Then (I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED) he took off his Braves hat and put it on my head and said, “Champ gets the crown.”
I wore that hat the WHOLE ride home and kept it in my room since he didn’t demand to get it back. Tessa said it smells like a locker room but I don’t even care.
Anyway, I’m going to try and sleep now but I might just float away because the boy I’ve been crushing on gave me his hat and called me champ and didn’t even make fun of me when I tripped on the sidewalk (which happened, by the way. Not my finest moment).
BEST. DAY. EVER.
Viv
P.S. Tomorrow we’re going to the water park and I swear on Peter’s Braves cap I’m going to finally go down the big slide. Even if I scream the whole way.
“Now what?” Peter drove with one hand resting on the steering wheel, the other lazily tapping his thigh to the beat of a classic rock song that hummed from the speakers. The glow of a lovely dinner lingered over both of them and the sun had just disappeared over the horizon, painting the sky in a mix of coral and the soft purple of twilight.
“It’s still light,” she said. “We should do something fun.”
Something fun. The words instantly reminded Vivien of the diary entry she’d read last night. Silly, childish, but now so crystal clear in her memory.
“What?” he asked, catching her smile.
“Does the name Goofy Golf mean anything to you?”
He choked a laugh. “It’s still here, you know.”
“No! Seriously?”
He glanced into the rearview mirror and pulled into the far left lane. “Wrong direction, right idea.”
“We can go? Now?”
He laughed. “You sound like little Vivien, all excited to go to the putt-putt place.”
“Do you remember when we used to go?” she asked. “Because I just read all about one of those unforgettable days in my decades-old diary.”
“Oh, that diary again.” He grinned at her. “Did I brush sand from your face or help you up after a fall?”
“Worse. I beat you by two strokes and you put your Braves cap on my head. I might not have washed my hair for a week.”
He belly laughed. “It is so time for a rematch. I do have a distinct memory of you wearing that hat for three days. I had to steal it back when you weren’t looking.”
“And you called me ‘champ.’” She reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. “Champ.”
He took her hand and threaded their fingers, giving her knuckles the lightest kiss. “That’ll be the last time for that. I’m very competitive, you know.”
“Oh, I remember.”
“I took my boys there when they were little,” he said after making a U-turn and heading toward Fort Walton Beach. “We were in Destin for some reason and I remembered it was fun. I swear Humpty Dumpty still has that chip on his foot.”
“How are your sons doing?” she asked. “Any chance they’ll come over to see you while you’re here? I’d love to meet them.”
“They’re busy but I’d love for you to meet them,” he said. “Cam’s doing a special assignment at the police academy, so when that’s done, he could come over.”
She loved that his older son wanted to follow in his footsteps with a career in law enforcement. It said a lot about his parenting. “And Connor? I guess he can’t just slip away from dental school.”
“He’s up to his eyeballs in finals.”
“Which I imagine are no joke at UF.”
“Connor doesn’t joke—he studies. But when the semester ends, he’ll want to leave Gainesville, so maybe he’ll come, too.”He added a squeeze to their joined hands, resting on his thigh. “That is, if I’m still here this summer.”
