Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 111 - The Date-Like Date

Becca

He brought me to Funland?! 

I should've guessed that he would come up with something as ridiculous as dragging me, a grown woman, to an amusement park! I haven't been here in a hundred years. Seeing the rides - mostly still the same as when I was a kid - smelling the mixture of festive food, cotton candy and excitement, I feel incredibly nostalgic.

"I used to love coming here with Beth when we were kids," I sigh, surprised to find myself grinning as though I'm actually pleased to be here. Perhaps I am. "We brought Willow when she was a little girl, but then we spent most of our time in the baby section."

"This was Hunter's favourite place when he was small. Ry and I brought him here as often as possible when he was well enough to handle it. It was the only place where he'd show any emotion. Screaming, laughing, begging to be let off the roller coaster, just so he can nag to go back on again once the ride is over." Devan is smiling, too, his eyes running over the busy scenes around us.

The man remains an enigma. The more I speak to him and learn about him, the more curious I become about him.

Beth told me that Dev and Ryan met on their first day of university and were roommates for the duration of their studies. Ryan was an engineering student, and Devan was majoring in Sports Science; they were from two very different worlds and yet their interests outside of their studies overlapped in ways that made them the perfect candidates to become best friends.

Years later, when Ryan's wife was murdered, and he needed to escape the city and find a place where he could raise Hunter out of the jaundiced limelight of sensationalism, Devan came to Briar Cove with them. He opened the first of his three gymnasiums and stayed by their side ever since.

Ryan told me that he didn't know how he would've been able to survive that first year after Misty's death without Devan by his side. His parents, Misty's mother, her brother and his wife were wonderful and supportive, sacrificing a lot of their time to help him through it while dealing with their own pain. Still, Devan was the firm pillar who stuck by his side day after day, year after year, keeping him going when he felt he couldn't go on. On occasion, he had to take over the role of Hunter's father when Ryan simply couldn't cope.

He took turns with Ryan's parents to care for Hunter while Ryan battled to get his company going again. Somewhere in their years of being university friends, Ryan and Devan became true brothers, which is part of the reason that I'm so uncertain about this experiment we've embarked on. I do not want to cause friction of any kind. I've noticed that Ryan is protective of Willow and me, and I know he loves Devan; if things go South between Dev and me, the fallout could be massive. I don't share Beth's optimism.

"Do you like roller coasters?" I ask him, and he pulls a face, shaking his head.

"I hate them."

Well, that explains why he brought me to the amusement park... As I said, an enigma.

"Great," I laugh. "Let's go on that one!" I spitefully point at the meanest ride in the park. It is called the Last Ride because most people don't want to go on any more rides once they've been on that track with the steep declines and twists and turns where the riders are flipped upside down at the most unexpected moments. It is fierce and fast and altogether terrifying. Beth and I used to love it, and from where I'm standing, looking at it, and listening to the screams drifting from it on waves of piercing sound, it appears that the ride has been upgraded to be even worse than before.

"Uh..." Devan grunts, looking a little pale now, but he dutifully follows me to fall in line. He even climbs into one of the train cars with me, grimacing when the attendant pushes the restraining brace into place until it locks with a loud click.