Holding both hands in front of his chest, Ronan laughed so hard he started to choke. Jude howled along beside him.
“Daddy, I love Happy Hooters.” Aurora rolled her eyes at Ronan and Jude, which only made them laugh harder. “I think Brooke will too.”
“Ronan,” Ten said, sounding like he was running out of patience. “I don’t want to go to a restaurant where the girls are barely dressed with their bazoombas on display for big tips.”
“You’ve got your hooters confused,” Fitz said on a laugh. “You’re talking about the chicken wing place. Happy Hooters is a petting zoo. They have all kinds of zoo babies like goats, alpaca, and bunnies. The place got its name from starting out as a bird rescue, but over the years, they’ve expanded to take in all kinds of rescues. They’ve even got a zebra, an elephant, and a camel. All proceeds go to helping the park rescue more animals from circuses and the black-market pet trade. They alsotake surrendered animals from owners who can’t care for them anymore.”
“How about Fun-A-Rama?” Ronan asked. “There have been a ton of commercials lately about their summer season.” To be honest, the theme park hadn’t been on Ronan’s radar until the commercials started airing after Memorial Day. After his mother died, he’d put his childhood in the rearview mirror in hopes of getting over the biggest heartbreak of his life. He hadn’t given the park a thought in almost two decades.
“Fun-A-Rama!” the kids cheered.
“I want to tame the Viper!” Everly enthused.
“Me too!” Wolf and Jude agreed.
“Daddy.” Aurora swam over to Fitzgibbon. “I don’t think Brooke would like the Viper.”
Fitz lifted his daughter into his arms. “There are a lot of other rides in the park, like the Ferris wheel and the carousel. We could try those out, right?”
Aurora nodded. “And we can watch the Viper?”
“Of course we can. You might not be tall enough to ride it anyway,” Jude said as a look of relief spread over Fitz’s face.
“What?” Everly asked, her blue eyes blazing with injustice. “I amsotall enough!”
“Me too!” Wolf said, his mutinous look mirroring Everly’s.
Ronan held back a laugh. He’d forgotten some of the rides had height requirements. “The bigger attractions have height limits. They’ll include a measuring chart with a line that says you have to be this tall to ride. I’m not sure what that is for the Viper.There could be rides that none of you can go on.” He made a mental note to check the website.
“After dinner, I’ll measure you all, and we can decide what to do from there,” Fitz suggested. “Uncle Ronan will look up the height requirements, and we’ll make a plan from there. Deal?”
Aurora nodded. She hopped off Fitz’s lap back into the water, swimming to her friends, who looked like they were going to stage a riot if they weren’t tall enough to go on the rides.
“We’ve got a few good ideas so far,” Jude said. “There’s also the beach and Salem Willows, which has arcade games and pizza.”
While Jude and Fitz talked over their options, Ronan pulled up the Fun-A-Rama website. “The height requirement for the Viper is forty-two inches. Same goes for the Thunderbolt, which is the old-fashioned wooden coaster. It’s thirty-six inches for everything else, like the pirate ship and the bumper cars. I’m sure the kids are at least that tall.”
“What’s forty-two inches in feet?” Jude asked, looking as if trying to do the math was hurting his head.
“Three and a half,” Cope said, floating himself and Lizbet over to Jude. “If memory serves, Wolf was forty-three inches at his last physical. Everly and Aurora are about the same. Brooke is tall for her age, so we should be okay. Are you gonna tame the Viper?” Cope asked.
“Hell, yeah!” Jude said, his eyes not mirroring the ebullience in his voice. “What about you?” he asked, looking at Fitzgibbon.
“I’m definitely in. Jace too. This is going to be so much fun. I used to go to Fun-A-Rama every summer. It was my parents’ reward for good grades. I was bummed when it shut down for a few years.”
“Do you remember why it closed? I can’t imagine a place like that going bankrupt, unless someone was dipping in the till.” Working in law enforcement for half his life, Ronan knew stealing money was definitely a possibility.
“The owner, Kotter Brighthouse, committed suicide,” Fitzgibbon whispered. “Took a dive off the Ferris wheel back in 1999. His broken body was found at the base of the ride. It came out later that he’d been embezzling money from the company, and he was about to be exposed.”
“Jesus,” Ronan muttered. “Must have been a hell of a way to go.” He couldn’t imagine what the plunge must have been like or how terrifying it was when Brighthouse realized there was no way to take his decision back. “Who’s running the park now?”
“Kotter’s son, Baxter, is the new owner,” Fitz said. “He wanted to restore his father’s legacy by bringing the park back to its former glory days. He’s done a pretty admirable job if you ask me.”
Ronan nodded along. He thought so too.
“There’s a video on YouTube that shows a time lapse of the park being repaired and brought back to life. If you’re interested in seeing it, I’ll send it over.” Fitz pulled out his phone.
“I’d like that. It will be fun to see what’s changed since the last time I was there.” Ronan thought back to his senior year of high school. So many of his friends were going to have a lazy summer before starting college in the fall. As much as Ronan wanted to goof around, he knew another path awaited him. Two weeks into summer vacation, he entered the police academy. Six months after that, he was walking a beat in Dorchester.
