Danielle glanced back at Sunny who looked pretty proud of herself. She was smiling ear to ear as she pulled open the door and stepped out.
“Good thinking, Sun,” Danielle said as she did the same.
The three of them stood right in front of the ticket booth as Paul gave them a quick wave and pulled away.
“I’m glad you guys made it,” Zach’s deep voice said from behind them.
Both dread and an obnoxious thrill ran through Danielle at the same time as she turned to see Zach standing there. He had four tickets in his hand and an unsure smile across his lips.
“Oh, Zach. What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know you frequented the carnival,” Sunny said, giving Danielle a very fake surprised look.
Zach looked at her skeptically. “Um, yeah.” Then he turned with a resigned sigh to Danielle. “She didn’t tell you I was coming, did she.” The way he said it made it sound more like a fact than a question. He raised his eyebrows. “Is this okay?” he asked.
Danielle chewed her lip. She wanted to say no. She wanted to tell him that waking up to her son gone had been one of the scariest moments of her life. But, he looked sorry and maybe he really was.
She sighed and nodded. Zach gave her a soft smile as he handed one of the tickets over to her. Danielle took it and watched as he handed the other ones out to Jesse and Sunny. They walked through the gates after handing over the tickets to the ticket agent and then stood in a group just inside. Danielle wasn’t sure what they were going to do or even what to say to Zach.
Sunny turned and grabbed onto Jesse’s arm. “I’ll take him around. I’m sure you guys don’t want to ride the rides he does.”
Danielle parted her lips to speak, but Sunny just giggled and pulled Jesse into the throng of people. As soon as they disappeared, Danielle suddenly realized how alone she and Zach were. Not sure what to do, she peeked up at him to find him studying the ticket in his hand. It seemed as if he too, wasn’t sure what to do or say.
Realizing that she couldn’t spend the rest of the day in a strange and strained state with Zach, Danielle drew in a breath and let it out slowly as she turned to smile at him. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Zach glanced over at her. “What?”
She swallowed as she tucked an escaping curl behind her ear. “I’m sorry. For last night. You didn’t deserve how I treated you.”
Zach squinted as he studied the people passing by. “You don’t need to apologize—I need to apologize. I shouldn’t have taken Jesse like that. I should have left a note.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Danielle nervously rung her hands. The floodgates inside of her were cracking. It was as if the stress of seeing Zach mixed with the stress of being a single mom was taking its toll. “I guess I’m not used to giving up control when it comes to Zach. I’ve spent as long as I could remember taking care of him. He’s my world.”
Zach’s eyes roved over to her face and her whole body flushed from the intensity of it. She saw his hands twitch as he stepped forward toward her. “It’s got to be hard,” he said. The tone of his voice sent shivers down her spine.
Not sure how she would sound if she spoke, she just nodded.
“He’s a good kid. That loser doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.”
It took Danielle a moment to register who he was talking about. Isaac. Only, Isaac wasn’t a loser. At least, not when it came to his son. Loving her? Yes. Loving his son? No. She was sure that even though things were going south for their relationship, if Isaac had found out about Jesse, he would have stepped up. Taken care of his own child.
But there was no way she could say those things to Zach. This was a secret she had to hold dear. The Stedmans didn’t like her and if they found out about their grandson, they just might make a play for custody. That would be just about the worst thing ever. Jesse was her whole life.
“Thanks,” she said, honing in on a funnel cake stand and making her way over to it.
Just as she placed her order, Zach approached from the side and laid down a twenty to pay.
“Let me,” he said.
Irritation boiled over inside of her. She turned to meet his gaze full on. “I can take care of myself,” she said.
Zach held up his hands. “I know that.”
She pushed his twenty back over to him and began to fiddle with her purse.
“But it’s okay to let someone else take care of you once in a while,” he said, lifting up the twenty and handing it to the teenage girl standing in the window, her eyes shifting back and forth between them.
Danielle scrambled to take it away from her, but one look from Zach, and the girl disappeared. Frustrated, she turned, ready for a fight.
“I could have paid for that.”
