Page 43 of I’d Be Honored

Now she saw the place as a monument to her family’s joy, immortalized in the ice-cream-smeared faces of every kid she passed. Those memories felt like they belonged to a different version of Hayley, from a simpler time, miles away from her current life.

As she’d planned, their first stop was Freak Bar. Grab-and-go drinks in hand, Hayley led Maddie toward the vintage pinball machines.

“I have to be honest,” Maddie said, leaning over an Evel Knievel one. “I’ve never actually played boardwalk games before. I’ve avoided the tourist trap of the Santa Monica Pier my whole life.”

“Well, it’s time to change that.” Hayley pulled a large, prefilled bag of quarters from her Birkin and dropped four into the slot with a satisfying clink.

They spent the next hour in a blur of neon lights and laughter. It took Maddie under two minutes to lose all five of the small steel balls, so they moved on to the next game—and then the next. They smashed moles of every color and slung wooden balls up a ramp until their arms ached.

Once they hit every game in the arcade, Maddie skipped down the boardwalk in delight, scanning the booths while Hayley grinned and trailed after her. Maddie veered suddenly to the left, pulling Hayley down onto a stool next to her at Tube Dash Splash and taking aim with her water gun.

“God, this used to be one of my favorite games to play as a kid.” Hayley leaned against the counter as they waited for a new round to start. “I always won, and Jonathan—my older brother—he used to get so mad.” She laughed, picturing his teenage face, red and pinched with outrage. “He’d say, ‘these don’t require skill, they’re pure dumb luck.’ But I thought that was bullshit—he just had bad aim.” She shrugged.

“Hayley,” Maddie scolded playfully, “don’t tell me you bullied your brother.”

“If anything, it was the opposite!” Hayley protested. “We were playing here one night as teenagers, and I was on a roll. I had my eye on the grand prize, and my Minion was just about to hit the top of the ramp. Jonathan knew he couldn’t win, and he was such a sore loser that he tried to turn his water gun on me. But they don’t rotate all the way—for that reason, I imagine—so he used his hand as a backboard and redirected the spray into my face just to stop me from winning.”

And when we got home, I put him in a headlock until he apologized, Hayley remembered, keeping that part to herself.

“But did you win?” Maddie asked, waiting for Hayley to finish the story.

“Of course I won. I always win.”

Maddie grinned with pride.

The lights on the booth began to flash, and bells and whistles warned them that the race was about to start.

True to her word, Hayley won, beating Maddie and everyone else sitting at the counter by a landslide.

The carny handed Hayley the biggest Minion they had. She turned and triumphantly presented it to Maddie.

“For you,” she offered with a small bow. “This one’s extra wide-eyed and cute—like you.”

Maddie let out a breathless little laugh and nudged Hayley affectionately with her shoulder as she squeezed the Minion against her chest.

A quiet sense of ease settled over Hayley as she watched Maddie. She was feeling more like herself that night than she had in years, closer now than ever to that little girl from her memories. From before.

“This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” Maddie admitted, a fried Oreo in her hand.

Hayley looked at the powdered sugar dusted across Maddie’s face and saw another scene. She was eleven this time on the same boardwalk. Her mom had stolen a sly lick of her dad’s mint chocolate chip ice cream, even though she insisted she didn’t want any. Her dad retaliated by smearing it all over her mom’s face, both of them laughing until they had tears in their eyes. Then he gently cleaned it off with a napkin before giving her a kiss on the forehead and the rest of his ice cream cone.

As an adult, Hayley could appreciate the true depth of the quiet, powerful love her parents had shared.

“Mine too,” she whispered back to Maddie, the words carrying more weight than she had even intended.

They walked along the wooden planks for a while, their arms brushing against each other with every step. Hayley watched as the ocean breeze caught a stray lock of Maddie’s hair and swept it into her mouth just as she stole a bite of Hayley’s funnel cake.

Her side still aching with laughter, Hayley tentatively reached out a hand to help. Her fingers grazed Maddie’s cheek as she carefully tucked the strand of hair behind her ear.

Maddie’s eyes met hers, their faces only inches apart.

On an impulse, Hayley leaned in and slowly ran the tip of her tongue over the corner of Maddie’s lip, where a stray spot of powdered sugar still lingered.

Maddie’s breath hitched in her chest. “Your place?”

Hayley wordlessly laced her fingers through Maddie’s and pulled her toward the town car that waited for them.

It wasn’t until they were almost home that Hayley realized she had never let go of Maddie’s hand.