“That’s… very thoughtful of you.”
His dimples come into view as he lets out a boyish chuckle. “I’m a very thoughtful guy, Winslow.”
“So it seems, Bellwood.” A smile spreads across my face as well.
He leans in and I feel his breath against my ear as the ride comes to a stop. “And just like that, my brave girl tackled the ferris wheel.”
17
HENRY
Iexpected Maisie to be ready to go home after we went on the ferris wheel but to my surprise she was in no rush. The afternoon was spent going on rides, petting farm animals and playing horribly at all the games.
“Oh my god, I used tobegmy mom to let me get my face painted at one of those silly booths.” Maisie points to a little kid that now resembles a tiger which gives me an idea…
“C’mon.” I take her hand and walk over to the booth where there’s an empty chair.
“W-what are you doing?” Maisie asks. Usually I wouldn’t ignore her but I say nothing as I pull out my wallet and gesture for her to take the open seat.
“Alrighty, which face art do you want today, sweetheart?” The older woman hands her a binder full of options to choose from. Maisie flips through the pages, a beaming smile plastered on her face when she looks up at me.
“You’re joking, Henry!”
“I told you we were being children today, so if this is what little Maisie wanted, then this is what little Maisie gets.”
Her smile is still plastered on her face as she flips through the book, stopping on a butterfly. “Let’s do this one,” she hands the book to me, “and what are you getting?”
“Oh, I wasn’t,” I start to say, but see the smile start to dim and decide at that moment that I will never be the reason her smile fades. Maisie Winslow has me wrapped around her finger. “Let’s take a look.” I flip through multiple pages and decide on a puppy. “What do you think about a puppy?”
“I think it’s rather fitting to your golden retriever energy.”
I grab another twenty from my wallet and next thing I know, both Maisie and I are walking away with our faces painted.
“This is so silly, can I take a picture of us?”
“Yeah, yes, sure,” Maisie agrees and I pull out my phone, opening the front facing camera.
I want this one for myself.
Putting my arm around her shoulders I pull her in closer. I smile and take the photo right as she looks at me with stars in her eyes, capturing a moment I’ll never forget.
The drive homewas something I had been dreading all day knowing one less item was to be crossed off.
I knew from the second that I first saw Maisie at Ruby’s Diner that she was something special. I feel a gravitational pull whenever she’s near.
After getting our faces painted, we went on a few more rides, ending on the big slide. I’ve never seen someone so happy to just… be. The smile that lit up on her face when I asked her if she wanted to go again was a smile that I’d spend every day trying to recreate.
Maisie Winslow is going to be the death of me, but what a way to go out, it will be.
“What was your favorite part of today?” Maisie looks from the window and her face brightened as it met mine.
“Would it be cheesy to say the whole day?” I laugh as I stare at the road ahead of us.
“Not cheesy, but definitely a cop out.”
“Okay, let me think… I think my favorite part was…” My words ponder off as I tap my fingers to the beat of the song playing through the radio. “It would probably have to be winning you the teddy bear on myfirsttry.”
“First try, huh? I think you mean twentieth.”
