“Everyone has to have a flaw,” she said after a minute, flicking her hair in a way I’d seen Heidi do. It was a good imitation of nonchalance.
“I haven’t found yours.”
“Oh, Austin,” she said with a shake of her head. “You must not be looking very hard.”
“I’d be happy to look later,” I said suggestively.
“Oh, I bet you would.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a row of games. Her eyes ran up and down all the games before settling on knocking over milk bottles with a cheap plastic ball. I knew the game was next to impossible. They really didn’t want people to win, but I paid and let her have at it anyway.
She lost miserably.
She held up a Tootsie Roll at the end. “How lucky am I? They give out consolation prizes.”
“Poor thing.”
“Your turn,” she said, popping the Tootsie Roll into her mouth. “I want a giant stuffed animal.”
I glanced up at the massive pink flamingo next to a pink-sequined unicorn and an oversize poop emoji. I had never wanted an oversize poop emoji so much in my life.
I wished that I had played baseball or football or something. Or at least that the game wasn’t rigged. Unfortunately, I had been more into theater, girls, and parties—in no particular order. Landon and Sutton had always been the athletes in the family.
The guy took my money from me with a sympathetic look. Yeah, I was probably screwed. I wasted twenty dollars, failing miserably at this stupid fucking game. Julia had tears streaming down her face by the time I was ready to give up.
“You’re horrible at this game,” she said through her laughter.
“Can I just buy the goddamn stuffed animal?”
“Sorry, sir. They’re not for sale,” the guy said.
“That wouldn’t be any fun anyway. Where is your consolation-prize Tootsie Roll?” Julia asked.
“I’m not done!” My competitive streak was winning out, and I was not ready to give up on that damn stuffed animal. No matter how much of a sucker that made me.
“Seriously, Austin, it’s not a big deal. I don’t think anyone can knock that thing down.” She asked the guy behind the stand, “Does it actually even move?”
He pushed the bottles over with one hand, and Julia started laughing hysterically again.
“Oh, this is too good,” she crooned.
I shot her a glare and then aimed for the bottles again after the guy set them back up again. I tried to channel the two seasons of little league my dad had forced me in as a kid. Then, I aimed and threw the ball.
And missed.
Julia was doubled over, and her laughter was music to my ears. Despite the fact that I was losing horribly, she was so happy. I’d forgotten how much her laughter affected me.
“Fuck, I suck.”
“You do,” she crowed. “You really do.”
I finished off the rest of the balls I had to throw in a miraculously awful fashion, only managing to knock over one milk bottle despite all my throws. The guy in charge of the game shook his head and then pulled down the pink-sequined unicorn.
“I’ve never seen anything so pathetic in my life. You’ve earned this, dude.”
I took the stupid fucking unicorn and held it out to Julia. “Look what I won you!”
“Oh, I’m so lucky.” She wiped tears from her eyes and then took the giant unicorn under one arm. “We’ll probably have to share custody of the kid.”
“Nope. It’s your fucking unicorn.”
“Don’t kill our love fern!”
I cracked up at her How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days reference. “You and Morgan would so get along with your bad taste in movies.”
“That movie is a classic,” she told me as we moved away from the game I’d sunk a small fortune into.
“So, what are you going to name it?”
“It’s not a goldfish. We don’t have to name it.”
“Why do you hate your new unicorn?”
Julia shook her head at me. “If I name it, it’ll probably be Glitter Sparkles Sprinkles V.”
My eyes bugged out. “Yeah. I am not sharing custody on a unicorn named Glitter Sparkles Sprinkles V.”
“Why do you hate my new unicorn?” she said with mock seriousness.
“How about we compromise with something that doesn’t sound mildly edible?”
“I’m thinking Waffle.”
“Waffles are edible, Jules,” I said in exasperation.
“For some reason, I can only think of food.”
I threw my hands up. “Waffle the Unicorn it is.”
“Don’t worry, Waffle. You’ll have two great parents who will love you.”
We packed up Waffle into the tiny trunk of my Alfa Romeo since it was only a two-seater. Julia petted Waffle on the head before slamming the trunk shut with vigor.