“Be quiet. I have two more darts.”
Irritation lanced through her, and she ruthlessly tamped it down. She’d survived law school, the bar exam, and brutal challenges at work. She could pierce a damn balloon with a tiny dart. After taking a slow inhale, she exhaled. She narrowed her focus on the blue balloon and threw the dart.
The balloon popped, releasing confetti in the air. She whooped and almost lost the third dart. Grady grabbed her hand and pried the dart out from her fingers, laying it on the table.
“Nice job, sweetheart.” He hugged her quickly. “Pick your prize.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever.”
“It matters. Would you like a puppy? A kitty? Horse? Definitely a horse. It suits you.”
She snorted. “Why a horse?”
He glanced at her while pointing to the white horse. “You like riding in to save the day, like a white knight or a cowboy on a white horse.”
She stared as he handed her the horse. Wordlessly she took it, still processing his words and trying to figure out his meaning. White horse? Saving the day?
He held out his hand, and she took it, still quiet.
“You okay? I thought you’d be gloating over your success.”
“Hmm? Oh yes, well, I worked in a bar throughout college and got pretty good at darts.”
He cocked his head at her. “You’re full of surprises. Why didn’t you tell me that before we wasted all our money?”
She smiled sweetly at him. “You seemed so confident, and I didn’t have the heart to disappoint you.”
He spun her around and peered at her. “We’re a team. You shouldn’t keep things like that from your partner.”
“I wasn’t hiding anything exactly. Just omitted it. And, for the record, you never asked.” She tweaked his nose. “Now, what’s next?”
ChapterFifteen
Grady pulled out the list. His brow furrowed as he scanned the list.
“Now that we’ve eaten and gotten some of our items, I think we’re ready for the next challenge. Rock wall.”
“What?” Brigid narrowed her gaze and held out her hand. “Give me the list.”
He kept it close to his chest. “Remember, I had nothing to do with this.”
She lunged from the bench and snatched the piece of paper from his grasp. She unfolded it and studied it, going white as the words sunk in. “Dammit.”
It was true. Rock wall. They each had to climb the rock wall to the top, get their picture taken as proof. And, what was worse, they had to belay each other, whatever the hell that meant.
“I’m not doing this.” She tossed the paper on the table.
He grabbed it. “If we don’t do it, we have no chance of winning. We don’t have enough money to get the rest of the stuff, and this was required.”
“Forget it. Not happening.”
He rocked back on his heels, a grin broadening his face. “You’re afraid of heights. I didn’t think anything scared you, besides intimacy.”
She glared at him from the corner of her eye, nose wrinkling in disgust. “So? Lots of people are afraid of heights. And I’m not afraid of heights exactly. I just have a healthy respect for gravity.”
“But you act like nothing scares you.”
She looked away, toward the rides part of the carnival. The fake rock wall jutted up from behind all the other rides, clearly visible from this angle. Only the roller coaster was taller. There was no way she could climb that. Caroline knew Brigid was terrified of heights, ever since her parents discovered her fear and decided she had to overcome it, using a series of aversion therapy techniques that did nothing to quell the fear. In fact, if anything, it added to the pressure she felt in needing to be perfect for them.