Page 36 of Beachy Sweetheart
We get to the concessions, and Liam greets us with a grin. “What’ll be? You get all the perks of being the boss’s kid today, so you gotta milk it for all it’s worth.”
My shoulders drop and I want to hide. There’s nowhere to run, though. Every place has someone that knows me and probably thinks the same way. Only Andy’s soothing hand on the small of my back keeps me from leaving.
Liam’s face drops. “I’m just joking, Trev. You work your ass off. You deserve to play around every once in a while. What’ll it be?”
Daddy steps in. “Let’s get a funnel cake with the powder sugar, but I want a cup of chocolate and a cup of strawberry syrup. And a lemon shake-up. Extra sweet. And…” His eyes dart around the menu. “A pretzel with cheese sauce to counter all the sugar.”
My mouth waters and my stomach grumbles again.
“Sweetheart, how about you grab us a table?”
I nod and find a clean place to eat. Thankfully, it’s got an umbrella to keep the little sun that’s out from beating on us.
Daddy has a tray of all our yummy foods, and I wiggle in my seat, waiting for him to join me.
“I love funnel cakes. Haven’t had one in decades,” he says. “I hope you don’t mind just splitting everything. I didn’t want to start out with too much.”
“It’s perfect.” He’s perfect.
Daddy pulls a bit of funnel cake off and offers it to me. I don’t even look around before nibbling it from his fingers. I want to sit next to him on the picnic table, but I think we need to keep things balanced. He offers me the lemon shake-up. Little Trevor slides out without me realizing it until Daddy laughs when I sing a made-up song about happy birds chirping in the trees.
“You’re adorable, sweetheart.” He reaches out and brushes his thumb across my cheek.
“You’re too far away,” I whine and push to my feet. “Time to play!” I grab his hand, but he stops me.
“We gotta clean up after ourselves first, baby.”
I gather the plates back on the tray and skip to the empty trash bin. Thankfully, someone is taking care of the trash, otherwise I’m sure my brain would ruin the moment.
“Now, we play!”
Daddy follows me as I weave around people to get to the games. There are so many I don’t know where I want to start.Daddy points to the darts. “How about we start there? I’m pretty good with darts.”
“Me too, Daddy. I’m good!” I lick my lips and Little Trevor falters the closer we get to the game. I can’t be Little here, it’s too much. I know too many people.
Daddy squeezes my hand. He leans over and whispers, “Whatever you need to do is good with me, sweetheart.”
“Hey, Trev!” Josh says as he holds out three darts. “On the house.” He hands Daddy three darts, too.
I turn to Daddy. “You gotta get three balloons in a row to win a prize. Your color determines your prize.” I glance around and zone in on the giant bat stuffie. “That one.” I point. “I name him Midnight.” I have to take out three of the smallest balloons. They’re white and high up, but I know I can get them.
“Let me,” Daddy says and holds his dart ready to throw.
“I wanna do it myself,” I say.
“Alrighty, sweetheart, show me what you got.” He kisses the side of my head before stepping away.
I aim, hold my breath, and shoot.
POP!
Again.
POP!
Last one.
POP!
