Darla downed three drinks in less than half an hour after learning she’s scared of heights. On the Ferris wheel. At the top. It took both men holding her down to stop us from nearly toppling over as she went into a full-blown panic, and she sways next to me.
“Hold the bags for a minute?” Rhett asks, and I take them from him. “Carter, let’s go.”
I glance at Darla, and she moves to lean against me. “They’re goin’ to try to win us prizes.”
“What?” I ask. “For real? Like in the movies?”
“They were on the baseball team in high school. Rhett was a pitcher, so he stands a better chance than Carter does.”
My first fair experience has been everything I ever imagined, and I swoon as Rhett squares himself up in front of the metal milk jugs stacked in a pyramid. It gives me the perfect opportunity to study him, and I bite my lower lip as I watch his biceps strain against the plaid shirt he has to be too warm in.
“He’s going to win me a stuffed animal?”
“It costs less than they’ll play for it, but yeah. Rhett’s a good guy like that,” Darla says, puttin’ more weight on me. “He’s such a nice guy.”
“Yes, he is,” I say and clap as he knocks them all down. “Did he win?”
The man behind the counter hands him the pink teddy bear Rhett points at, and he waits until Carter lines himself up. He doesn’t knock them all down with the first ball like Rhett did, but he has two more tries. He’s successful with the second one, and he picks out a blue bear matching the one in Rhett’s hands.
“My favorite color,” Darla slurs.
They walk back over to us, but Rhett looks as worried as I feel as I struggle to keep Darla upright. “You okay, Dar?”
“I don’t feel so good,” she says, swallowing audibly.
“Bathrooms?” I ask, praying there’s another option other than the port-a-potties. That alone will make me vomit in this heat.
Carter points to the building behind us, and I hand everything to Rhett before nearly dragging Darla with me, praying we make it in time.
“Come on, just a little further,” I say and see a line. “Sorry, everyone, but we have to cut.”
“Do you have any idea how bad I have to pee?” an angry brunette growls at me.
“Oh, God,” Darla says, covers her mouth, and runs through everyone.
They move aside to let her by, and I give the woman an apologetic look. “Sorry, but she has to puke. Less control of that,” I say and hurry after her.
The women all point to an open stall, and I hurry to hold Darla’s hair back as she throws up the pizza she ate for dinner. I begin to dry heave, and I hate that I’ve always been a sympathetic puker.
“This is disgustin’,” Darla murmurs. “I shouldn’t have started drinkin’ at home.”
Helping her stand, she flushes, and I lift my eyebrows. “You drank at home?”
She stumbles to the sink and rinses her mouth. Pulling out a piece of gum from my crossbody purse, I hand it to her, and she smiles gratefully at me. “You heard Carter talkin’ to Rhett same as I did. That’s why you paid for the photos.”
“Not if you didn’t want me to hear.”
We move into the general area that separates the men and women’s restrooms, and she sits while I get us bottles of water. I’m thankful the men are still outside because I think Darla needs to talk about what’s bothering her enough to pre-game at home. Something she can’t do in front of Rhett. Maybe Carter, too.
“You’d think we’d have our life together after this long. I knew this date was a bad idea, but I wanted to pretend for an evenin’ that we were those fun and lovin’ people we used to be. Before life made everythin’ so damn hard,” Darla says and takes a drink while I sit across from her.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Shaking her head, she wipes her eyes before I realize she’s been crying. “You let me forget for a while that things suck. God, Brynlee, I feel like I’ve lost myself. I’m a mom and a wife and a hairdresser. My husband thinks my dreams are crazy, and I’ve put my dreams and goals off from the moment that stick showed two lines. And they’ve been pushed to the back burner ever since because he always has an excuse why it’s not the right time.”
“You’re not old, Darla,” I say with a smile. “You can still dream and chase them. You started earlier in life than most, but your best years aren’t behind you. They’re still ahead of you.”
“You heard Carter. We don’t have money. It’s not the right market to start a business. I just… I didn’t realize he didn’t believe I could do it until I heard him tell Rhett it was a crazy idea. I’m the best damn hairdresser in the county. The lack of hours isn’t because I don’t have clients.”
