Chapter 18
“How much sugar do you think she had?” Eric asked, gesturing with the large bag of pink and blue cotton candy that Mikey had shoved in his hand a minute ago before she’d jumped in line for the Anti-Gravity ride, towards the small woman practically bouncing with excitement as she raced from one game to another.
“I’m not really sure,” Kasey said, pursing her lips up in thought as she watched Haley, who hadn’t stopped smiling since she’d first spotted her an hour ago, do a little happy dance when she won a stuffed bear only to release an excited squeal seconds later when she spotted a vender selling caramel apples.
“She seems to really like carnivals,” Eric noted as he helped himself to some of Mikey’s cotton candy.
“She really does,” Kasey agreed with a solemn nod, shifting her attention to the man resigned to trail after her, picking up all the stuffed animals that she dropped in her haste to get to another game.
“Can I go again, mom?” Mikey asked, smiling hugely as she ran over to join them.
“Sure,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out another strand of tickets that had cost a small fortune.
“Thanks!” Mikey said before once again taking off and leaving them to watch as Jason was suddenly forced to change directions when Haley spotted the Ferris Wheel.
“That poor bastard,” Kasey said, sighing heavily with a sad shake of her head as she shifted her gaze back towards Mikey, who was now standing in line with Trevor and Jason’s kids, laughing at something one of the twins said.
“I can’t believe you let her play with them,” Eric said in disgust, drawing her attention back to find him standing there, viciously biting off a piece of cotton candy as he glared at Trevor, who she realized was glaring right back at him.
“Is there something that I should know?” she asked, turning her attention back to Eric in time to see him discretely flip off the much larger man. “Besides the fact that you’ve clearly lost your goddamn mind?” she asked, wondering if this was going to end like last year’s chili cook-off.
God, she really hoped not.
“They’re Yankees fans,” he snarled as she stood there, blinking and wondering when he was going to get to the point.
“And?” she found herself asking a minute later when it became obvious that he was going to ignore her question so that he could continue to glare like a psychopath at the man who had a good fifty pounds of muscle on him.
“And?” he asked, frowning as he suddenly shifted his attention back to her. “What the hell do you mean, ‘and?’ They’re Yankees fans!”
“I’m really not following you there, chuckles,” she said, shaking her head and wondering why he would think that she cared.
“We’re Red Sox fans!” he hissed with a wild gesture to the old Red Sox tee shirt that he was wearing.
“We are?” she asked, frowning, because she honestly hadn’t known that, which only seemed to make things worse.
“What the hell are you talking about? How could you not know that the Red Sox are your daughter’s favorite team?” he demanded with a crazed look in his eye that just made this whole thing so sad.
“Mikey doesn’t have a favorite team,” she said with a shrug, because if there was one thing that she knew about baseball, and this was mostly likely the extent of it, it was that her daughter didn’t have a favorite team.
She had favorite players.
“Of course, she does!’
“Are you sure?” she asked, taking a sip of the small fresh squeezed lemonade that she’d spent eight dollars on only to find it empty.
“For God’s sakes, woman! She’s always wearing that hat!” he snapped, gesturing towards Mikey, who was at this very moment turning her hat around so that she could sit on the ride without the brim of her hat hitting the back of her seat, revealing a Red Sox emblem.
“It’s worn in,” she said with a shrug, already getting bored with this conversation.
“Mikey!” Eric yelled, obviously a glutton for punishment. “What’s your favorite team?”
Squishing her face up adorably, Mikey shrugged and admitted, “I don’t really have one.”
“Oh, my God,” Eric choked out as he slapped a hand against his stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“My heart is literally breaking for you,” she said dryly as she popped the top off her drink, hoping that there was a little juice left at the bottom only to discover that the only thing left was the ungodly amount of ice that they’d filled her cup with.
“You’re welcome,” Sara said with a satisfied sigh and a smile as she finally joined them, an hour later than promised, she’d like to point out.
“For what?” Kasey asked absently as she tilted her cup to the side, hoping to draw out a few forgotten drops of lemonade only to end up resigning herself to forking over another eight bucks.
“I can’t believe this…after all this time!” Eric mumbled to himself, because she’d already stopped caring.
“Do you really need a reason to thank me?” Sara asked, shaking her head with a tsk as she pulled out her phone and started checking her email.
“Yes, in fact I do,” Kasey said, reluctantly throwing her cup away and pulling out the money she’d set aside for the fair only to blink when a large cup was held in front of her.
Unable to help herself, she followed that large tan hand holding the cup up to the equally large man that it belonged to only to find Reese standing next to her, looking bored as he glanced around the fair. “Be ready by eight,” was all he said before she found that large cup pressed in her hand and he was walking away, leaving her standing there, not really sure what just happened.
But something told her that it would probably be in her best interest to be ready on time.
*-*-*-*
“I’m not going!” came the loud refusal as soon as Reese reached the front door the next morning.
“You’re going!” came the instant reply.
He didn’t bother knocking, because at this point he really didn’t see a point. He simply leaned back against the house, noting that the shingles were loose and that the house would have more appeal with grey siding when the front door opened and Mikey stepped outside. She didn’t see him, but then again, she was too busy stomping off saying, “I’ll never forgive you for this! Do you hear me? Never!”
“Because I’m making you go to summer camp where you’ll spend your time learning how to make macaroni art and building friendships that will last a lifetime?” Kasey asked, blinking as she stepped out of the house. “Is that why?”
“Yes!” the little girl hissed as she stormed off towards the driveway.
“Is this your way of telling me that you’re not excited about going to camp?” Kasey asked dryly, making his lips twitch. “Is that what you’re telling me?”
Mikey turned around to hiss, “Yes!”
“But, today’s clay day! Isn’t that exciting?”
“No!” Mikey growled, turning back around so that she could march the rest of the way to Kasey’s SUV.
“This makes me so sad, pookie,” Kasey said, adding a fake sniffle that had him chuckling as he pushed away from the house and joined her.
“Good morning, Yummy,” she said brightly, barely sparing him a glance as she took a sip from the black tumbler cup in her hand, which he’d be willing to bet held juice, and joined her daughter, leaving him to follow.
“Good morning,” he said as he placed his hand at the small of her back and steered her towards his truck.
“Back to the manhandling, Yummy?” she drawled, smacking her lips lightly as she savored another sip.
“Never stopped,” he admitted with a smile, wondering what it was going to take to bring back that blush that he really liked.