“Comfy clothes for sure. Shit, I kind of forgot about your knee when I booked it. Can you do a little walking?” she asks hesitantly, covering her face.
“How much are we talking? A few miles or less than one?” I ask her.
“Less than one, I think. And there’s plenty of places for us to sit and rest if needed.” She drops her hands into her lap.
“Then I’ll be good to go,” I assure her.
She taps her fingertips together, reminding me of a cartoon villain, and I can’t help but wonder what we’re about to get into.
“Can I open my eyes yet?” I ask Lainey as we take another turn and enter some kind of structure that dims our surroundings.
“Yeah, okay. I think now is fine,” she murmurs.
Fluttering my eyes open, I take in everything around me. We’re in a parking garage or a parking ramp. She rounds a corner, heading up to the next level, and I notice a sign on the wall—New York Aquarium.
“We’re at the aquarium?” I gasp.
She giggles excitedly. “Yeahhhh.”
“Hell yeah!” I cheer, slapping the windowsill of my door. “This is awesome. I actually haven’t been here yet.”
She looks at me like I’m crazy. “You’re kidding me. You’ve lived in New York for how long, and you haven’t been here? What? Why?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I didn’t really want to go, and I didn’t have anyone I wanted to go with.”
“You’re such a sap now,” she teases me, finally finding a parking spot.
I wiggle my fingers, threatening to tickle her. “I can’t help it when it comes to you.”
“Gag,” she continues to chirp at me, and I think she may give some of the guys a run for their money.
“Do you want to gag? I can arrange that later, baby.” I adjust my hips. “Or now, before we go in. Just say the word.”
That knocks her off her axis as she puts the car in park, finally flustered. She blushes, but then a darkness crosses her face.
“Lain, there’s no pressure for anything with me. We don’t have to do anything today at all. I was just teasing you,” I say softly, trying to eliminate that scared look in her eye.
I’m going to actually kill Cole for conditioning this reaction in her.
“Yeah, sorry,” she exhales.
Reaching over, I grab her hand and hold it in mine. “Don’t apologize.”
She nods slowly, and I watch my words sink into her mind before she turns and looks over at me with kind eyes and a soft smile. “Ready?”
“Oh, hell yeah, I am!” I shout, and she laughs, rolling her eyes.
We get out of the car, and she locks it with my keys, tucking them in her purse.
“Can you hold my stuff too?” I ask her, holding out my phone and wallet.
She nods and takes them, storing them away in her bag.
We follow the sea creature stickers on the floor that lead toward the entrance. This is such a good date idea for a number of reasons. I’ve wanted to go here for forever, but I knew I couldn’t go alone. It would’ve been hard to see all the marine life and not think of Lainey and Carly.
But now I get to experience the world’s largest aquarium with my girl. I know she’ll be thinking of Carly too. She would’ve loved this place.
Lainey gets the door for us, but I hold it open so she can walk through first.
