Page 21 of The Trouble With Needing
“We should have grabbed our swimsuits. We could have splashed in the water or something.”
He shrugs again, tapping his cane against his knee and I wonder what he’s thinking.
He’s more relaxed in the passenger seat today and I wonder if he knew that he wasn’t winning that fight or if it’s something else.
“I’ve never been either. I had actually never been to the Upper Peninsula before a few days ago. Isn’t that crazy? I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life and never been across the bridge.”
“Why not?” he asks as we near Destiny Falls.
“Money, I guess. My grandparents weren’t rich and definitely not after they had to take me in. Raising a kid wasn’t exactly part of their retirement plan.”
“And your mom wouldn’t take you.”
He states it like a fact, not a question, but I still answer it.
“No, she would rather burn through her money or take a vacation away from me.”
He shakes his head, looking out the window.
“What about you?” I ask, trying to change the subject to something more cheerful. “What was your favorite place in California?”
“The ocean,” he says right away and I’m surprised.
“Really?” I ask, not able to hide the shock from my voice.
“Yeah, I love the water.”
“I can’t picture you surfing or whatever,” I admit and he gives me a dry look.
“I was a Navy SEAL,” he reminds me and I giggle.
“I honestly forgot,” I tell him, and he rolls his eyes. “Did you surf and all of that?”
“Yeah, sometimes. I was never great at it though. That was Caleb. He would wake me up at four in the morning to go surfing with him and Patrick. I was never as bad as Patrick, but neither of us could really keep up with him.”
“It must have been nice to spend time together though. I always wished that I had siblings. Someone to confide in, who was going through the same thing that you were. Then I would feel bad because no one should go through what I went through.”
He frowns at me and I wonder if maybe I revealed too much about my childhood. I’ve been skating over the truth, giving me the sunnier versions of things but I think that I just slipped up.Sure, he knows that my mom’s boyfriend creeped me out but that’s not the whole truth.
“Corrine,” he starts but I paste on a smile.
“We’re here!”
We pull into downtown Destiny Falls and I try to relax as the Mackinac Bridge comes into view. We cruise slowly down Main Street until we find a parking spot in front of one of the little tourist shops there.
“Let’s go in,” I say and he nods, but I can see the questions swirling in his eyes.
He’s not going to let this go.
We head into the tourist shop, and I giggle when I see some of the T-shirts and hats that they have for sale.
“Want me to get this for you?” I ask him, holding up a shirt with two old men on it with the writing ‘Kids these days’ under it.
I have no idea why it’s in some tourist shop but that only makes it funnier to me.
“Ha. Ha,” he deadpans and I smirk as I hang it back up.
We poke around the shop and I grab a magnet that says Destiny Falls with a lighthouse on it. I tuck my bag into my purse as we head back out to the street.
