Free Beginning of Forever (Heaven Hill #7) by Laramie Briscoe Page B

gonna like this,” she whispered as they got to the person to pay. Before she could tell him not to pay, he’d already done so, they’d posed for a family photo, and they were stepping into the glass-enclosed space.
    “Let’s sit on this side,” Tyler told her, sitting Addie on his lap.
    She breathed a sigh of relief when she sat next to him and he put his arm around her, pulling her into his side. Deciding she should make the best of this, she grabbed her phone out of her pocket and extended her arm so that they could have a family selfie with the nighttime backdrop of Gatlinburg behind them. “Tyler, it’s so high up,” she whispered, as they got to the top and started to come back down.
    “It’s awesome.” He laughed, pulling her in for a kiss over Addie’s head.
    Opening her eyes when he pulled away, she dared to glance down. There she saw fountains that flashed different colors, dancing to a music beat she couldn’t hear up where they were. Swallowing thickly, she closed her eyes again. “It’s nice.” She licked her suddenly dry lips.
    “Liar.” He chuckled. “If you want, we can get off the next time it goes around, but I think Miss Addie likes it, don’t you?” He looked down at the girl, who hadn’t spoken a word or made a peep since they’d gotten into the gondola. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open.
    “Wow.” Meredith went over to the other side so that she could get a picture of them. “Something that made her speechless. We’ll have to remember this.”
    Normally she chatted all the time. Even if you couldn’t understand a word she said, she kept a steady stream of noises and words going most of the time.
    When they came around one more time, Tyler got the ride attendant’s attention so that they could exit. “What should we do next?” he asked them.
    Meredith checked her watch. “How about we get some ice cream and head back to the condo. We can get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow’s gonna be a big day ’cause we’re goin’ to the aquarium.”
    At the mention of the word, Addie’s eyes lit up. She’d been excited since the first mention of it, after Meredith had explained to her what it was.
    “I still think she just gets excited ’cause we’re excited,” Tyler whispered. “I feel like we could call her all kinds of bad names, and do it in that tone of voice, and she would think it’s the best thing ever.”
    “Tyler!”
    “What?” he questioned. “It’s not like I’ve done it before or anything.”
    She stopped walking in front of them and looked back at him. “Oh my God, you have. Haven’t you?”
    “It was a scientific experiment,” he defended himself. “I was tryin’ to learn something, and I did.”
    Meredith couldn’t stay mad at him; she’d never been able to stay mad at him long. “Don’t do it again.” She pointed her finger at him.
    He leaned in, grabbing her finger in between his teeth and nipping gently. “Yes ma’am.”
    There was something about the way he said the words that made her think she was in deep trouble when they got back to the condo and put Addie to bed.
    *
    “She’s down,” Tyler told her as he came out into the living area.
    “I was worried she’d have a hard time because it’s a new place for her. She’s used to the clubhouse and stuff.”
    He blew against his fingernails and rubbed them on his chest. “I’m that damn good.”
    She giggled as he scooped her up from the couch. They’d come in from having ice cream and had all taken showers or gotten baths, so her hair was still wet, as was his. “We shouldn’t go outside with wet hair,” she told him as she saw him point them towards the balcony.
    “It’s summer, wifey. Live a little.”
    There was a piece of her heart that got excited when he called her wifey; it made her a quivering mess, to be honest. Never in her life had she thought she’d be that person who would get caught up in labels, but that was one label she would never give