“Oh good, the line’s short.Sure you don’t want to come with me?”she asked, giving his hand a playful tug.“It’s been what, ten years since you’ve ridden a coaster?Maybe you’ve gotten over the puking thing.”
“If I haven’t, I’ll be puking on you,” he pointed out.
“On second thought.”She dropped his hand.“See you after.”
“I’ll be here.”
But when she got off the coaster, flushed and happy, he wasn’t.
She looked around, shading her eyes—she needed to find a shop that sold sunglasses—and spotted him crossing the blacktop, dodging people, with an ice cream cone in each hand.
“That was fast,” he said when he reached her.
“Short line.What’s this?”
He held out a cone.“Moose Tracks.”
“Yum.”She took the cone and gave the dripping treat a lick.“What’d you get?”
“Superman.”
She wrinkled her nose.“Ew.”
“Judge not lest ye be judged, she who puts pineapple on pizza and eats oysters.”
Bailey choked back a laugh.“Where to next?”
“It’s your rodeo,” he reminded her.“I’m just here for the ice cream.”
“Iron Dragon.”She turned in a circle.“I think it’s that way.”
“Lead on, MacDuff.”
She started walking.“The quote is ‘lay on, MacDuff’.”
He fell into step beside her.“Then lay on, MacDuff.”
“And it doesn’t mean ‘lead the way’ it means ‘let’s fight’.Macbeth said it to MacDuff during their duel.”
“I’ll fight you after I finish my ice cream.”
They found the Iron Dragon, and Nash held Bailey’s ice cream for safekeeping while she rode it.They worked their way through the park, Bailey riding the coasters and Nash holding her food, and the ever-growing pile of stuff she just had to buy.
“Why did you need a giant stuffed elephant again?”he asked, stopping to hitch it more securely under his arm.
“It’s cute.”She reached up to drape the trunk around Nash’s neck.“There, now so are you.”
She couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, but his exasperation was clear.“Then you carry it.”
“I can’t, I’ll get cheese all over it.”
He looked at the giant container of nachos in her hand.“Give me one of those.”
“Of course, Nash.”She smiled sweetly and scooped up a chip, dripping with cheese sauce and loaded with jalapeños.“I’mwilling to share.”
He ignored the jab and opened his mouth.She slipped the chip in, and he crunched with obvious delight.“Mmm.More.”
“Okay, but let’s sit.”She looked around, and spotting an empty bench, pointed.“There.”