Affair with a Billionaire

Long Adventure

At the pier, I am immediately greeted with a blast of salty air and an incredible view of the sea, and twinkling Ferris wheel lights. I walk to the pier railing and gaze out at the endless sapphire sea gleaming in the sun.
- This is beautiful.
- a nice change from the city skyline.
Connor moves behind me and presses himself against me, keeping me between the railing and him. I stare off to the horizon and inhale the sea air.
- The world seems to go on forever here.
- Like, you can run away to the end of the earth?
I nod in agreement when suddenly a shrill scream cuts through the air. A child is standing not far away, crying for her mother, tears streaming down her cheeks. Connor turns to me, his brows raised.
- She looks lost, we should do something.
- Yeah, poor thing. I will see what I can do.
I walk over to her and kneel, opening up my arms.
- Hi honey, are you okay?
She sniffs and wipes her nose and eyes.
- I can’t find my mom.
- When was the last time you saw her?
- I don’t know.
- Well, it’s okay, we’ll find her.
- Sounds like your mom is lost, we’ll have to go on an adventure to find her.
- Do you want to join us?
The girl sniffles and falls into my arms, squeezing me tight.
- Okay.
- Great! Then let’s get going! Do you want to hold hands?
The girl nods and grabs my hand, her small fingers fit into my palm.
- Where should we go first?
- The hotdog booth!
- The hotdog booth is a great place to explore, maybe your mom got hungry for a snack!
The three of us walk over to the booth, the girl swinging my hand as she walks.
- Do you see her?
- No.
- Let’s look for clues! What is your mom wearing?
- A red shirt and white shorts.
I search the pier, looking for red and white flashes.
- Okay, do you see any red or white?
- I don’t see it.
- Where else could she be?
- The Ferris wheel! She likes to go on rides!
- Oh, great idea! Let’s look for anyone wearing red or white as we go.
- Any other clues? What color is her hair?
- It’s brown.
- How is she wearing her hair?
- It’s up on her head! Like a big bird’s nest.
- Wow, you’re so helpful, detective. Let’s head over to the Ferris wheel.
As I walk to the Ferris wheel the girl grabs Connor’s hand and swings herself between the two of you.
- Higher! Higher! Swing higher!
We both swing her forward, she kicks her legs out and squeals joyfully as they come back down.
- Higher? You know that’s a great idea, we should ride the Ferris wheel, see if we can see your mom from the top. Connor said.
- We should ride. Are you okay with that too?
- Yeah. Let’s go!
- Oh good! We can be like birds, flying high looking for our mom.
- Hey, do you know your mom’s name? maybe we can call out for her as we look around.
- It’s Agnes.
- Okay, on the count of three, let’s call out Agnes loud, okay?
- As loud as you can, here we go, one, two, three
Screaming for Agnes as loud as we can, I suddenly notice a woman running toward us, waving her arms.
- Is that your mom?
- Yes!
She waves back at her mother, and we run to meet her halfway. She flies into her’s mother arms, and her mother abruptly pulls her back.
- Hi there, I think we found someone that belongs to you.
- Yes! Oh my god! Where were you? Don’t you ever do that to me again!
- I knew where I was.
- But I didn’t. I told you not to run off, you need to listen to me when I ask you to do something. You never listen!
- Well, at least she’s okay, we found her by the pier railing not too far from here.
- Yeah, thank you for your help.
- I can’t even imagine what must have been going through your head. I know it must have been scary, but it’s hard to keep an explorer in one place. It’s always around this age they like to make the world their own and see all it has to offer. 
I wink at the girl and give a wide smile, she giggles.
- Well, I’m glad someone kind found her, instead of some monster.
The mother smiles and nods, wiping a tear from her cheek. Connor turns to the girl and gets down to her level.
- Did you have fun?
- Yeas! Mom, guess what we did!
- Oh yeah, tell your mom about all the fun we had!
- What did you do?
- We went on an adventure.
- That’s right, and where did we go?
- To a hotdog booth, down the pier, and close to the Ferris wheel!
- That’s quite the exploration.
- It was. I’m happy we were able to help.
- I can’t thank you enough.
- It was our pleasure.
- I can’t even explain what happened, one minute, she was here, and the next, gone.
- Don’t worry about it, she’s safe now, and that’s all that matters.
- You two are great with her though. I know that sometimes she can be a handful.
- Not at all.
- She was great for us. I have a niece and nephew around that age, which is double the trouble. Managing one was much easier.
Agnes laughs and shakes her head.
- I can barely hold onto one, let alone two.
- Don’t be so hard on yourself, you’re doing great.
- Do you have any on your own?
I look down, feeling my face flush and my heart sink.
- No, I don’t.
- As much of a handful as they can be, it’s worth it.
- I can only imagine.
I smile weakly, and Connor puts his arm around me.
- I love kids, and I had a great time with this little lady today.
- My name isn’t Lady! It’s Claire.
- Oh, my sincerest apologies, Miss Claire.
- It was so nice to meet you, Claire.
- And I’m Agnes. Well, please, as a thank you, come over for some tea. Claire would love to have you, and it’s the least I can do.
We shake hands, exchanging names and brief pleasantries.
- Oh, we can have a tea party!
- Hard to say no to that.
- Count us in! please, let us drive you. My car’s just down the pier.
Agnes follows me and Connor with a swinging Clair in tow to the car, and we drive to their home. After arriving at the apartment, Claire pulls us both inside.
- Come on! I have to show you my tea set.
- Is this the same tea set we will be drinking out of?
- No, this one is just for my animals and me.
- Oh, your animals? Will they be joining us too?
- Yeah, there is Teddy the bear, Whiskers the cat, and Scruffy the dog!
- Wow, I didn’t know you had a whole farm here!
Claire giggles and motions for us to sit down.
- Sit here, I’ll prepare the tea!
- Okay, we’ll wait here.
- Don’t forget to bring sugar and milk.  I like to add them to my tea.
Claire lets out a squeak and then runs up the stairs to fetch her tea set. Agnes makes her way to the kitchen.
- Please, make yourselves at home. I will put on the kettle. Can I get you anything while you wait?
- No, thank you, this is more than enough.
- It will just be a moment.
Agnes leaves me and Connor sitting in the living room, in a moment of silence, my thoughts begin to consume me. It’s so obvious how much he loves kids. Even if he hadn’t said it, it still would have been made clear how great he is with Claire.
- Eventful day today, huh?
- Yeah, you can say that again. What a sweetheart though.
- She’s a treasure.
- Weirdly enough, I think melting her was the highlight of my day.
- Yeah, mine too. So, speaking of kids. How important is it to you to have kids?
- Very important. What is the point of me working so hard now if I have no one to leave all this to after I’m gone?
My heart feels like it’s falling out of my chest into my stomach.
- Yeah, understandable. You sound pretty set on it.
- Yeah, not something I am willing to compromise. What about you? Don’t you want kids?
I hesitate to answer. Just as I am about to open my mouth, Connor’s phone rings, and he answers.
- Wait, what?
- What’s going on?
Connor holds up a finger as he listens intently, furrowing his brow.
- I see. We’re on our way. We need to go. There’s an issue with some of the staff.
Connor hangs up the phone and stands abruptly. The offers me his hand.
- What’s the issue?
- I’ll explain in the car but I need to handle this before it’s too late.
- All right, let’s tell them we have to go. Agnes, Claire, thank you so much, but we need to get going!
- It was nice to meet you both, thank you for the hospitality.
- Of course, are you sure you can’t stay? Perhaps I can give you something for the road.
- We’re all set, thank you.
Claire appears at the top of the stairs and waves.
- Bye, Teddy drank all the tea anyways.
Me and Connor wave goodbye then head out.