Page 59 of The Body Checker
“Where are we going?” she asks, a little more demanding.
I cast her a quick glance, and her arms are folded, her lips pinched tight. “Don’t like surprises, Quinn?”
“You know I don’t.”
“You’re right. I do. You certainly didn’t like it when I surprised you and your friend with those concert tickets to your favorite band when you were sixteen.”
Her face softens, and she turns from me. “That’s different.”
“A surprise is a surprise.”
“The big surprise was that I had to go with you and Zander. What fun was that for a sixteen-year-old?”
“You think I was going to let two sixteen-year-olds go to a concert in the city by themselves?”
“I can take care of myself,” she says, trying to look pissed off, but I see the way her lips are twitching.
“I know, and I can take care of you, too.”
Her body relaxes. “Yeah, you sure can.” A moment of silence, and then, “Did I ever thank you for those tickets, Jonah? I could be so bitchy back then.”
“Back then?”
“Hey,” she says and whacks me.
We finally pull up in front of my parents’ house, and Quinn frowns. “Why are we here?”
Instead of answering, I exit the car and gather up Daisy. Mom and Dad come running from the house.
“There’s my little girl,” Mom says, and scoops Daisy from my hands. She gives me a kiss on the cheek as Quinn steps from the car.
“Jonah?” she asks. “What’s going on?”
“What’s going on, is Mom and Dad are going to watch Daisy. It is, after all, our wedding night.”
She glances at the ring on her finger, then alarm moves across her face. “We can’t leave Daisy. What if she cries or fusses? She just had her shot.”
Mom laughs. “This isn’t my first rodeo, child. Now go.” She waves us away. “It’s your wedding night.”
Quinn shakes her head, and her short blonde hair wisps over her chin. “I…well…you’ll call if she fusses?”
Mom nods as I grab the big diaper bag from the backseat and hand it to Dad. “Sure.”
“Oh…okay, then,” Quinn says, and steps up to Daisy to give her a kiss.
“You two kids go and have fun,” Dad says.
We get back into the car, and Quinn’s eyes are wide and wild when they turn my way. “Why didn’t you tell me you were doing that?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.” I pull into traffic and take a left instead of a right.
“So that’s what the diaper bag was all about. Wait, your house is back that way.” She glares at me, that same deadly look she gave me the first day she showed up to help out with Daisy. “Now where are we going, Jonah?”
“Now there’s the Ninja Chihuahua I know and love.”
She punches me in the shoulder and it damn well hurts. “Ow,” I say. “Who taught you to hit like that?”
“You, remember?”