“Who’s ready?” Mick asks, looking from me to her and back.
“You’ll find out,” I say, as I pick up Chase and he grabs Roxy. As I squeeze by him in the narrow confines of the bus, he grabs my ass. I gasp. “I can’t believe you did that.”
“Believe it. Because I’ll probably do it again and again, for years to come. When you’re eighty, I’ll still be grabbing your ass.”
He follows me out of the bus. The kids are giddy, because I told them where we were going while he was in the shower. I buckle Chase in his stroller, and we put Roxy in hers. Then Mick takes my hand, while he pushes with the other. I do the same. Anna and Devon skip along ahead of us. We get to a gate on the side of a building, and Alex stops and knocks. The door swings open, and we all step inside.
“We can only stay for two hours,” I explain. “Then the park will open and we’ll have to share it with others.”
“Wait a minute,” Mick says, as a grin splits his face. “You got the park to open early for my birthday, and we get it all to ourselves?”
I hold up a hand to slow his roll. “We only get five rides, because they don’t have enough operators at this time of the day. But I did make sure that one of them is… “I pretend to do a drum roll on the handle of the stroller. “…the roller coaster!”
“Are you serious?” he cries. Just as he does, a big-eared character comes around the corner, and his squeaky voice greets the kids. “This is fucking unbelievable,” Mick says to me. He’s grinning from ear to ear, and I’ve never seen him so happy. “How did you do this?”
“I called in some favors.” I shrug, as heat fills my face.
“Thank you,” he says quietly. Then he kisses me. It’s long and languid and leisurely and…long.”
Alex clears his throat behind us and we spring apart. “We had better catch up with the kids,” Alex says, and we look to find Mel, the mouse character, and the two older kids moving ahead of us into the park.
Mick and I hurry, both of us pushing strollers, to catch up with the others. The kids immediately want to ride the swings, so we get them all set up and pull down their safety bars. The attendant checks on them, and then steps back.
“You ride with them, Mick,” I say, as I take the stroller from him.
“What about you?” he asks.
“Oh, fuck it,” Alex mutters. “Both of you go. Mel can watch the kids.”
“I don’t like kids,” Mel deadpans.
“Well, I don’t like you either, but I’ve spent the last week with you.”
“Fine,” she grumbles. She takes the strollers from our hands. “Go ride. I’ll watch the babies.”
“You’ll call us if they need us?” I ask. They’re not even mine, and I’m worried about them.
“Oh, you’ll hear her screaming from miles away,” Alex bites out. She shoots him the finger and pushes both the strollers toward a bench where there’s shade.
Anna wiggles her feet. “Let’s go,” she says. Mick and I both get strapped in, and then the swings start a s
low spin. Mick looks over at me and winks as the ride starts, and my heart does this little pitter-patter in my chest. It’s more than infatuation. It’s more than lust. It’s more than fondness. I am in love with him. Head over heels, completely taken, don’t know how I’d live without him love.
“I know,” he says. “Me too.”
Heat creeps up my face, but it’s okay. Because it’s Mick.
After the ride, we move to a kids’ roller coaster, and then to some kind of virtual reality ride which scares the britches off me but the kids love it.
We stop at a picnic table and eat some pizza, which I’d had delivered since it’s Mick’s favorite food, and then I look at Mick. “Are you ready for the big one?” I ask. I’m bouncing in my seat.
He looks around. “The big what?”
I point toward the biggest roller coaster in the park. “The big one,” I say again.
“Are you kidding?” Mick jumps to his feet. “We get to ride that?” He picks me up and spins me around. “Can we do it now?”
Some face-painting pixies show up to entertain Anna and Devon, and Mick and I leave to go ride the big coaster all by ourselves.