That night, over dinner, I brought up the nursery. Fletcher and I had primed it, but we’d stopped there because we didn’t know what direction to take the design. Pretty pink and floral? A cute blue sea theme? Jungle animals on a green backdrop?
Now that I knew the gender of our baby, my mind had been running all afternoon, thinking about colors and ideas and decorations and the perfect theme.
“I don’t think I want the nursery to be pink, even though we know the baby’s gonna be a girl,” I said, twirling my fork tines around in my linguine. “What if she doesn’t like pink? Not all girls like pink.”
“True,” Adam agreed. “Some girls like pink and want to be pretty princesses, and some girls like blue and want to grow up to be swashbuckling pirates.”
Fletcher giggled. “That would be cute. What colors are you feeling for her, Sky?”
“Mmm. I was thinking maybe a soft pastel yellow, with like, a sunny border. Or maybe cute cats,” I said. “I think she’ll like cats. I’ve got a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head. Worst-case scenario, we repaint and redecorate when she’s old enough to pick her own colors?”
Fletcher and Adam exchanged a smile. “I think that’s a great idea.”
I beamed.
44
FLETCHER
“Where are we going?”Sky asked, for the third time tonight.
“You’ll see.” Adam smiled at us in the rearview, his golden eyes twinkling with amusement. Sky and I sat together in the back. I held his hand, but he kept peering out the window nervously the farther we got from home.
I giggled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fun,” I told him. “Trust me.”
I was surprised by how few cars occupied Tokenland’s lot when we arrived. “Wow. Usually, this place is pretty packed! Guess everyone’s too busy Christmas shopping to have fun.”
“Oh well. Their loss.” Adam killed the engine and pocketed the keys, then got out of the car. “Come on, let’s go. Everyone inside. It’s cold as hell out here.”
I opened the side door and dropped to the ground, careful not to slip on the snowy pavement. Sky barreled out behind me, not wishing to be left behind, and the two of us followed Adam into the large octagonal building with the bright orange and yellow sign reading “Tokenland” in big bold letters.
The minute we walked inside, a cacophony of senses greeted us. Bright lights and loud, flashing arcade machines; kids running around, not using inside voices as they slapped buttonsand aimed joysticks; tickets being spit from machines as colorful lights spun in circles, signifying that they had won. The smell of buttery popcorn filled the air from the popcorn machine behind the counter.
Sky stumbled to a stop in the doorway, his eyes going round as saucers. “Whatisthis place?”
I tried to stifle my laughter, to no avail. He looked so damn cute. “Tokenland! It’s one of our favorite places to go. We buy tokens from the machine over there, then use those tokens to play games and win tickets, and at the end, we exchange the tickets for prizes. It’s really fun.”
“Wow…” He looked like an awestruck child.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, grabbing Sky’s hand. “I’ll show you all my favorite games.”
Sky’s brow furrowed. “But…isn’t this like, a place for kids?”
“Look around,” Adam said, and I followed Sky’s gaze around the room. There were adults playing old-school arcade and pinball machines, parents having fun with their children, teens gathered around kicking ass at rhythm games. “Not just for kids. The prizes aren’t just for kids either. I’ve won some nifty office nicknacks before. Besides, who says adults can’t have fun?” He grinned. “We’re the ones with all the money, after all.”
Winking, he leaned in and kissed Sky’s cheek. Sky turned a charming shade of pink and stumbled over his words a bit before finally getting out, “Sure, I guess.”
Adam pulled out his wallet and began feeding crisp twenty-dollar bills into the small machine parked beside the entrance doors. There was a soft mechanical whirring, and then shiny gold tokens came pouring out into a small basin underneath. Adam counted them out into paper cups and handed one to me and one to Sky.
“Have fun,” he said with a grin.
I beamed. “We will. C’mon, Sky!” Excitement bubbling up, I grabbed my mate’s hand and dragged him along behind me, leaving Adam in the dust.
I stopped at a large, round machine with a wheel of colorful lights moving in a continuous circle and gestured towards it. “This one’s one of my favorites. See the lone white light? You’re trying to capture it in this small section here. When the light goes around the wheel, and it lands in this area, you push this button. Like this.”
I waited until the light went around the circle twice, observing it. When it reached my spot, I slapped the big red button on top of the machine, successfully catching the light in the center of my target area.
Instantly, the machine lit up, flashing and playing music, and tickets came spitting out of the side.
