Page 31 of Seeing You

Because in the back of his mind, he had been thinking about that earlier in the day.

No chance in hell of that happening now…

They stepped outside and waited for the valet to bring his car around, and when they did, he held the door for Billie while she sat and got situated. After tipping the valet, he joined her, letting out a long breath.

“It’s stupid to drive in silence,” she told him stiffly. “And it would make me crazy.”

“I can turn on the radio…”

“Please, I’m so not in the mood for your classical or jazz selections.”

“For your information, I don’t only listen to classical and jazz anymore.”

Turning her head, she leveled him with a hard stare. “Just like you suddenly ride roller coasters and go to theme parks? Seriously, Marcus, I’d rather you just admit that you’re still the same uptight snob than lie to me.”

Sighing loudly, he pulled away from the resort. “Fine. I only went on one roller coaster when I was at a conference in Orlando. They closed one of the Disney parks for us and I caved and went on the ride just to get people off my back.”

“Interesting…which one?”

“Um…it’s the park with the castle in the middle of it.”

“Not the park, Marcus! Sheesh. Which coaster?”

“Oh, uh…I want to say there was a barn…and it looked like we were next to a circus tent and…”

Her snort of laughter took him by surprise. “Are you telling me you rode The Barnstormer? The one with Goofy?”

Thinking about it for a minute, he nodded. “That sounds familiar, so…yeah.”

Another laugh. “You realize that’s a kiddie coaster, right? Like…it’s a junior coaster geared for kids!”

“So? It still counts!”

“Barely,” she mumbled.

“You know, I had forgotten how infuriating you could be! You always think you know better or that you’re superior! What difference does riding a roller coaster make?”

“None! And yet you keep lying about it!”

“Only because you made me feel like it was a dare! There was no way I wasn’t going to ride that stupid mountain coaster and let you walk away feeling smug!”

Marcus waited for her snappy comeback, but there wasn’t one. He waited and waited and waited, but when he looked over at her, she was looking away and her shoulders were shaking.

Oh God…is she crying? Did I make her cry?

“Billie, I…I…”

Only…she wasn’t crying.

She was laughing.

Hard.

“Do you realize how asinine this conversation is?” she said between fits of laughter. “I mean, we are two intelligent adults, and we argue just for the sake of arguing! Is it any wonder we’re no longer together? Can you imagine what our lives would be like when we both have to be right all the damn time?”

He hadn’t thought of it like that, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still wonder every once in a while, like on the occasional holiday or birthday, or when he stopped to enjoy a sunset…

Ugh…I’m pathetic.

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