Page 53 of Love Marks
“Real food first. Hot dogs?”
“Fine.” She crosses her arm and grabs my hand, dragging us towards Nathan’s. I order three hot dogs, and we wait off to the side while Luna lists off everything she wants to do today. We get our food and walk down the boardwalk, sitting at an empty table.
“You’re sweet with her.”
I glance over and Quinn is watching me wipe a glob ketchup from Luna’s shirt. She’s wearing her signature soft smile that I never want to disappear from her face.
“Thanks,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “Are you close with your family? Besides your mother.”
Her smile fades as she glances away, her face clouding over again with that ghostly look in her eyes.
“Not really.” She shrugs. “It’s just me and mom. And Sheila, my neighbor. She’s actually moving today. She’s lived across the hall from us since…forever.”
“I’m sorry. That must be difficult, her moving away.”
She shrugs, her shoulders falling lower than usual. I never noticed it before, the way she forces the soft smile to stay on her face. Like there’s a light in her eyes that refuses to dim.
She opens her mouth as if to say something, then stops herself, avoiding my gaze.
I clear my throat. “I was never very close with my parents. My father worked a lot. I’m close with my mom and Ben now but not my dad. We haven’t talked in a while. Last time we did, we got in a huge fight, and I just shut down.”
I blink a few times, trying not to falter under her gaze. She reaches out and puts her hand over mine, warm and heavy. I can’t seem to focus on anything but the feeling of her skin on mine.
For some reason, I keep going. “I’m just angry at myself for not knowing what was going on with him…with the company, the dangerous direction it was headed in. I felt like an idiot.”
The moments following my confession are painfully silent. Quinn seems to know that I can’t look at her, because she looks away from me and down to where our hands are linked together in my lap.
“My dad left us when I was a kid. I don’t really remember him that much. I can’t tell if that’s better or worse. It’s kind of like I never had him at all, but at the same time, I have these glimpses. Like an idea of him, but never the real thing.”
“Have you ever thought of looking for him?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I figure he doesn’t want to be found. I don’t need him. Mom is enough. She always has been,” she says in a wistful tone.
It’s quiet for a moment and I’m hit again with that pang, that overwhelming urge to reach out and wrap my arms around her.
“All done!” Luna shouts from next to us, her mouth stuffed with food. I blink. I’d basically forgotten she was here. I look back at Quinn and she seems to be thinking the same thing. She covers her mouth with the back of her hand, hiding a smile. “Can we get cotton candy now, Uncle Wes?” Luna pleads.
I take one last bite of my hot dog and toss it into the nearby trash can. “Yes, you’ve been very patient.” I glance over at Quinn. “And silent.”
She laughs outright this time and it’s almost angelic, the way the sound travels all the way through me.
“Cotton candy. Then the roller coaster. Then ice cream,” Luna lists off.
“Cotton candy or ice cream, Loon. Not both,” I remind her, shaking my head.
“How am I supposed to choose? Shit!” She cries.
“Luna!” I use my best chastising tone. “Where did you hear that word?”
“From daddy. He says it when he drops things.”
Quinn giggles from next to me and I can’t help but groan at this little devil in front of me. I shake my head but shrug. “Well, don’t say it again or you’ll owe me a nickel.”
“What’s a nickel?”
“A coin. For the swear jar. If you say bad words, you have to pay up. Those are the rules.”
“Are you playing too? And your girlfriend?”