Room for Just a Little Bit More(9)

“Brody!” she scolded quietly, looking toward the door to make sure my mom was gone.

“Sorry, I can’t help it. I’m all revved up.” I walked over and sat next to her on the couch, leaning in to kiss her neck.

“Chocolate festivals excite you that much?” She giggled.

“No.” Kiss. “But.” Kiss. “You called me Murphy.” Kiss.

The wooden screen door creaked as my mom came back out. Kacie pushed my chest away from her, standing up quickly.

“I think I’m gonna drive separate, if that’s okay?” She pulled her keys out of her purse as we walked down the steps.

“Okay.” I was confused. “How come?”

“Hey, guys!” my dad bellowed as he came out the front door. “Want me to lock this?”

“Yes, please,” Mom called back.

I put my hand on my mom’s arm and stopped her. “What’s going on?”

She turned around and looked down at my hand and back up at me. “What?”

“Dad. Why is he here? You guys are divorced,” I said, more accusatory than I meant to.

“Brody,”—Mom’s eyes searched my face as she sighed—“we were married for thirty years. Whether we’re still together intimately or not, we’re still friends and we still care about each other. He was here working in his shop. I told him we were going; he asked if he could join us.” She stood up on her tippy toes and kissed my cheek. “Simple as that. Now let’s go.”

She spun on her heel and started toward her car. Kacie hooked her arm through mine and yanked on it to get my attention. “Come on, Murphy.” My eyes dropped to hers quickly and she winked at me, tugging me toward the Jeep. “Girls! You wanna swing all day or you wanna eat chocolate? Come on!”





The fair was hopping.

People everywhere. Chocolate everywhere. Games everywhere.

I kept my hat pulled low and sunglasses on so that I could enjoy the day with my family without being mobbed by fans.

The girls had already binged on chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate-covered potato chips, chocolate-covered Rice Krispies Treats, and frozen chocolate-covered bananas, but they were still asking for more.

“Can we go over there?” Lucy pointed to a stand that sold chocolate-covered nuts and raisins.

“How can you guys possibly have any more room in those little bellies of yours?” my mom teased.

I looked out over the crowd and leaned into my mom. “Hey, would you do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

I whispered in her ear and handed her some money.

“Lucy, Piper, come on. Let’s go get something off that cart.” My mom held out her hand and her and dad walked away with the girls.

Kacie started to follow them, but I reached out and caught her hand, pulling her in the other direction. “This way.” She narrowed her eyes and frowned slightly in confusion, but didn’t argue.

The air smelled like chocolate and cinnamon as we walked hand in hand through the hoards of people stuffing their faces with food. The closer we got to our destination, the tighter Kacie squeezed my hand.

“Brody…” She tugged back hard, forcing me to stop and turn around. Her hands started to shake as she stared at the Ferris wheel behind me. “Don’t make me do this.”

“Come on. You can do it.”

“No. I can’t.” She looked so tiny and terrified standing in front of me, hugging herself.

“Come on.” I reached out and took her hands again. “You trusted me once. Trust me again.”

She covered her face with her hands as a heavy sigh crept out of her. “Fine,” she snapped, dropping her hands, “but I’m closing my eyes, and you can’t bitch at me about it.”

I laughed at her adorable tantrum and nodded. “You got it.”

We got in line and I stood behind Kacie, wrapping my arms around her waist just in case she got the idea to make a run for it. The Ferris wheel stopped, people started filing out of the exit, and we started inching forward. Kacie dug her heels into the ground and fought me, so I smacked her on the ass and she jumped ahead. “There we go. Now you’re moving,” I teased.

We got up to the ride attendant and I handed him our tickets.

“You want inside or outside?” I asked.

“What does it matter? If our basket breaks free and we tumble to the ground, we’re both gonna die anyway,” she barked.

“Way to be positive, babe,” I joked, pushing her gently into the seat.

She sat and I slid in next to her, lowering the bar over our laps. Once the attendant started the wheel to advance to the basket behind us, Kacie’s hands flew up over her face again. I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into me, feeling a little guilty that she was so terrified while I was completely relaxed with her head on my shoulder.

A few more stops and our ride started spinning round and round. Kacie burrowed further into the nook of my arm and hid her face like a squirrel does when it doesn’t want to be seen. We were past the dock when the ride came to a stop, so I knew we’d have a few minutes before we got off.

“Hey,” I whispered. “Where do you want to go on our honeymoon?”

Kacie loosened her grip on me a bit. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. Have you?”