"Since this is the last weekend I'm in town, how would you like to go to Frontier City with me?" Andy asked Jamie.
"I'd love to!" she exclaimed.
"OK if my little sister Cassie tags along? She's been begging me to take her for awhile now. She's only a couple of years younger than you. I think you two would get along great."
"All right." Jamie was disappointed but hoped it didn't show.
"Super! We'll be by to pick you up at nine Saturday morning."
"Andy's taking me to Frontier City," Jamie told Jo later.
"That sounds like fun! Why the long face?"
"His little sister's coming along with us."
"That's nice. You and she can get to know each other better."
"I wish it could be just me and Andy!"
"Oh, don't be selfish. I'll bet you'll have a great time."
"You just don't understand, do you, Mom?"
Jo sighed. "I know how you feel about Andy, Jamie, but you aren't really in a committed relationship with him right now. He's going back to his missionary work, and you're going back to school, so right now, you can't really be anything more than friends. It's perfectly all right if he wants to take Cassie along with you to Frontier City."
"I guess you're right."
When Andy's car pulled up in front of the house Saturday morning, Jamie jumped to her feet and raced out of the house. "Have fun!" Jo yelled after her, but she barely heard.
When she got to the car, she saw that, to her relief, Cassie was sitting in the back seat. Andy grinned at her as she slid into the front seat beside him. "Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep!"
He pulled back onto the road, and they were off. "I love Frontier City," said Cassie. "How many times have you been, Jamie?"
"Just once, when I was twelve."
"We lived in New York City until I was twelve," Jamie explained.
"Wow! I'll bet that's really different from here."
"It sure is. It's a lot more noisy and crowded, but there's a lot more fun things to do. I really miss it sometimes." Jamie's thoughts turned to Sarah. Although the two girls kept in touch through Facebook and texting, they hadn't seen one another in person since the summer Sarah's grandmother had died.
"So how old are you now?" Cassie interrupted Jamie's reverie.
"Sixteen. My junior year starts in a couple of weeks."
"At Oklahoma High? I'm gonna be a freshman there. It's really exciting. A little scary, too."
"It's a great school. You'll love it."
Andy reached the amusement park and parked, and they all got out. They walked to the entrance together, Andy between the two girls. Once inside the gates, they walked around looking at all the rides until they reached the Gunslinger.
"I'll bet I couldn't get you to go on that." Andy nodded toward the ride.
"You'd lose!" Jamie told him.
"Really? You'd go on that thing with me?"
"You bet!"
"How about you, Cass?" he asked his sister.
"No way!"
Once buckled in, Jamie felt a little less confident but was determined not to let it show. Andy grinned at her, and she gave him a thumbs up. For the entire time the ride lasted, she felt as if she were being tossed around inside a clothes dryer, and when she got off, the ground seemed to tilt like a boat being tossed about by a storm, and a sudden urge made her rush for the nearest trash can. She almost made it.
She was far too mortified to even notice that Andy stood right behind her, holding her hair back, as all her stomach's contents came up.
"Now I'm really glad I didn't go on that ride!" Cassie exulted.
"Are you all right, Jamie?" Andy's voice was warm with concern as he dabbed at her face with a napkin.
"I'm - I'm sorry!" She was far too embarrassed to look him in the eyes.
"Nothing to be sorry for." Andy chuckled. "It happened to me a couple of times when I was younger, too. You just need to take it easy for awhile." He led her to a bench and helped her sit down, then brought her a strawberry lemonade.
"Thank you," she mumbled.
For the remainder of the day, they rode gentle rides, and when Andy dropped Jamie off at home, he kissed her cheek. "Thank you for coming along," he told her. "I had a lovely time."
"I had a nice time, too," Jamie replied, plastering a smile onto her face. "Thank you for inviting me."
"You're very welcome."
"So did you have fun?" Jo asked her daughter when she'd entered the house.
"Oh, Mom, it was so embarrassing! I threw up right in front of him!"
"Why, did you go on a rough ride?"
"Well, yeah. I wanted to impress him with how brave I was."
Jo chuckled. "That's what I thought."
"Don't laugh! It isn't funny at all!"
"I know it isn't, sweetie. I'm sorry. What did Andy do after it happened?"
"Oh, he was real nice. He took care of me until I felt better, and then he rode a bunch more rides with me, even the Ferris wheel. That was nice." Jamie smiled at the memory. "But I'm sure he was just being nice. I mean, what guy wouldn't get completely turned off by seeing a girl throw up in front of him?"
"A really nice guy wouldn't, and I think that's what Andy is," Jo replied. "Just wait and see."
Andy called Jamie later that night. "Hey, I just wanted to know if you were still doing OK. I know you weren't feeling too good this morning, and I was a bit worried about you."
"I'm fine now, but thanks for calling. It's really sweet of you to worry about me."
"Hey, no problem! You are still coming to the airport to see me off tomorrow, aren't you?"
"Of course!"
"By the way, Cassie told me she thinks you're really nice, and she enjoyed talking to you."
"That's nice. I really enjoyed talking to her, too." It wasn't completely untrue.
"I'm glad. Well, see you tomorrow."
Jamie felt as if her feet had wings.