Page 64 of The Last Time

“You must have the best grandma,” I tell her.

She smiles and shakes her head in agreement.

I notice a subtle look between Avery and Layla before Layla turns to me and Asher.

“Hey, we’re going to go check out the band. Get a little closer. It’s too crazy for Brie. Why don’t you two take her to some of the games over there? Brie, do you want to go with Charlotte and Daddy to see the ducky game?”

“Yay!! Ducks. I wuv ducks!” she screams, then nearly jumps into Asher’s arms.

Asher looks over at me. “You don’t have to if you wanna stay with them.”

“No, I’m happy to go with you guys. I love duckies too,” I say to Brie, which makes her smile.

“Daddy. She wuvs duckies too!”

“No way. Looks like we better go see some duckies.”

We weave in and out of crowds, me throwing my empty beer in a trash can along the way, until we get to a booth with a big water table filled with rubber ducks in an array of colors.

“It’s duckies!” Brie shouts in Asher’s arms.

She starts to turn her body around, looking to show me what she just discovered. I move up to the table and bend over.

“Look at all of these, Brie. There are so many colors,” I say to her.

She wiggles her way out of Asher’s arms until he puts her on the ground. She comes up to me and gets on her tippy toes, trying to see over the edge of the table. The table is eye level with her, making it hard for her to see.

She lifts her arms up at me. “Up, pwease.”

I look down at her little arms stretched out to me like we’re the best of friends. My heart swells. Leaning down, I hook my hands under her arms and lift her onto my hip.

“Which color is your favorite?” I ask her as we look at the rainbow of ducks floating by.

“Green!” she squeals.

I look over at Asher. “Got any money for us, Daddy?” I say as I wink at him.

He tries to act shocked at my question, but I see the smirk he’s trying to fight as he pulls his wallet out. He hands the worker five dollars for us to pick up five ducks.

“Okay, sweetie. We get to pick up five ducks.” I decide not to tell her that if there’s a black marker line on the bottom, we win a prize.

It’ll just be a nice little surprise for her if it happens.

“That one,” she points to a green one floating by. “I want that one.”

The worker picks it up and looks at it. No luck, but he hands her the duck, which makes her day.

“Quack, quack,” she mimics with the duck.

I quack back at her, which makes her erupt in a fit of giggles. We pick another three ducks, which are all losers, but now Brie is juggling four rubber ducks and seems to be in heaven.

“Okay, last one,” I tell her.

“You pick!” she tells me.

“Me? Okay…hmmm. I pick…that one.” I point to a classic yellow duck.

“Winner!” the worker hollers after he flips the duck over.

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