“Oh my God! You cheated!” I laughed.
“Who me? I don’t cheat. Pick what you want.” He grinned.
I picked the medium size Hello Kitty. After the worker who worked the game handed it to me, I hugged it tight.
“It’s so soft.” I smiled. “Here, feel.” I tried to hand it to him.
“I’ll take your word for it because there’s no way I’m going to hug a Hello Kitty in public.”
“Cheater!”
“Sore loser.” He winked.
We walked around and checked out the sights. After we walked out of one of the shops, I headed towards the railing to look out at the water.
“I like this place.” I glanced over at Stefan as he stood next to me.
“Yeah. Me too. I practically grew up here. My brothers and I would always come here and try to pick up chicks when were teenagers. I can’t believe I now bring my daughter here.”
“It must be pretty surreal.”
“It is.” The corners of his mouth curved upward. “Tell me something. What were your dreams as a kid?”
“That prince charming would ride up to my house on his white horse and take me away from my life.”
“Seriously?” His eyes stared into mine.
“Yeah. Seriously.” I broke our eye contact and stared at the water. “I always had the fantasy that someone would rescue me. Someone who was the perfect man, my person, and my knight in shining armor. I was a kid. Don’t all little girls fantasize about that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I hope Lily doesn’t.”
“Why?” I laughed.
“Because she’s never allowed to leave me.” The corners of his mouth curved upward.
“Oh. Okay, big daddy. She’s going to grow up and leave for college. Then what?”
“She’ll go somewhere close.”
“What about when she meets her person, and you aren’t the love of her life anymore?”
“Never! I will always be the love of her life.” He gave me a wink. “I’m starving. Are you ready to go grab some tacos?”
“Sure.” I smiled.
Stefan pulled out his phone and checked to see if any taco trucks were nearby.
“Bingo! There’s one within walking distance from here.”
“Let’s go.” I held onto my Hello Kitty.
After ordering our tacos, we took a seat at an empty picnic table nestled between two trees.
“Prepare yourself. These are the best tacos you’ll ever have,” he said.
“Better than what Sebastian makes?” My brow arched.
“He can make a decent taco, but these right here—damn.” He took a bite.
I picked up my taco and bit into it.
“Wow. Yeah. Okay. These are amazing.”
“Told you. I dare you to tell Sebastian that tonight.” He grinned.
“No way.” I laughed. “That’s rude to tell a chef.”
“Who cares. He’s my brother. We can be rude to him.” He let out a chuckle. “So, tell me what jobs you did along your travels.”
“Let’s see. I was a barista, a waitress, a bartender, a retail clerk, and I did housekeep at a fancy hotel.”
“Ugh. How could you do that? Changing the sheets on the daily knowing what was on them from the night before.”
“It was a job. I tried not to think about it. You wouldn’t believe what I saw. I don’t want to gross you out.”
“And I’m going to think twice about ever staying at a hotel again. Thanks for that.” He pointed at me.
“Speaking of cleaning, is Sam a clean freak?”
Stefan let out a chuckle. “How could you tell? He’s a little over the top. He’s always been like that. He’s trying to train Julia in his ways, but she’s not having it. He thinks he’s changing her, but she loves to play with him. One time, they got into this huge fight, and she quit to open the coffee shop. It’s a long story, so I’ll give you the shortened version. Her car broke down one day and he was driving by and saw her, so he pulled over. Now mind you, she hated him and refused to talk to him at that point. Anyway, he drove her to the shop to get her phone and before taking her home, he stopped at his house to change because he was meeting us at the restaurant for dinner. While Julia was there, she messed with his things while he was upstairs.”
“Oh my God.” I laughed. “I love her.”
“Right?” He grinned. Anyway, whenever Lily doesn’t clean up her mess, I always threaten to call Sam over.”
“Does it work?” I asked.
“Sometimes.”
“You’re not messy. At least not from what I’ve noticed.”
“Nah, I like a clean space. I’m not over the top OCD like Sam though.”
“Sam and Julia are an adorable couple. Total relationship goals.”
“Yeah. They’re cute together. In all your years and travels, you never found your prince charming?”
“No. I gave up on that dream a long time ago. Guys like Prince Charming don’t exist.”
“Then I take it you were never serious with anyone?” he asked as he took the last bite of his taco.
“Not really. I’ve dated here and there, but as soon as he starts to get serious, I take off.”
“Why?” His brows furrowed.
“I’d spent my life in a box after my mother died. A box that contained me, my father and his alcohol.”
“How do you mean?”
“My circumstances. Isolated and lonely. I could see the sky, but it was always out of reach and there was no way of me reaching it. I was a kid who wanted to play like a child, but never could because I was too busy playing an adult. I could never have any friends over because of him. One time, I decided to say fuck it and invite one of my friends over. My dad made a complete ass of himself and embarrassed the hell out of me when he came home drunk. I remember after she left going to my room and crying all night while he laid passed out on the couch. I never invited anyone over after that.”
“Not even boyfriends?”
“No. I only had one when I was a teenager. He knew he was an alcoholic and he feared him, so he never asked to come over. I became known as John Clark’s poor daughter. That’s how people referred to me, and after a while, that’s the only person I knew. I didn’t choose that life. It was chosen for me. And as soon as I could, I got the hell out.”
“Were you scared when you first left?”
“Yeah.” I gave him a small smile. “But I didn’t have time to worry about my fears, because I knew if I didn’t leave that day, I wasn’t sure when I would. Things that don’t change, die, and I wasn’t about to die in that place.”
“Why move from place to place so much? I would have thought after seven years, you would have found a permanent place.”
“I haven’t been comfortable in so long that when things start to feel comfortable wherever I’m at, I get scared. So, I move on. Wow. I never said that out loud to anyone before.” I bit down on my bottom lip.
“Maybe if you talk about it more, feeling comfortable in one place won’t scare you so much.”
“Maybe. Who knows.” I turned my head and stared out at the water in the distance.