AllFreeNovel
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“By now, you should know I love a good costume change.”
I swish past him and head down to his truck. The four of us head to the carnival, which is a forty-minute drive from the house. The kids want to go since their school friends and local community will be in attendance. We get there, and the first thing we do is get funnel cake because it is my absolute favorite fried food ever. The air is ripe with the smell of cotton candy and the sounds of children screaming from laughter.
I go on a few rides with Molly while Jesse talks to his friends with Rob keeping a watchful eye on him. They aren’t the same guys from the drive-through, but another set that Molly says are nice kids. I smack Rob in the stomach playfully, pulling his attention away from his son, and usher him to have a little fun. He groans when I take his hand and physically move him toward the carnival games because the man is boorish with the way he’s trying to control his son’s behavior.
We walk up to the water gun game. Molly and I take seats, and Rob hands the vendor money while Molly and I wait for the other eight seats to be filled. The game begins, and I think I’m going to win until the bell is rung and another station is lighting up.
“Bummer,” Molly says as she looks at the kid at the other end of the trailer pick out his stuffed animal.
“You have to have perfect aim before the game begins. You were both off-center and had to correct yourselves because these guns are built to lose.”
“You think you can do better? Have at it,” I challenge him.
“Come on, Dad! I want to win the stuffed bear. If there’re eight players, they give out a prize on the high shelf.”
Rob reluctantly takes the seat and hands money over to the vendor. “You do realize I could buy you that bear for cheaper than it’s costing us to play?”
I put my hands on his broad shoulders and give them a rub. “Where’s the fun in that? Every girl wants a guy to win her a stuffed animal.”
His back rises as I press the tips of my fingers into his muscles. This man works hard every day. I wonder if he ever takes care of himself the way he should. Probably not.
Rob leans forward and lines up his shot. I move my hands so as not to mess with the stone-like posture he has as he aims his gun at the bull’s-eye.
The game begins.
It’s no surprise that the man wins by a landslide. The light above his station dances in a circle, declaring him the winner.
Molly jumps up and points to the shelf. “Can I get the pink bear?” she asks the vendor, and he hands her the stuffed teddy bear.
Molly takes it and hugs it tight to her body. “Thank you, Dad!” she gushes up at him.
Rob’s cheeks tinge as Molly skips away, and we follow her.
I rest my shoulder into his side. “That was the best fifteen dollars you ever spent.”
“Worth every penny.”
We walk down the row until I see the goldfish game.
“I love this game,” I tell Rob. “Before you explain you can buy a fish for fifty cents, I’d like to remind you that it’s the excitement of winning the fish that’s the best part.”
“And then you’re stuck carrying the little guy in a plastic bag around the carnival.”
“But he’ll be happy because he’s going home with us.”
“What goldfish doesn’t want to hang out in a sandwich bag while you stuff your face with cotton candy?”
My jaw drops. “Was that sarcasm I heard? I didn’t know you were capable.”
“Which fish do you want?” he asks as he takes a step toward the half-wall separating us from the tables of glass fishbowls.
“You’re gonna win me a fish?”
He hands the vendor money, and she gives him three ping-pong balls.
He holds up a ball as he tells me, “I thought every girl wanted a guy to win her a prize.”
“Glad to know you’re listening.”
