without discussing it, we both moved toward the row of cattle chutes that would lead us to the front seat of the coaster.
    “I have some good memories.” He shrugged. “Who said home’s the place where you go and they have to take you in?”
    “Robert Frost?”
    He laughed. “I guess that’s why Sandusky is still home. I came back and someone took me in.”
    Someone had, but not his family.
    The attendant waved us into the front car, where we sat knee against knee and buckled ourselves in tight. The Magnum might not be the fastest or the tallest anymore, and it might not have any loops, but it’s an impressive coaster just the same. Two hundred and five feet high with a one hundred-and-ninety-five-foot drop, it’s the most thrilling two minutes you’ll ever spend.
    The ride to the top of the first hill takes forever, but once there, the view of the park is amazing. The breeze ruffled Alex’s hair, and the sun was bright enough to make me squint; I’d taken off my sunglasses in preparation for the plunge. We looked at each other, and when I saw the grin on his face I felt one on my own.
    “Hands up,” he said.
    We raised our hands.
    Poised at the top of a roller coaster, I always have time to think, “why am I doing this?” I love them, the twists and drops, the stomach-sinking feeling and adrenaline rush. But at the top, with the world spread out below me, I always pause to wonder why I’m subjecting myself to the fear.
    We seemed to hang over the edge for a long time before finally beginning the downward swoop. I was already bracing myself, already opening my mouth to scream.
    Alex grabbed my hand.
    We fell.
    We flew.
    I screamed, but with laughter and without breath. It was like being shot into space, twisting, turning and dropping. Soaring. And in two minutes it was all over, and the train pulled into the station with its passengers shaking and windblown. My teeth felt dry. Alex let go of my hand.
    On vaguely trembling legs I got out of the car and followed him down the steps to the exit. He held open the small gate for me at