Page 50 of Jingle Bell Jilt
Slowly her head nods. “Yep, back to your normal pearly whites.”
We stare out into the crowd of people. One of the many Disney sweepers walks past us and sweeps up something I don’t even see. I think they must have twenty-ten vision or something because they seem to spot way more trash than I do.
Shay bites off one of Mickey’s ears and points the rest of her ice cream at the sweeper. “How about we play a game?”
I raise one brow. I’m a veteran of Shay’s ‘games’ and I haven’t come out unscathed. “A game? Is it a game with winners and losers? Because I’m already in the hole.”
She grins. “I know and I still haven’t eaten any brownies.” She shoulder bumps me. “This is a no-winner game. It’s just something fun to do.”
I look at her suspiciously but nod. “Okay. What’s the game?”
“It’s the re-name game.”
“How do you play the re-name game?”
“Easy. When you see someone with a name tag, you come up with a name that fits the person better.”
My brow furrows. “Give me an example,” I say.
She tips her head toward sweeper guy. I can just make out his name tag when he leans over to sweep up something under the bench next to us. His tag says Graham.
She turns to me. “I would totally change his name to Leonard. Not Leo, not even Nard. Leonard. He’s a full-name guy.”
“Leonard?” I study the kid who can’t be much older than eighteen. “Sorry. I have to disagree with you.”
She leans forward and rests her elbows on her knee. “Oh? And what do you think he should be named?”
I sit still, my ice cream dripping down my hand.
Shay reaches over and uses a napkin to wipe it up. “Howard,” I say. “I will allow Howie, but only if he’s drunk.”
She laughs and for a moment I forget what we’re doing. How did Nathan ditch that? Like, I think I might dream about it from now on.
“He drinks?” She asks. “That seems like a bit of a supposition.”
I shrug. “It’s your game, not mine. I’m just playing along.”
She narrows her eyes at Leonard/Howard (he isn’t drunk as far as I can tell) and nods. “I’ll concede. Howard it is.”
I nod, cockily. Maybe I’ve finally found my game.
We throw our sticks in a nearby garbage can and start walking. “We have twenty minutes until our next Lightning Lane Pass. Do you want to try something else or just walk around?” She asks as she looks at the Disney app on her phone.
“I don’t know that we can get on anything and ride it before the twenty minutes are up.”
We turn toward the other side of the park where our next ride is located, and she looks up. “We still have a bunch of things to check off the Disney World Bucket List I printed off Pinterest. We haven’t taken our picture in front of the giant tree yet.” She glances down the street. “It’s right there in the Town Square. Should we hurry and do that? Then we can check off another item.” She says in a sing-song voice.
“Do we have to do all of them?” I sound like a petulant child, but I really don’t want to do ‘Olaf’s Holiday Scavenger Hunt.’
“No. I just thought it might be a fun guide.” She glances up at me and smiles coyly. If she looks at me like that for very long, I think we’re doing everything on that list. Including watching ‘A Frozen Sing-Along.’
“When I pinned it I wasn’t anticipating coming with a season pass holder who probably knows everything there is to know about Disney World.”
“I don’t know everything,” I look smugly at her. “Just almost everything.”
“Then where do you want to go?” She turns off her phone screen and does a little circle with her arms held out at her side. “The whole park is at your disposal.”
I glance down Main Street. If she wants a picture in front of the giant tree, why not? Maybe she’ll even give me a copy of it. I haven’t taken many pictures of us together because before now it felt weird. I mean, she’s Nathan’s fiance.Ex-fiance, but still. In my head, I’ve imagined several scenarios where I accidentally send him a picture of us together and then he shows up and everything goes to Hell in a handbasket. But I’m feeling reckless suddenly. “If you want to get a picture at the tree, I’m good with that. It should take just the right amount of time.”
