| |
Our stomachs hurt after lunch, and it was hard to say whether it was from eating too much or laughing too hard. Either way, it was a great start to our trip. Once we were back inside the motorhome and on the road, Lily decided to lay down for a while, so I sent her to the bed in the back to make sure she had plenty of room and was comfortable.
It felt weird to sit at the table by myself and read or listen to music, so I grabbed a couple of water bottles from the fridge and climbed into the passenger seat next to John. I set them down in the middle consoles and buckled my seatbelt.
“Thank you,” he said before taking one and opening it.
“I thought you might need it,” I said dismissively, trying to work past the obsessive thoughts in my head that I needed to stop worrying about him. I reminded myself that it was just a kind gesture, nothing more.
The last stretch of the drive wasn’t terribly long, aside from the construction that we got stuck in that added an extra hour. I glanced back plenty of times to check on Lily, even though it felt silly since she couldn’t go anywhere without us hearing her.
Soon, we were following the signs for Santa Monica Pier and found a parking lot that was open. John paid at the kiosk and then searched for a big enough space to park the motorhome without taking up two of the compact car spots. Finally, another motorhome left in the back of the lot, so we waited and took their spot.
Lily was still sleeping, so we didn’t wake her up. We got out and stretched our legs, leaning against the back bumper.
“It’s so nice out here,” I said, tilting my head back and letting the sun kiss my skin.
“I can’t remember the last time that I was down here,” he said softly. “You would think that we would have made more time to travel and do more, but we never did.”
“Life gets busy,” I sighed, knowing that it was more of an excuse than anything. Hell, I had used it more times than I could count.
“Yeah, it does. But you have to stop and make the time.”
I didn’t say anything. It felt pointless because he was right. You do have to make the time, and we were both guilty of never bothering to.
“So, what made you choose Santa Monica Pier?” I asked, changing the subject.
He chuckled and shook his head.
“There was an item on Charlotte’s bucket list that I thought might be related.”
“What was it?” I asked, not able to recall half of the stuff that we had discussed. I was emotionally drained that day and shut down at one point.
“You might get a tummy ache from the funnel cake. But if you sink a ball in, you might just win,” Lily said happily, walking around the side of the motorhome to where we were standing.
“Hey! You’re up,” I exclaimed, surprised to see her.
“You guys were talking loud. I could hear you through the window.” She looked up at the back window that was cracked open above the bed.
“Sorry,” I apologized, rubbing her back. “But that riddle does sound like a fair of some sort. Though, I already had the tummy ache,” I laughed.
“Well, lucky for us, we have funnel cake and games to find!” John squealed. “Let’s get going!”
I laughed and realized that I loved seeing this side of him, and I was thankful that he was sharing it with his daughter.
After walking for what felt like miles, we spotted a stand with funnel cake and other greasy, fried foods. John ordered one for us to split, thank goodness. I couldn’t imagine eating more than that, given how massive this thing was. We found an empty bench and sat down, the sun starting to set and casting a warm glow on the water.
The temperature dropped quickly, and I watched Lily shiver as we walked. We were on a mission to find a game where Lily could sink a ball in but had yet to come across one. Maybe it was because we had been distracted several times already with riding the rides and eating dinner, but there didn’t seem to be any games that matched what we were looking for.
Lily yawned, and I knew that she was getting tired. The walk to the car was going to be long and tedious, given that we were at the other end. I was about to tell John that we should turn around and start heading back when I saw it. I reached down and grabbed Lily’s hand, pulling her with me to the table off to the side of the sidewalk.
There were easily two hundred small fishbowls lined up on several tables. A young kid, maybe sixteen or seventeen, waited for us to decide whether we wanted to play or not. I watched the way John’s eyes narrowed as the kid checked out Lily, probably completely unaware that she was only ten, going on eleven. She was beautiful and looked older than she was.
“Hi,” I said cheerfully, walking up to the tables that separated us from the play area. “How much is it to play?”
“Um, it’s five dollars for ten balls,” he stuttered, unsure of himself. “But I’ll give you some extra,” he added with a wink.
I raised an eyebrow, unsure who he was actually trying to flirt with as he kept looking between Lily and me. I reached into my purse and pulled out a ten-dollar bill, handing it to him.
“Both of us are going to play,” I said when he tried to give me change.
“Unless you want to join us?” I added, looking over at John, who was still glaring at the freckled face kid.
“No, I’m good just watching.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
“Suit yourself,” I chuckled. “Okay, Lily. Are you ready? We’re going to throw these balls and try to sink one in a bowl. Got it?”
She nodded and picked up a ball, looking like she was getting ready to play professional softball. She looked at the table, analyzing it, before glancing at me. I winked at her and waited for her to toss the first ball. It missed and bounced off the rim of one bowl before falling to the floor.
We both tried after that, missing each time until we were down to one ball.
“Alright, it’s all on you,” I said, smiling encouragingly. “You got this.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, there was a look of determination on her face that reminded me so much of her mother. She bent her knees and lowered herself a tad before gently tossing the ball. We all held our breath as we watched it bounce off a few bowls before it spun around the top of another. Slowly, it finally stopped spinning and got stuck in between the bowls.
Lily sighed heavily and hung her head. I was about to reach into my purse for more money when I heard John.
“I’m gonna play after all,” he told the kid, slipping him a five-dollar bill. The kid grabbed a bucket of balls and set them down before moving out of the way.
Lily and I watched as John’s eyes laser-focused on the bowls, studying every move the way Lily had done just a few minutes before.
He bent down and checked again, looking for the right angle. I was so focused on what he was doing that I hadn’t felt Lily squeezing my hand.
John picked up a ball and gently tossed it in the air. I watched in horror as it completely missed the table and flew off to the side. I turned to look at him, questioning what had just happened, when he shrugged.
The kid muttered under his breath before lifting the wooden tabletop and stepping out to get the stray ball. Once he was out of sight, John picked up another ball and tossed it onto the table, making it into the bowl on the first try. He repeated it with the next eight balls, sinking each one into a bowl. The kid came back a few minutes later after he tracked down the other ball and stared open-mouthed at the table.
“Um, so, how many fish do you want?” he asked, looking at John then back to the table. I hadn’t noticed until now that some of the bowls had goldfish in them.
“Fish?” John asked in disbelief. “The prize is a fish?”
“Yeah, or I guess you could have a stuffed animal,” he agreed, looking up at the ones that were hanging on a wire above our heads. He glanced back at the table and counted how many balls had been sunk. “Or, like, eight animals, I guess.”
Lily danced excitedly, clapping her hands.
“Which stuffed animal do you want?” John asked her, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck.
“I don’t want a stuffed animal. I want a fish,” she replied, jutting her chin out.
“A fish?” he questioned again.
“I think it’s official that they have fish,” I teased, feeling the smirk pull across my face.
“We can’t take a fish on a road trip with us,” he said to Lily, avoiding eye contact with me.
“Why not?”
“Because we don’t have anywhere to put it. And we don’t have food for it.”
“Then we’ll buy it a tank and get some food. You said that there wasn’t anything that we couldn’t find in a store along the way,” she lectured, folding her arms.
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing as John’s brow wrinkled in frustration. But she was right, and he had promised both of us that before we left.
“Fine. ONE fish. That’s all.”
Lily cheered and turned her attention to the kid who was helping her pick which fish she wanted. A few minutes later, she had a plastic bag filled with water and a chubby-looking goldfish. The top was tied tightly with plenty of air at the top, but it was only a temporary home, and John knew it.
“Did you want to pick the stuffed animals, or do you want me to just get some for you?” the kid asked John.
I could feel John’s eyes on me as he answered the kid. I looked away, trying to avoid him.
“Lily, pick a stuffed animal that you want. The rest can be whatever, but I want that donkey right there,” he said, pointing to a bright pink one above my head.
The kid worked on getting them down and tossed them into a bag before handing them to John. Lily was too focused on her fish to care about the stuffed animal. As we started to walk off, John gave me the pink donkey and waited for me to take it.
“What’s this for?” I asked.
“That’s for being a smart ass and suggesting that game,” he said playfully, with more than a touch of sarcasm. “Now I have to figure out what to do with a damn fish,” he muttered.
“His name is Samuel,” Lily said as she walked in front of us, holding the bag up to look at it. “Sammy the fish, for short.”
“That’s actually longer,” I said, feeling like an ass afterward. “But I like it,” I added.
We had made it to the main entrance when I noticed the Ferris Wheel.
“Hey, Lily, isn’t there something on the list that involved a Ferris Wheel?” I asked, knowing that there was. We could check another item off while we were here, but I wasn’t sure whether fish were supposed to go on rides or be that high up in the sky.
“Yeah, I think so! I have to check my list, though,” she said as she stopped and turned around, handing the fish to John.
“We’re not going to do the Ferris Wheel here,” he said, looking at the fish with a scowl on his face.
“Why not?” I asked, hurt in my voice.
Lily didn’t say anything, just looked up at him with sad eyes.
“Because we’re going to a BIGGER and BETTER one!”
“Where?” I asked, unsure of what his plans were. He hadn’t mentioned anything to me about it, yet this seemed like something big that he had planned.
“Las Vegas!”