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“We should have grabbed our swimsuits. We could have splashed in the water or something.”
He shrugs again, tapping his cane against his knee and I wonder what he’s thinking.
He’s more relaxed in the passenger seat today and I wonder if he knew that he wasn’t winning that fight or if it’s something else.
“I’ve never been either. I had actually never been to the Upper Peninsula before a few days ago. Isn’t that crazy? I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life and never been across the bridge.”
“Why not?” he asks as we near Destiny Falls.
“Money, I guess. My grandparents weren’t rich and definitely not after they had to take me in. Raising a kid wasn’t exactly part of their retirement plan.”
“And your mom wouldn’t take you.”
He states it like a fact, not a question, but I still answer it.
“No, she would rather burn through her money or take a vacation away from me.”
He shakes his head, looking out the window.
“What about you?” I ask, trying to change the subject to something more cheerful. “What was your favorite place in California?”
“The ocean,” he says right away and I’m surprised.
“Really?” I ask, not able to hide the shock from my voice.
“Yeah, I love the water.”
“I can’t picture you surfing or whatever,” I admit and he gives me a dry look.
“I was a Navy SEAL,” he reminds me and I giggle.
“I honestly forgot,” I tell him, and he rolls his eyes. “Did you surf and all of that?”
“Yeah, sometimes. I was never great at it though. That was Caleb. He would wake me up at four in the morning to go surfing with him and Patrick. I was never as bad as Patrick, but neither of us could really keep up with him.”
“It must have been nice to spend time together though. I always wished that I had siblings. Someone to confide in, who was going through the same thing that you were. Then I would feel bad because no one should go through what I went through.”
He frowns at me and I wonder if maybe I revealed too much about my childhood. I’ve been skating over the truth, giving me the sunnier versions of things but I think that I just slipped up.Sure, he knows that my mom’s boyfriend creeped me out but that’s not the whole truth.
“Corrine,” he starts but I paste on a smile.
“We’re here!”
We pull into downtown Destiny Falls and I try to relax as the Mackinac Bridge comes into view. We cruise slowly down Main Street until we find a parking spot in front of one of the little tourist shops there.
“Let’s go in,” I say and he nods, but I can see the questions swirling in his eyes.
He’s not going to let this go.
We head into the tourist shop, and I giggle when I see some of the T-shirts and hats that they have for sale.
“Want me to get this for you?” I ask him, holding up a shirt with two old men on it with the writing ‘Kids these days’ under it.
I have no idea why it’s in some tourist shop but that only makes it funnier to me.
“Ha. Ha,” he deadpans and I smirk as I hang it back up.
We poke around the shop and I grab a magnet that says Destiny Falls with a lighthouse on it. I tuck my bag into my purse as we head back out to the street.
