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I could watch her admiring the fish for hours.
I just might have if Elijah hadn’t pulled me away to the next room. There’s so much to see, and we take it all in stride.
Elijah uses the tokens to feed every fish he can, and we use several to get a chance to hold some of the more exotic animals that really shouldn’t be in an aquarium. But who am I to complain?
In one of the exhibit rooms, the three of us have a chance to hang out with a large snake. Some type of constrictor, but I can’t remember what kind because I was too distracted by Elijah’s face to pay attention.
When they give him the snake, he tenses up, so obviously nervous, but then relaxes when it just circles around his arm.
“He’s so soft.” Elijah drags his little fingers across the snake’s scales, smiling.
“Would you like a turn?”
Before I have a chance to answer the handler, another snake is draped across my shoulders, much larger than the one my son holds. I completely freeze.
“Um, uh, okay…”
Liv starts laughing as I stammer, and I turn to glare at her, seeing she’s got a snake over her shoulders and one on each arm. Well, damn.
“Well, you certainly look comfortable.”
She smiles, the larger snake flicking his tiny forked tongue across her nose. “I like them. They’re sweet.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say a snake is sweet, but I can’t help but grin right back at her, completely charmed like I’m just another snake enthralled by her presence.
“Quite the snake charmer, aren’t you?” My thoughts darken just a bit as I meet her eyes.
Pink crawls up her cheeks, and she shakes her head.
“What can I say? I have a way with beasts, I guess.”
Liv winks at me and then turns to the handlers for help returning her new friends to their homes.
The rest of the aquarium visit is just as successful as the first part, and the three of us get lunch at a restaurant right inside the building. It’s fish themed, of course, and Elijah is able to play a game with some other kids there, finding all the hidden seahorses scattered throughout the space.
We leave through the gift shop, buying a stuffed snake for Liv and a massive fish poster and starfish fossils for Elijah. It’s been one of the best days I’ve had in a long time.
Returning to the house and dropping Liv by her car, it’s later in the evening. We picked up some meals at a drive-through on the way home, and I stop her quickly before taking Elijah inside.
“Hey, why don’t you take the day off tomorrow? As a thank you.”
Liv tilts her head as she smiles at me. “Thank you. That’s sweet. I think I will. I have a bunch of stuff I need to catch up on, and it’ll give me the perfect chance to do so. Thanks, Noah.”
“You’re very welcome, Liv.”
It is a battle to get Elijah into bed.
Overly excited and still buzzing from the day’s activities, I end up reading him two stories before he finally starts fading into unconsciousness.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, bud?”
“I really like Olivia. She’s going to be around for a while, right?”
His eyes are closed as he speaks.
“I like her, too. And yeah, I think so. I—” my heartbeat thunders “—I really hope so, bud. I do.”
