Page 20 of Tourist Trap

“I have thirty minutes before I have to head to work, and I need to eat breakfast.”

He glares at me as I reach into a cabinet and grab a colorful box of cereal and then a bowl before moving to the fridge for milk. I know he wants to make some kind of comment about the cereal not being arealbreakfast, but he gets distracted.

“What is this?” he asks as I situate myself at the island, pouring my cereal.

“What’s what?” I ask, spooning cereal into my mouth and not bothering to look up. I know he’s holding the colorful piece of paper I pinned to the fridge this morning with the lone magnet on it and taking it in. When he doesn’t answer, I give in, looking up at him and seeing his brow furrowed as he stares at the list.

He really is kind of hot when he’s not being an uptight bore.

“Miles’s and Claire’s list of things to have fun?” he reads aloud.

“Oh, that’s Miles’s and Claire’s list of things to have fun.”

He looks up from inspecting the bright yellow piece of paper and glares at me. I smile in return.

“I can read. Whatisit?”

“It’s a list on paper written in colorful markers,” I say as if I’m writing the assisted data for a picture on the internet. He closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath, something I’ve noticed he does around me a lot.

“Yes. Got that. What is this listfor? Why did you make it?”

I tip my head at him and give him a pitying look like he’s too dumb to comprehend things. “I told you I was making it my mission for you to have more fun. That starts now.”

“Claire, this is,” he starts, shaking his head, but I cut him off.

“Humor me, Miller.”

He glares at me, and I glare back, and then, to my surprise, he softens, sighs, and starts reading the list aloud.

“Spend a day at the beach. Watch the sunrise. Go fishing.” He lifts his head and looks at me through squinted eyes. “I love fishing.”

“Great, I’ve never been. We can do it together.”

His eyes go a bit wide with that.

“We’re doing these together?”

I roll my eyes at him. “My name’s on it. I’m not going to just take your word for it, Miles. You’re kind of an unreliable narrator.”

He opens and closes his mouth a few times, and I take a bite out of my cereal in the meantime because soggy cereal is a crime against humanity.

“Do youknowhow to fish?” he asks.

I shake my head. “No, but it sounds easy enough.”

His jaw goes tight, and I justknowthat irritates the fuck out of him.

Mission accomplished.

It really is too easy.

“Get ice cream?”

“A summer necessity.”

“Pet a hermit crab?” he asks, putting the paper on the counter and glaring at me, exasperation clear on his face.

I shrug. “Yup. They’re basically the mascot of the boardwalk.”

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