her aunt the night before on our way to the statue.
April eventually turned toward me after we parked and got in line for the ferry. “What made you think of this? It really is a pretty cool idea for a day out. I just don’t think so many locals do it.”
“I like to come here every once in a while.” I looked out at all the boats on the water and the masses of people around us. “My father was an immigrant, and when he arrived here, he came right by this statue. Visiting it reminds me of my roots and the measures he went to so we could have a future here.”
Her eyebrows went up. “I never knew that.”
“I don’t talk about him much,” I said, then pointed at a souvenir stand. “How about we go get something to remember the day by?”
“Yes,” Adi replied without hesitating for a second.
April smiled but nodded. “You two go ahead. I’ll keep our place in line.”
“Let’s go shopping.” I took Adi’s hand to make sure she didn’t get lost in the crowd, then proceeded to deck her out in everything from a shirt, hat, and flag to a snow globe, pen, and miniature model of the statue.
When we got back to April, it was almost our turn for the ferry. She glanced at all of Adi’s choices and narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to pay you back for that.”
“No way. Get your own gifts for her. Those are mine.”
She sighed but eventually just thanked me and let it go. As we found space for ourselves on the upper deck at the very front of the ferry, Adi pressed her chest to the railing with April and me behind her. I slung my arm casually over April’s shoulders and she burrowed into my side.
Undoubtedly, this gave us the appearance of a family, but I didn’t give a fuck. I kind of liked it.
April and I pointed out landmarks to Adi and talked about them. Then we each took one of her hands when we reached the island. We spent the day learning about each other’s histories and running around together.
We ate corn dogs, drank lemonade, and laughed, and when we got back to the city, we decided to act like tourists for a little longer. When we were eventually done, I slid my hands into my pockets as we walked down the sidewalk to my car.
“Next on the agenda is dinner,” I said to April. “You’re going to love the place I chose.”
She glanced down at her jeans. “I’m not exactly dressed for a fancy dinner. Neither is Adi.”
I rolled my eyes at her and grinned. “Oh, ye of little faith. It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. The only thing that matters is whether you’re still up for dinner after the day we had.”
“I’m starving,” Adi said. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” I whistled the rest of the way to the car, eager to see what they thought about what I’d done.
Pulling out all the stops wasn’t something I did often, but it was something I couldn’t seem to stop doing for them. I’d had to pull some strings again to make my plan work, but I was sure it would be worth it.
Unless it was all a bit too much for April.
Either way, the plan was in motion and I would just have to roll with the punches. The restaurant I’d chosen was only a few miles away, but it took us a while to get there with the traffic.
April started playing a game with Adi while I found myself marveling at how different she was once she defrosted. She was finally lowering all those guards without snapping them back up again a few minutes later.
Now all I had to do was hope I hadn’t taken it a step too far with dinner. I’d always wanted to do this, though. Having Adi with us had just given me an excuse.
“Is this a theater?” April asked when I parked in the designated spot that had been reserved for us right outside the doors. Her eyes were wide as she took in the neon lights and old-school facade. “Why are our names on the sign?” She pivoted in her seat to face me. “What did you do?”
“I booked the place out for the night.” I grinned. “It is a theater, but it’s also a restaurant. The servers perform pretty much any song you request, but their favorites are classic Broadway and pop. Adi said