“I’m not complaining,” Claire promised as the recently acquired cotton candy melted in her mouth. “But I still don’t understand why we’re at an amusement park. Or why we needed to ride the same roller coaster three different times. The cotton candy is excellent, though.”

Jay smiled, unable to contain his joy at watching her eat cotton candy. Stealing a piece for himself, he said, “What better place is there to run away to than somewhere designed for joy? Besides, the roller coaster helps me clear my head.”

“I don’t understand how you can think at all,” she mused, selecting a new piece of cotton candy to tear away from the whole. “All of the blood was rushing to my head, but not in the good way. Actually, is there a good way? It makes my fingers and toes feel weird.”

They momentarily fell quiet as Jay thought about their time going through the amusement park. Even though it was his favorite place in the park, he’d ensured they avoided the arcade. That place would do the opposite of taking his mind off things. His eyes stopped on the woman in front of him wearing a yellow sundress.

She cheerily attacked her cotton candy with all the vigor of a world explorer seeking the first claim to a new land. Jay, at his core, wanted to be able to trust her. He was thin on allies now, so he would feel much better knowing her presence in the guild fought for his side. Of course, Claire didn’t seem like much of a fighter as she munched on cotton candy, but Jay knew she could be fiercely protective. It was one of the things he appreciated most about her.

“You’re staring at me,” Claire said, making one of the happiest accusations that Jay had ever heard. “You could take a picture. It would last longer.”

Jay seized his opportunity since her attention was turned away, caught by a screaming child, likely demanding cotton candy. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he quickly pulled out his camera and snapped a picture. His girlfriend caught wind of what he was doing just in time to turn away slightly. The photo featured half her face and half a wild tangle of hair windmilling through the air.

“Let me see that,” she demanded.

Jay chuckled, turning the photo to her. “Yeah, sure.”

Claire’s eyes swept over the photo, making Jay’s chuckle deepen to a belly laugh as her face twisted in disgust. “You seriously need to delete that. As soon as possible.”

“Never in a million years,” Jay promised.

Claire immediately leaned forward, grabbing at the phone in his hand. Deftly, she took hold of it, and he yielded the device out of fear he could hurt her hand. Quickly, her fingers danced across the phone and deleted the photo from his camera roll. Returning the phone to him, she wore a smug look.

“No fair,” Jay complained. “I don’t have any photos of you. And you said I could take one.”

His girlfriend rolled her eyes as she stood up from the picnic table. She brushed off the backside of her dress’s skirt and waved for him to follow.

“Come on,” she said. “We’ll get you a better one.”

Claire threw the rest of her cotton candy away in a trash can and looked through the crowds for something. Jay was still a little lost on what was happening but was enjoying himself, so he didn’t push too hard. Observing his girlfriend’s antics did an excellent job of distracting him.

Eventually, Claire approached a little girl, who looked to be all of six or seven years old, and her father. “Excuse me, sir. Do you think your daughter might want to take a picture for my boyfriend and me?”

The man looked up at her in surprise, having been engrossed in explaining to his young daughter why ice cream wasn’t a proper dinner. The little girl was excited by the prospect and started tugging animatedly on her father’s dress shirt. Jay felt a little bad since the pulling yanked the neatly tucked material free. It was a nice shirt, too.

“Lara, calm down, please,” the man said, smoothing the young girl’s bangs. Lara slapped the hand away, muttering about not messing up her hair.

The father introduced himself as Jack, and the three adults chatted briefly. He was a single father who had inherited full custody of his daughter two years after his girlfriend was imprisoned. Since Lara had been the only one in her class that hadn’t gone to pre-school together, she was having trouble making friends.

Jay was amazed at how little actions could make a person’s whole day. Lara was excitedly begging to take the picture while Jack soothed her and promised they would do so soon. In return, Jay and Claire shared a little about themselves and how they met. At first, Jack was interested in the game but quickly discovered it wouldn’t be appropriate for Lara.

When the conversation slipped into a two-second lull, Lara enthusiastically declared, “Picture time!”

There was no coming back from the six-year-old’s strong play, so Jay offered his phone to Jack. Her dad helped Lara get the couple into the frame, standing in front of a fountain emblazoned with a metal plaque that boldly declared the amusement park’s name.

Jay and Claire smiled at each other as Lara’s father tried to explain how she could take the picture. When the couple looked at the camera and smiled, Lara snapped the picture, demanding, “Another one!”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

They spent the next three minutes taking picture after picture. The pair amused themselves, making funny faces at the camera to the little girl’s extreme delight. Claire pulled close to Jay and got him with bunny ears. Jay tickled her to get her back, resulting in a photo of her staring at him with a cute, indignant look. The last picture taken was of Claire kissing Jay’s cheek.

“That one was perfect!” Lara declared, still enormously excited about the whole opportunity. “Daddy, our turn?”

Jack shot them a curious look, and Claire nodded her ascent. Jay took his offered phone, and Claire spent the next few minutes helping the tiny family pose for their pictures. When Lara looked through the resulting images, she whispered, “I look like a princess.”

They agreed to part ways, with Jack thanking them for making his daughter’s day. Lara was already demanding to see a ride all the way on the other side of the park, so Jay wished them well. As they walked away, the little girl could be heard talking about the nice people who let her take photos. The last thing he heard was the little girl asking, with all the innocence of a child, “Do you think those nice people will get married?”

The moment sunk into Jay’s core.

A perfect storm. That’s what the moment between Lara and Claire had been. It reminded him of Sarah being little and how much he wanted to do right by his sister. He wasn’t sure what would happen between Sarah and Tumult, but he knew he needed to find some way to protect or help her. He wasn’t sure how to do it independently, but he knew the next steps. Ichibad would have some idea of what was happening and maybe even a way back into the game. Their meeting was coming up, so all Jay had to do was wait.

“Tell me you don’t have a ring in that pocket,” Claire implored, lacing her arms through one of his. “If Lara and her dad were paid actors for your proposal, I don’t know if I could take it.”

Jay shot her a horrified look of surprise, which only resulted in his arm being slapped. He wasn’t a skilled enough actor to pull off that powerful of a quip. “No ring,” he admitted. “But I was thinking…”

“Uh oh,” Claire teased. “That can’t be good.”

He made an exaggerated shushing motion with his hand. “No, seriously. I think you should join the guild. It would be nice to have another set of eyes on my side while I figure out how to get back into the game. I don’t want to take away from your job search, but I’d love your help keeping me in the loop.”

Claire was silent for a little while. Jay didn’t want to push her, so they walked arm-in-arm through the park, feeling the remaining rays of sunlight on their skin. In a few hours, the light would disappear to make way for the night. He knew they should return to avoid driving in the dark, but he wanted to finish this conversation.

“I already have a job,” Claire said abruptly. He knew immediately that she hadn’t wanted her promising news to overshadow his bad. Her consideration meant a lot, though it bothered him that she wasn’t earnest earlier in the day.

“That’s amazing news,” Jay said, pulling a strand of hair from her face and tucking it between her ears. He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I’m proud of you. Tell me more about it.”

Hesitantly, at first, she did. She wasn’t going to be working in the gaming industry anymore. Instead, one of her contacts from school had put her in touch with someone who worked in the medical industry. She would work as an executive assistant for six months, similar to her recent position with Mr. Georges. After she learned about the industry, there was an opportunity to apply for several internal promotions, or she could keep her executive assistant position.

Finally, she pulled the topic back around to him. “Are you sure you want me in the guild? I don’t want to make it awkward for you. You know, like make people think you’re playing favorites or something.”

“I am playing favorites or something,” Jay promised, bumping his hip into hers. “But seriously, I’ll have Taylor Lynn add you to the guild. We need all hands on deck preparing for this siege event. Who is going to complain about an extra set of hands? Even if you can only help after work.”

“Okay,” Claire stated. “As long as you’re sure. I don’t start for a week, so I’ll have plenty of time to help.”

Jay stopped, regarding her curiously. Her eyes kept glancing in a particular direction, and he followed them. She was looking at the stand they had purchased cotton candy from earlier. The very same stand sold ice cream that Claire had been eyeing.

“Should we go?” Claire asked.

“No one is here to tell us to avoid ice cream dinners,” Jay pointed out, pulling her toward that stand. “We’ll go as soon as we get that ice cream you’ve been eyeing. Come on, you deserve to celebrate a little bit.”

Claire pulled him even closer to her as they walked.

“I lo—” she said, nearly causing Jay to miss a step along their journey. She cleared her throat, continuing, “I meant—I’m saying that I appreciate you. A lot. You’re attentive, and it feels like you care. It’s nice.”

Jay decided not to remind her about his vanishing act during the recent Mercura Island adventures. Aside from that, he supposed he had been alright.

“You want more cotton candy, too, or what?” he teased. She met his eyes, so Jay knew that she knew he felt the same.

“Now that you mention it...”

***

The return trip was several hours long. Claire was very excited to be joining Jay in the game. She wasn’t the slightest bit worried that he wouldn’t find a way back into the game. In fact, she was so confident it made Jay suspicious that she knew something he didn’t; he called her on it. Looking a little hurt, she assured him she wasn’t working with Tumult Corp. anymore, smiling patiently. Her perspective, instead, was that she believed in him—that he would find a way back into the game to finish what he started.

She was more confident than he was.

They both collapsed onto the couch when they returned to Claire’s apartment. After a back-and-forth about what to watch, they settled on a comedy special. Jay shut his brain off, barely paying attention to what was happening on the screen. He didn’t think about Tumult, or even Claire, really, but just let himself recover from the long events of the day. Finally, the comedy special was over.

“You look tired,” Claire pointed out, massaging his arm. “Do you want to stay here tonight?”

Jay shook his head. “I don’t want to impose. Besides, I don’t want to pressure you into–.”

“No pressure necessary. There’s no better day than today,” she whispered into his ear.

With one strap of her sundress falling off the shoulder, Claire took him by the hand. After pulling him into her bedroom, she closed the door behind them.