CHAPTER 20: Millie Monroe
Fifteen Minutes Tops
“I have a shark joke,” I say as I break into the tranquility that envelops us in here.
He raises his brows.
“Where do sharks go on vacation?”
“Where?” he asks, shrugging.
“Fin-land. Get it?”
He chuckles. “That’s truly awful.”
“You got a better one?” I challenge.
He thinks for a moment. “What does a shark call a jet skier?”
“What?” I ask.
“Fast food.”
I roll my eyes. “And you thought mine was bad?”
He laughs. “Are you hungry?”
I glance at the clock across from us and realize I never ate lunch. It’s that time between lunch and dinner now, and I’m starving. I nod. We spend a few more minutes looking around the aquarium before we head up toone of the restaurants, and I can’t help but feel like something changed with him.
It feels like we’re on a date. It wasn’t so long ago that he seemed to hate me. But when I’m not on my phone, he almost seems tolikeme. At the very least, he likes me enough to want to be inside me. To want to check the rest of those items off my bucket list.
He helps me into a booth, and he parks the wheelchair outside the restaurant while I look over the menu.
It feels like it takes him a long time to return to the table, but since I don’t have my phone to check the time, I’m not really sure.
And as I sit by myself in a booth with nothing more than a menu to look at after I’ve already decided what I want to order, something shifts inside of me.
This is when I’d turn to my phone. Scroll to pass the time, see what other creators are posting, check the newest stories, maybe post one of my own. Edit photos, create captions. Work. I’m always working. I’m either bartending or working on turning my hobby into my hustle, and for the first time, I feel a sense of freedom I wasn’t expecting.
For the first time since I was a junior in college, I’m actually a littlebored.
That word essentially left my vocabulary once I started my blog. My entire life’s course shifted at that point. I spent every free moment educating myself on how to run a blog, how to monetize it, how to take and edit pictures, how to write captions, how to use hashtags and keywords…the list is endless.
I guess I feel guilty when I’m not doingsomething. Somewhere along the way, I forgot how to just sit back and relax. I forgot what it’s like not to have a device glued to my hand.
A server drops off a couple of glasses of water and asks if I’d like anything else to drink. Since I’m not surehow long I’ll be staying, I tell her I’ll wait for my friend to get back. I glance awkwardly at the empty seat beside me.
The lobby is behind me, so I take the opportunity to stare out the window at the view. It’s a resort view from this particular restaurant, so I people-watch.
A family of four stops to look up into a tree, and I wonder what the hell they’re looking at. One of them points. Maybe a bird? A couple passes by them holding hands, and they glance over and see whatever the family sees before moving along. Another couple passes, this one with the woman walking quickly a few paces in front of the man. The woman has her arms crossed, and the man is trying to chase her down. They’re obviously in a fight, and if Archer doesn’t return soon, we might be walking the same way. You know, if I could actually walk.
When what feels like ten minutes passes, I start to wonder if I should ask the server to bring the wheelchair over so I can just go to my room. I feel so weird doing that, though, so I wait a little longer.
Another couple minutes pass when he finally slides into the booth opposite me.
“What took so long?” I snap.
“Sorry. Had to make a quick stop. Thanks for your patience.”
