Page 50 of Bring me Back

“So…” his voice lowered, “What are you going to ride?”

I blushed straight away and words died in my throat. I opened my mouth to reply, but I was cut off by Mrs. Carr jogging in our direction. “Am I late? I feel late!”

“You’re fine.” Daniel assured her.

She breathed easily as she reached us and then looked at him like he had grown two heads. “I thought Hallie had the afternoon shift.”

“I’m just the ice-cream man.” He explained easily.

I shifted on my feet. Why every time someone saw us together, it felt like I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to do?

“Oh, ok.” Even for Mrs. Carr’s standards, she looked extremely distracted. “And of course, you both know already?”

“Know what?” I asked, but Daniel dipped his chin.

“I saw the email.” Turning to me, he explained, “the kids were invited to the camp.”

My mouth fell open. “That is amazing!”

“Isn’t it?” Mrs. Carr flickered her wrist to nowhere, like she wasn’t following the conversation. I found myself frowning again. Before I had time to ask if she was all right, we heard the calling of“Uncle Dan!”and soon Daniel’s nieces were on top of him.

Daniel winded with the power of their little bodies throwing themselves. “Meet my nieces, Helen,” he introduced.

Mrs. Carr opened an honest smile when the girls said their hellos. Another customer approached with her family. I finished my ice-cream while showing off the costumes, the girls jumped up and down holding hands with Daniel, and Mrs. Carr laughed at something in the background. Eventually, when I came back to the circle, we were joined by Abby and Mark.

“Daniel says it’s going well,” Mrs. Carr beamed at me when she saw I was free of customers.

I nodded and opened my mouth to agree, but April and Rose jumped on me, not interested in the adult’s small talk. “Hallie! Come with us!” April demanded.

I was fascinated by April’s bossy tone when her sister shyly added. “The rides are cool. Do you want to go on one?”

If I wasn’t able to say no to one Miller, I knew for a fact I wasn’t going to say no to the cutest ones, either. They clutched their hands on mine, tall girls, but the excitement made them sound and look younger than their age.

“Are you afraid of heights?” April was saying as she pulled me away from the booth. “You can’t be because the coolest thing is the Ferris Wheel, and that’s very high.”

“You can see the beach and all!” Rose seemed as excited as her sister.

I let myself be dragged, but I turned to look at Mrs. Carr to confirm if it was ok. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up. “Have fun, Hallie, you deserve it.”

Grateful, my attention went back to the two little menaces. “Do you need to eat or something?” April asked, like she was confused how people worked.

“I don’t think—” I started.

“Adults always need to do something before something fun happens,” Rose explained.

I bit my lip not to laugh and shook my head. “No. I’m fine, thanks.”

My burger with crispy onions was hours ago, but I wasn’t that hungry to spoil the girls’ fun.

“Ferris Wheel first then? Do you think they would let the three of us go?” April wondered.

Rose twisted her nose. “I don’t think that’s allowed.”

“So I will go first with Hallie and then you can have her,” April decided. I widened my eyes and looked over at Rose to see her reaction.

She didn’t seem to like the idea. “What about me first and then you?”

They started bickering, dragging me over the Ferris Wheel’s direction; nothing was settled but the fact I was apparently going on the same ride twice. Confused about how to handle the situation, I turned around trying to look for their parents. Abby, Mark and Daniel were strolling after us, talking among themselves.

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