“I honestly do not want to know what your happy place is. That’s a no for me.” I hear the sound of her pretending to vomit.
“That is not my happy place.”
“Oh please, then what is?” The way that question is followed with probably an eye roll makes me almost burst out laughing.
“My house. Sitting on the beach.” I start to name a couple of things and she groans.
“Okay, this therapy session took a nosedive. I will have everything set up for her to start on Monday. It’ll be good.” She snickers. “Try not to die on that death trap.” I groan out and just hang up the phone before I rub my hands over my face.
“The things I do for you, Lexi,” I mumble. “The things I do for you.” I look out the window and start the countdown until I get to see her.
I sit on the steps outside in the front, waiting for her to arrive. She texted me twenty minutes ago, telling me she was on her way. I spot her SUV from the distance and get up to my feet with the gate open for her to drive in. I can’t help the smile that fills my face when I see her. She has her hair down and is wearing a pair of gold-rimmed aviator glasses. I walk over to the driver’s side door and pull the handle. “Hi,” I say, trying to contain how happy I am to see her.
“Hey,” she greets, taking off her glasses and giving me her eyes. “How excited are we?” she asks me, reaching over to the passenger side and grabbing her blue crossbody purse.
“On a scale of one to a hundred”—I move out of the way so she can come down—“it’s at a minus ten.” She shakes her head. “Which is a lot better than this morning when I almost cancelled.”
“You didn’t,” she says and closes the door and I take in her outfit. She’s wearing a pair of loose, light-blue jeans, with a long-sleeved white top, her midriff showing off her tanned skin. But it’s the sneakers on her feet that have me gawking. My eyes go back to her midriff and the hint of skin she’s showing.
“I’m sorry if I’m staring,” I apologize in advance. “I didn’t think you owned jeans or sneakers.” She smirks.
“Let’s just say that I got a refresher in my clothing department.” She puts the crossbody around her top. “I still have stuff for work, but I have a lot more casual me clothes.”
“Well, you look good in anything,” my mouth says before I can stop it, “but I really like you in the jeans.”
“Thank you, and you look comfortable.” She takes in my outfit of black joggers and a long-sleeve white shirt that is pushed up to my elbows.
“Figured if I throw up, this will absorb more than jeans,” I answer her honestly. “You ready to go so we can get this over with?”
“It’s okay to not be okay,” she tells me. “I’m so excited.”
“Well, at least one of us is,” I mumble as I walk over to my own SUV and open the door for her. “After you.”
She stops and puts her hand on the door. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time.” She gets in and I close the door.
“You better be.” I walk around to the driver’s side. “I keep thinking about the rides,” I tell her as I pull out and head toward the amusement park. “I even went and watched videos of them.”
“Of course you did,” she states and the whole car already smells like her, a bright citrus scent. “Why does this not surprise me?” I look at the road and pull into the parking lot, pulling into the first spot I can find. “Here we go,” she chirps and I just close my eyes before getting out of the SUV.
She waits for me in the back. “Do you want to start slow?” she asks me as we walk with people toward the front gate. “I also already bought us tickets”—she takes out her phone—“and the fast pass so we can go right to the front of the line and you can’t back out.”
“I’m not going to back out,” I assure her nervously, “and we should probably just get it over with.” I look around as she walks to one of the booths as she scans her phone.
“Here,” she says, handing me a bracelet, “today is on me.”
“That’s a very intriguing offer,” I tell her and I can see her eyes get a touch darker, and her cheeks turn a hint of pink as she looks down and avoids my eyes. “Thank you.”
She shakes her head, putting on her own bracelet. “I meant, it’s cashless, so whatever you want, it charges my card.”
“I’m too nervous to argue with you,” I admit to her, looking around and she tries to hide the smile by biting her bottom lip. “How was your week?” I turn to her and I can’t help but smile when she smiles.
“I got the keys to my new house,” she declares proudly, “and I moved in, mostly.” I follow her to the entrance as she scans her bracelet and it beeps, letting her in.
“Please don’t work,” I joke as I scan my own bracelet and it beeps, letting me in. “This is happening,” I say and I feel her hand slip into mine.
“I promise you, I’ll be here the whole time,” she assures me, and with her hand in mine, I think I’d do whatever she asked me to do. Roller coaster, jump out of a plane, swim with sharks, in a cage, obviously, but I would do anything.
“Okay, so which one do you want to do?” I ask her as we walk hand in hand through the throngs of people. I see a couple of people do a double take when I walk by them.
