Page 96 of Ruin

Welp.

“Also, I got you something,” he tells Gigi, moving his stare back to her.

“You dids?” she squeaks.

“A surprise,” he whispers.

“I woves surprises!” Gigi exclaims. “What is it?”

Zeus looks at me. “Am I okay to come in for a minute?”

I glance at the clock on the wall. “We’ve got only a few minutes,” I tell him.

“That’s all I need.”

He puts Gigi down and walks into the hall with her glued to his side. I shut the door behind them and lean up against it.

Then, he pulls an envelope out from the pocket of his biker jacket, gets down to his knee, and hands it to Gigi.

“You gots me a wetter, Daddy?”

His lips tilt into that devastating smile of his. “Kinda. Open it,” he urges.

Intrigued, I step closer.

Gigi rips open the envelope, dropping it to the floor. There’s a folded piece of paper inside.

Gigi opens the paper, and something that looks like tickets flutter to the floor.

Zeus quickly picks them up.

“What’s it say, Gigi girl?” I ask her.

“It’s a picture of Sweeping Bweauty’s castle, Mommy.” She turns the picture to me.

Huh?

Zeus hands the tickets to her. “And what are these, Gigi girl?”

She frowns in concentration. “I dunnos, Daddy.”

“They’re tickets,” he says. “And who’s that right there?” He points at something on the tickets.

“Mickey Mouse,” Gigi answers without hesitation.

“And where would you find Mickey Mouse and Sleeping Beauty’s castle?”

“Disney World,” I whisper at the same time as Gigi screams, “Disney World!”

“That’s right, baby girl.” He beams at her. “I got us tickets to go to Disney World this coming weekend.”

This weekend?

“You dids?”

“I did.”

“You’s the best Daddy ever!”