Page 27 of The Charming Checklist
“It’s her birthday,” Max volunteered.
“Oh, my goodness, I had no idea. Happy birthday.”
“We went out to dinner with my family, which is why we’re dressed up.”
Barbara quirked a brow and Ava read the message loud and clear:Are you datingMax?Before she could return the silent messageno, Barbara’s kids appeared, each looking stickier than the other. One had on a Spider-Man costume, the other Batman.
“Ava! Look what I have,” Joe Bob said, almost levitating. “I won it at the arcade!”
He proudly held up a plastic Frisbee and waved it around.
“Wow, that’s awesome.”
“Stop waving that around before you hurt your brother,” Barbara said. “Max, did you know that largely because of Ava we had a huge turnout for our ribbon-cutting ceremony? It was in the middle of the day and I was worried that no one would come.”
“That’s our Ava,” Max said, draping his arm around her shoulder.
“Oh, it was nothing.” She shook her head and a blush crept up her neck at the unwelcome attention. “I just made a few calls.”
“Bah, nothing. She even had the senior citizens come out to support us.”
“Well, they like to knit.” Ava held on to the sticky cotton candy. “And Susannahismy neighbor.”
“I can never get her to come out,” Barbara said. “She doesn’t like to leave Doodle.”
Joe Bob stared at Ava’s cotton candy the way only a child could: with utter longing.
“Hey,” Ava said. “Do you think the kids could have my cotton candy to share?”
Eyes bright and wide, both eyed Ava like she was Santa Claus.
“Okay,” Barbara said with a quick nod. “They’ve been good tonight.”
She handed the sticky sugar concoction to Barbara so she could dispense it.
“I’ll see y’all soon,” Barbara said, when one of her children tugged on her hand.
Max walked silently beside her for a few minutes, hands in the pockets of his pants. “You don’t like cotton candy, do you?”
“They just seemed to want it more.”
“I feel bad that I didn’t get you anything for your birthday.”
“Are you kidding? I talked you into this date.”
He didn’t say anything for a long beat. “But that’s a fair exchange.”
For a moment, she’d almost forgotten that she’d promised to find him his future wife, in exchange for this date and help with her business plan.
“You’re right. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten our deal.” She waited a beat. “But if you want to get me something for my birthday, I’m dying to go to the Bangles reunion concert next month.”
“I’d rather be dragged through the desert and left for dead. Think of something else. Please.” He stopped at a boardwalk game. “Here we go. I haven’t done this kind of thing for years.”
“Not this one,” Ava whispered. “I think it’s rigged.”
One corner of his mouth tipped in a smile. “It probably is.”
“Don’t waste your money.”
