Page 22 of Unfulfilled Promises
Seeing her laugh until she cried was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever witnessed. The sheer joy on her face was worth Edgar’s usual bites and scratches. He was a pain in all our asses, but seeing how sweet and loving he was with Regan said so much about how good of a person she was.
Dinner was at one of the chain steak houses near the interstate. They seated us in a quiet corner, so we were able to talk throughout the meal. She told me how she was going to join Devlin and James in their cyber security business before . . . everything. Her words, not mine. I could see sadness creeping into her beautiful eyes. Regan was so expressive in her eyes, though I didn’t think she realized they gave her away before her words did.
After dinner, we drove past a small carnival, and I pulled in when I saw her smiling at the bright lights and excitement. I’d do anything to keep that smile on her face, and if taking her to a sketchy carnival that rolled into town on the back of a truck would do that, then that’s what we were going to do. After buying tickets for games and rides, we walked the small midway of games.
“Win the little lady a prize. Only three dollars for five shots,” one of the carnival barkers shouted, and we both glanced to see what toys he had to win.
“Isn’t it cute?” Regan asked, pointing to a small stuffed unicorn.
“Don’t let the lady walk away without winning her something, champ,” the old man shouted, and I looked down at her to see if she really wanted it.
“You know I could win it on my own,” she said to the man behind the booth, and he smirked at her like she was a joke.
His attitude pissed me off, so I walked up, slapped a five-dollar bill on the counter, and picked up the air rifle attached to a cable from the tabletop. Turning, I reached out to offer it to Regan while I said, “I want my lady to winmea unicorn.”
She smiled and walked up to me while the carnival barker looked on in amusement. Regan slid her purse over her shoulder and pushed it behind her as she took the rifle from me and turned to inspect the air-powered toy.
“The sights are straight,” the man defended as Regan looked down the barrel and shook her head.
“This one is angled to the left.” She placed it down and picked up the next one. “This one too.” Going to the third one, she picked it up and looked down the barrel. Placing the tip of the sights onto the wooden counter, she pressed down and peered through the sights again, seemingly happy with her quick repair. The man shook his head and rolled his eyes as she turned to me with a smile.
Without looking at the man, she asked, “How many for the prize?”
“Four on the paper or three within the circle wins a small, four within the circle wins medium, and all five within the circle wins large.” He shook his head when she raised the gun and added, “Good luck, little lady.”
“I don’t need luck,” she returned before aiming the sights onto the target less than ten feet from her.
In rapid succession, she pulled the trigger five times, each one landing in the bullseye within the smallest of the circles.She turned and placed the rifle onto the counter and crossed her arms with a smirk. “My man wants a large unicorn, please.”
“Whatever,” the man returned as he reached up and snatched one of the large stuffed animals from its hook in the ceiling.
Her arms barely fit around the large toy, so I took it from her, tucked it under one arm, and took her hand with the other. The smile she beamed at me was worth the emasculation of her outshooting me. I wanted her to be brave and fearless, like I knew she could be. And she deserved to rub something in someone’s face, if for no other reason than to fuck that guy for thinking a woman wasn’t capable of shooting like a man.
I’ve known few women who could outshoot and outmaneuver men half their age and twice their size, so watching that asshole have to give her the toy was icing on the cake for me. We walked through the rides, but she didn’t seem to be interested in the rusty death traps that people enjoyed at these things.
There was a small area with picnic tables alongside the food trucks, so we found a seat, and I placed the large unicorn in my seat while I asked, “What do you like for dessert?”
She looked around and smiled as she pointed. “Churros with chocolate sauce, please.”
“I need a kiss first.”
She smiled and leaned forward, meeting me halfway as our lips connected. It was a simple kiss that ended too quickly, but seeing how happy she was after such a painful afternoon was reassuring. Walking away from her, I tried to keep her in my sights, but the food area was gathering a crowd. When it was my turn, I asked for a large order with extra sauce and something for us to drink, and after paying, I pushed to the side of the pickup window and waited.
I could see the back of Regan’s head as I turned to grab the dessert and returned to her. Sitting down next to her, I explained, “I got extra, just in case. Plus, I thought we could split a soda.”
“Yeah,” she simply said, and I immediately turned to look at her.
Her demeanor had changed in the few minutes I was gone, and I wanted to know why she now seemed so sad. “Regan, darlin’, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she whispered, but I knew she wasn’t telling the truth.
Her shoulders were hunched, her head was tucked down, and she seemed to be hiding her face. I looked around, trying to see if someone was paying her extra attention, but all I saw was someone walking away. Maybe it was the hunch in his back as he lumbered away, or the balding spot on the back of his head, but something was familiar about him.
“Did someone bother you while I was gone?” I asked, and she shook her head a little too quickly. “Regan, please look at me.” She did, and the fear staring back at me was almost too much to take. Something or someone had upset her, and I wasn’t going to stay here, allowing her to feel exposed or vulnerable. “Why don’t we take this back to the house and watch a movie, or if you’d prefer, I can take you home.”
I really didn’t want to cut our first date short, but something was bothering her deeply, and if changing her location changed her mood, making her comfortable enough to talk to me, then I’d do whatever was necessary.
“We don’t have to do that,” she returned, and I took her hands in mine.
