Daphne pulled her coat tightly around her chest. Though it was only early November, the air was beginning to freeze as soon as the sun went down. The gentle breeze stung Daphne’s hands. I should have brought gloves this morning.

  She looked up at the trees, which only had a few leaves hanging onto their branches, as the couple meandered down the path near the river. Though the pathway in this park was much closer to the river the flow of the river was still nearly silent.

  She let out a puff of air, which was clouded up around her face. She looked up at Asher who was looking at her. He captured her hand with ease and suddenly Daphne was grateful she’d forgotten her gloves. As his fingers intertwined with hers, she felt her heart picking up in her chest.

  Hopefully he won’t feel my pulse. Her face started to redden in the twilight.

  “You’re really tall,” she said, trying to distract herself from the swirl of emotions starting up within her from his touch.

  “Doesn’t that just mean that you’re really short?” he shot back with a chuckle.

  Daphne pursed her lips and gred at him with amusement. “I’m actually the average height for a woman,” she informed him.

  “Mm, that’s surprising that women are, on average, so much shorter than me,” he said.

  “How tall are you?” she asked, stopping to look at the difference between them in height. Asher had almost a whole head on her.

  “I’m six foot one,” he answered, a smile inching onto his face.

  “So taller than average,” Daphne replied, starting to walk again. One of Asher’s strides equaled two to three of hers. “That means you’re the tall one; I’m not the short one.”

  Asher ughed a little, his breath puffing up in the air like smoke.

  “Hey, I think I may have remembered the merry-go-round memory you were talking about at the sandwich shop,” Daphne said, looking up at Asher.

  He covered his face, with the exception of his eyes, with his free hand. Cute.

  “Which merry-go-round memory are you talking about?” he asked.

  “There was more than one?” Daphne asked, widening her eyes.

  “There were lots,” he murmured.

  “Mm, well… The one I remembered is when Rose got angry at you for feeding me some of the food your grandfather brought and she told you that you should just marry me,” Daphne said.

  Asher turned away from her, looking at the ground. In the darkness, Daphne could just barely make out his ears growing redder.

  “Is that the one you were referring to at the sandwich pce?” Daphne asked, drawing closer to him, in hopes of seeing his face. Her shoulder bumped into his arm, and she felt her heart nearly stop at the contact.

  “No,” he replied, his voice soft.

  Daphne felt her heart drop. “Oh,” she replied.

  “You remembered the merry-go-round event that was the most embarrassing one for me,” he replied, peeking over his shoulder at her.

  Daphne ughed out loud. “That’s the most embarrassing one, huh?” she asked. “What about it was so embarrassing?”

  “Are you intending to mortify me?” Asher asked, his voice shaky, but pyful.

  Daphne couldn’t help but giggle again. “I’m just curious about you,” she replied. She looked over at him and noticed the tips of his ears were bright, fming red, peeking out from the colr of his long bck coat that he had his face buried into.

  I never would have expected this behavior from someone like Asher. Daphne’s heart was soaring in her chest. He’s so freaking cute.

  “You’re curious about me, huh?” Asher asked, his voice muffled. “Fine.” He turned his head to look back at her, the color obvious on his cheeks. “It’s the most embarrassing because I thought you were pretty and that’s why I was defending you from Rose.”

  It was Daphne’s turn for her face to heat up. She, herself, had to turn away and look at the ground. “You really felt like a savior to me in that moment,” she murmured.

  “It was the start of my first crush ever,” Asher replied in a low voice. Daphne was barely able to make out his words, but her heart skipped a beat at their content.

  I was his first crush.

  His words extended the burning on her face. “What else happened then?” she asked, trying to distract herself, again, from his actions and her internal reaction to them.

  “We met at that merry-go-round a lot that summer,” Asher said. Daphne gnced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was looking up at the sky dreamily. “Every time there was a competition, we pyed together.”

  Daphne felt her heart sink a little in her chest. It’s a shame I basically don’t remember any of that summer.

  “I don’t remember any more of them,” she replied, frowning and looking back at Asher.

  His eyes met hers and he nodded. “That’s okay,” he said. She interpreted his drawn eyebrows as disappointment, nonetheless, and her guts twisted around in her stomach.

  “It’s not just the memories of you that I don’t have,” she swiftly insisted. “I’m missing a lot of my memories from my childhood.”

  He smiled a little and shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about it,” he replied.

  Daphne looked ahead at the pavement in front of them, biting her lip. She struggled to trust his words. Just go with it, she instructed herself in spite of the pit inside of her.

  “What was your favorite memory from back then?” she asked.

  “It was the st time I saw you at the merry-go-round,” he replied, looking back up at the sky.

  Daphne frowned a little. “Why is that your favorite memory?”

  He chuckled a little. “That was the time that little Daphne admitted she liked me,” he replied.

  “Oh God,” Daphne replied, covering her face with her free hand.

  I must have been such an impulsive child. Why would I have done something like that?

  Asher ughed. “You were definitely bolder than you are these days.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Daphne muttered to herself.

  “I’ll never forget that moment, though,” Asher said “It was the first time something like that had happened to me.” He shook his head, a smile still on his lips. “Every year after that, I kept checking for you at the merry-go-round, but you never came back.”

  Daphne’s heart sank in her chest a little, thinking of all of the time that Asher had probably spent waiting for her to come. How would things have turned out if I had gone back to the competition with my parents across the rest of those years?

  “Us kids were only brought that first year,” Daphne said with a nostalgic nod. She looked up at the sky, noticing that the first stars were beginning to make themselves visible. “It really annoyed my mother to have us all there and the next year, my oldest brother Cypress was old enough to watch all of us, except for Vio. Vio went everywhere my mom went for years.”

  She looked back over at Asher, and met his gaze. “What a simple expnation,” he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “I wish I had thought of it back then.” He sighed, letting out a puff of air between their faces. “I was always disappointed year after year when you didn’t show up, over and over again.”

  “Sorry,” Daphne said, drawing her eyebrows downward. “I didn’t have a choice in the matter at all.”

  Asher ughed a little. “Don’t be,” he said.

  It was a time before my mother had completely beaten me down. She chewed on her tongue a little. But I suppose if I was capable of it once before, I may still have that type of strength inside me still. Hopefully.

  “Thinking back,” Asher continued, “I feel that you gave me a lot of hope that you would, and would things would get tough, I found strength in your willingness to stand up to Rose.” He grimaced a little. “She’s always been such a brat. I figured if you had the strength to stand up to my older sister, then I could have the strength to get through whatever I was dealing with.”

  So Rose is the older of the twins. Interesting.

  “You impacted my life back then more than I thought you did,” Asher finished, looking sheepish. He stopped walking, and Daphne turned around to look at him. He gently pulled her forward, into an embrace.

  “I’m gd that you found strength in my actions back then, so that you could make it to this point,” Daphne murmured as he wrapped his arms around her, and she wrapped her arms around him.

  He was warm, the heat radiating through is coat. The woodsy, clean scent that she had caught whiffs of from time to time filled her nostrils, and she had to hold herself back from taking a deep breath of it.

  “More than that,” Asher said, “I’m gd that we ended up finding our way back to one another. It took a long time, but here we are.” His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer.

  She looked up at him, her heart thrumming in her chest, filling her ears with its sound. He was looking down at her, a cute smile touching his lips. He brought his face down to hers, and her eyes fluttered shut. She felt his lips gently graze her own, and her heart sped up even further.

  The moment was brief, and he gently took a small step away from her.

  I want more. But I’m also worried my heart is going to fly out of my chest.

  “I’m gd we found each other again, too,” Daphne said, a goofy grin spreading across her face, against her will.

  He smiled down at her, a softer smile than his typical one. “How lucky I am to have won over my first crush,” he said.

  Daphne felt her face warming again at his words. How lucky I am, to get to see all these unique sides of him.

  She giggled, unable to hide her face from him. “Even if we weren’t each other’s first crush,” she said, “I would still feel lucky to be with you right now.”

  Asher ughed with his mouth open, looking at the sky. A bck curl nded in front of his ear, and Daphne reached up to tuck it behind his ear. “It’s true,” she murmured.

  He pulled her closer again, this time, pcing his chin on her shoulder. His breath was soft against her ear, and she felt her own breath hitch and the sound. “What are you doing this weekend?” he asked.

  Daphne felt like she could hardly breathe with how close to her face he was. She was more aware of her body, and all of the pces his presence was intertwining with her own.

  “I don’t have any pns,” she admitted, her voice breathy.

  “Let’s go to the theme park on Saturday, then,” Asher said, his voice close to her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

  “Aren’t you busy?” she asked.

  “I’m caught up for now,” he replied, bringing his lips close to her neck. She was holding onto his body for dear life. If she let go, she knew that she’d melt into a puddle right on the sidewalk. “Besides,” Asher added, “I can always make time for you.”

  “Alright,” she replied, her voice coming out even more airy than before.

  Daphne’s heart was warm and light in her chest. More time with Asher? I can hardly wait.

  ~

  Asher had picked Daphne up outside of her apartment. She could still hardly believe that there were any amusement parks open in November, even after much reassurance from Asher, but they also had to drive an hour and a half to get to the closest one that was open. She’d spent a great deal of the car ride ughing and even found out that Asher had a simir taste in music to her.

  As Asher had paid for their tickets into the front gate, Daphne noticed a sign that suggested the rides that were open during the winter were limited, and were only operating when the weather permitted it. Thank goodness it hasn’t snowed yet then. She smiled at the sign, and the open blue sky above them.

  “Ah, I just realized that I should have asked you if you like amusement parks before I just brough you here,” Asher said, his eyes widening, his lips thinning.

  Daphne couldn’t resist a ugh. “You only just thought of that?” she asked, gently poking him in the shoulder.

  “Sorry,” he murmured.

  “Well, you’re in luck,” she told him. “I really like theme parks a lot. It’s been a while since I’ve been to one, too.”

  Asher let out a heavy breath, rolling his eyes up to the sky. “Oh good,” he replied. “I’m gd I get to bring you to one this time.”

  Daphne’s eyebrows raised and she cocked her head a little to the left. This time? What does he mean by that?

  “Let’s go to this ride first,” Asher said, pointing up at a tame looking rollercoaster. “It will be a nice warm up for the day.”

  “Sure,” Daphne replied with a bright smile.

  He must have meant that he wanted to bring me to an amusement park when we were younger. That’s the only thing that makes sense.