to worry about them. They’re my problem, not yours.” He says this softly, regret evident in his features. “I’m sorry for everything that happened yesterday. I should have protected you. They weren’t supposed to be back for another week.”
I blink in shock at his apology. He’s already apologized. Is that what this is about? “It’s okay, I get it. We all do shitty things when we’re mad.”
His body tenses. “I hate it when you swear.”
Oops. “Sorry,” I mumble and look out of the window. “I didn’t realise until I’d already said it.”
“Try to. It doesn’t suit you.”
Okay then. “Where have you been today? You didn’t respond to my text.”
“Out,” he says and that’s all he says. Why does he have to be so cryptic and closed off? It only makes me even more curious as to what he’s thinking and doing and everything else he could possibly hide in that closed off mind of his.
“Out?”
“As in not in the house.”
“As in the location known as…”
He chuckles, his eyes sparkling in the dark. “Out.”
“You’re so weird.”
His smile widens. “Yes. Probably.”
“Where are we going?”
“Out.”
“Grr,” I growl, wanting to nipple twist him. “You’re so frustrating.”
“As are you.”
“I am not.”
He quirks a brow at me, his eyes still twinkling in a way they never have before. “Are too.”
“Are we seriously doing this?” I giggle, my body shaking with it. “Let’s just agree to disagree.”
“I’m not agreeing to anything until you agree that you’re frustrating.”
“Tell me where we’re going and I’ll agree.”
He throws his head back and laughs loudly. “That’s the same as agreeing.”
“See?” I prod him in the chest. “You’re frustrating.”
“I never denied it.” Good point.
Still… “You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“No.”
“Not even a clue?” I stick out my lower lip and clasp my hands under my chin.
“Not the puppy dog eyes, anything but the puppy dog eyes,” He jokes, pretending to shield his face with his hand.
“Is it working?”
He instantly sobers. “No.”
“Damn.”
“Nice try.”
“I thought so.”
We’ve been driving now for the better part of an hour and I have no idea where we are. Too many trees guard the roads. It’s when we reach a clearing that my heart starts beating with excitement.
“No way!” I grin and press my face against the glass. “A theme park?”
“It’s a night festival, only here for two weeks,” he says as I take in the lit up Ferris Wheel in the distance and a few other rides I can just barely make out. “I can’t go on any of the rides.”
“I know, but there’s more than just rides.”
“This is great!” Seriously and utterly great. “I want candy floss.”
He opens his mouth and I know it’s to protest but he soon relaxes and instead he says, “You can have whatever you want.”
“Brilliant. You rock.”
It takes another ten minutes before we finally find the car park, which is mostly just a field with lots of cars. The place is packed and people are still arriving. At least I won’t have to queue for rides, definite bonus.
There’s a huge archway of flashing lights and balloons as we enter. I look up at it, smiling. Nathan seems unimpressed but I don’t care. He leads me to the side and exchanges money for tokens. I get to keep the tokens.
We soon realise that the tokens are for the rides and not the games. The games cost even more money.
Nathan doesn’t seem to mind though and lets me drag him to a game where you have to throw a ball in a bucket which rests on its side. It looks so easy. It’s not. I fail every time.
“Let me try,” Nathan laughs and hands the man behind the counter a note. He throws and fails the first time but the second time the ball stays put. On the final try the ball bounces off the ball already in the tub and onto the ground. “Huh.”
“Next time.” I shrug and pull him towards the candy floss stall. He doesn’t want to budge. Instead he quietly hands me a note and waves me away. Laughing, I head over to get candy floss and donuts on my own. Nathan is clearly occupied. He won’t win. I’ll let him figure that out on his own.
As the donuts flip in the fryer, something soft brushes my cheek. I turn and blink in shock at the brown teddy dressed as Superman. “You won.”
Nathan grins, clearly proud. “Of course I did.”
“Is that for me?” I go to take the bear but he tugs it back.