The following Saturday I shook Mia and Kitty awake before the sun rose and prodded them into the parking lot, where Alex and his minivan were waiting for us. The side door slid open, revealing Greyson and Nina, both blinking groggily.
“Why did you make me get up this early?” Nina complained.
“You invited yourself, remember?” Alex said.
“At least you know where we’re going.” I climbed into the passenger seat and fluttered my eyelashes at Alex. “Can I know now?”
“Nope.” He took my hand and kissed it. “It’s a surprise.”
Three days earlier, Alex had stopped by my condo after dinner and told me to clear my schedule for Saturday but wouldn’t tell me where we were going. To my annoyance, he’d told Mia and Kitty, and their excited yelps had reached me from where I sat on the patio.You’re a genius, Mia had told him. Whatever we were doing, it had to be good.
Alex drove north on the turnpike, which did nothing to narrow down the possibilities. Almost everything was north of us. It wasn’t until we passed into Orlando and Alex put on a Disney playlist that I put things together. His rendition of “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” (in whichhe sang all the parts, even Mulan’s) earned a round of applause from all of us, while Nina’s “Poor Unfortunate Souls” was so spot-on I was slightly worried for my own soul.
And me? I was confused. Sure, I’d watched all threeHigh School Musicalmovies at the Zefron-a-thon, but I wasn’t one of those Florida residents with a season pass. I’d been to Disney only a few times. One of those was the summer after I’d moved to Florida. Mia was nine, and Kitty was six. Both girls had been infected with a severe case ofFrozenfever, so Beth flew down with all three kids and met me in Orlando. It had been a weekend full of walking, and princesses, and a crabby four-year-old who couldn’t care less about Queen Elsa or Mickey Mouse. He’d loved It’s a Small World, though, and forced me to take him on it a dozen times.
Alex glanced over at me. I smiled at him, unsure how to react. What about this had made Mia call him a genius? Disney would be fun, but why did it have to be a secret?
“Just wait,” Alex said. “You’ll understand.”
“There it is!” Greyson shouted when we arrived, not at Magic Kingdom, but at Epcot. Ahead of us, the silvery golf ball–like structure of Spaceship Earth rose above the park. Alex pulled into a space, and I could sense everyone in the van staring at me, waiting for me to puzzle it out.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to get.”
Alex grinned. “How do you feel about finishing your list today?”
I blinked. “But the last item is...” I looked at Alex, then out at Spaceship Earth. “Oh!” I turned back to him, my smile matching his. All this time I’d been looking at flights and hotels, desperate to figure out how to visit five more countries before my birthday, when all I’d needed to do was look at my own state, where there were eleven “countries” less than four hours from my house.
“This is...” Emotion caught in my chest. I’d said I was okay with not finishing the list, but I wasn’t. I’d gotten so close, which only made missing the mark worse. “Thank you,” I said.
I leaned over to kiss him, and shouts of “Gross!” rang out from the back seat.
I whipped around. “Really, Nina?”
“What?” She elbowed Greyson beside her. “Peer pressure.”
—
Canada was our first country of the day. We passed into Victoria Gardens, flowers in every color blooming all around us. Alex and I slowed, letting Nina and the girls pull ahead.
“It’s almost your birthday,” he said. “How are you feeling?”
He put his arm around my shoulders, and I sighed into him. “Sad. And happy. And confused.”
“Makes sense.”
I looked ahead to where Greyson skipped alongside Mia and Kitty. “Greyson seems like she’s doing better. How’d it go with the family psychologist?” After Greyson’s outburst the night she’d snuck onto the yacht, Alex had called her psychologist and started going to weekly appointments with her.
“I wanted to talk to you about that.” Alex stopped walking and turned me to him. “Greyson and I have been talking.” My pulse picked up, worried he was about to ask me to come with them to L.A. It wasn’t something I expected, but I’d thought about what to say if he asked. And when it came down to it, I just couldn’t leave. Florida, my condo, Nina, theSerendipity—they were home.
“And Greyson’s right,” he continued. “If Maggie wants to be her mother, then she needs to fit into Greyson’s life. Not the other way around.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re staying?”
“We’re staying.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
