3: 3
For the first time, I didn't look away from him.
Curtis sighed.
"Come on, she's just a kid. Why hold it against her?"
His voice softened.
"We finally get a break. Don't be upset. How about I take you to the theme park later, hm?"
I thought of my birthday last year.
On the phone, I'd said I wanted to go to the theme park in Harborview.
And he'd said, "Isn't that childish? You're too old for a place like that."
But today he was the one offering to take me.
I swallowed the tightness in my throat.
I told myself.
Let it go. He didn't mean it.
I hadn't come here to fight.
I nodded.
He smiled, visibly relieved.
The park was packed wall to wall.
Curtis went to buy the tickets, Maggie right beside him.
She pointed at a character cutout nearby.
"So cute, Curtis, look!"
He glanced over and said something.
From the moment we passed the turnstiles, she was hanging on his arm.
Taking photos the whole time.
In front of the castle. On the carousel.
Even a balloon vendor on the path had to be photographed.
She ran him like her own personal photographer.
And not once, the whole time, did he get annoyed.
Once, I'd asked him to take a picture of me with one of the cartoon bears.
He'd held up the phone and jabbed at it twice, impatient.
All three came out blurry.
The last one only got the bear's backside.
But now, here he was, half crouching to find the right angle.
And after each shot he'd lean in to check the preview.
The two of them, heads together over the screen.
The sun was blazing, and I felt cold all over.
They did the roller coaster, then went for the drop tower.
I sat on a bench and waited.
Next to me a couple was sharing a single ice cream.
I felt an odd little pang of envy.
By the time they came out, the sky had shifted.
Maggie tugged at Curtis, saying the haunted house was next.
Curtis didn't mind. "Let's go. Line's about half an hour."
I stood up, and for a second my vision went black.
"Curtis, I want to go back."
His mouth pressed thin, the impatience spilling right out.
"Anna, everything's fine. What are you throwing a tantrum for?"
"I'm not—"
"We've been catering to your mood all day, since this morning."
His voice climbed half a step.
"And you just have to ruin it right now, is that it?"
I opened my mouth.
I badly wanted to say I'd thrown up twice since morning.
To say my legs were shaking.
But I couldn't get it out.
Maggie watched me with a coldness I couldn't quite read.
"Enough already, Annie. You've been giving me dirty looks this whole time, and I put up with it.
"Curtis and I had plans to go somewhere else, and it all got canceled because you came. What more do you want?"
She paused after that, then gave a little laugh.
Flipping her mood like turning a page.
"Forget it, forget it, Curtis, I won't hold it against her. Even if she is a total buzzkill. I don't know how you stand her."
She turned her head and shot me a look.
"Or how about we go with Annie to try on wedding dresses?
"You two were on video the other day and she kept going on about it, right? We're already out, might as well go take a look."
I stood there.
So she'd been right beside him during all our video calls.
Suddenly I wanted to laugh.
Fine.
I'd been planning to cancel the wedding anyway.
"Okay. Let's do what she says."
