“You run a car company,” Laura told him, putting the last buckle in place. “Not a car seat company.”
As soon as they were all secured, Dallas and Ivy hopped in and buckled themselves up. Ethan and Laura sat next to each other in the row behind the kids.
“Alright, Craig,” Ethan called out. “We're ready to hit the road.”
“You got it,” Craig said, then pressed on the gas to begin their trip.
Laura turned to Ethan. “So you still won't tell me where we're going?”
He shook his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “No way, Jose. It's a surprise.”
“Well, I thought about it a lot last night, and I think it's important that I share something with you,” she said.
He suddenly looked concerned. “What's that?”
“I checked and re-checked the Colorado map, and I'm about one hundred and ten percent positive that there is not a beach here. At least not one that isn't currently full of ice and absolutely freezing. I didn't want to burst your bubble, but now I think you should know.”
“Very funny,” he said, reaching his other hand over to tickle her right above her hips. “Believe it or not, I actually knew that. Now, if you could just trust me, we'll be there before you know it.”
Laura leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Okay, but don't blame me if we drive for ei
ght hours and don't see water.”
Ethan chuckled and relaxed his head back into the seat, closing his eyes. “I promise I won't blame you if that happens.”
They rode in silence for less than five minutes and just a few miles before Dallas spun around in his seat and gazed at Laura.
“I have to go potty,” he said while crossing his legs as if to hold it in.
Her eyes widened. “Dallas, are you kidding me right now? You just went, right before we left the house.”
Dallas let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes as he faced forward once again. “Fine. Never mind, I guess I can hold it.”
Ethan leaned close to Laura. “Can he hold it? We can pull over somewhere. I'm sure there's a gas station or something on the way.”
“No, it's alright,” she said. “He'll be fine. As long as we're not in the car for too long. Speaking of which, how far away is this secret location that you're taking us?”
“It should only take us about forty-five minutes or so,” he said.
“Yeah, Dallas will be fine then,” she said. She shrugged innocently. “Forty-five minutes, though? Where exactly are we going?”
“Nice try,” Ethan said. “But you're not going to get it out of me. Remember, it's supposed to be a surprise.”
Laura wasn't one for being patient and certainly not when it came to surprises. She was the kid who, on every Christmas morning, got up long before sunrise and stared down at the Christmas tree to see if she could spot Santa. It wasn't to catch a glimpse of the old gray-bearded man either. No, she knew what he looked like. Her real reasoning was to try to find out what her gift would be before anybody else in the house was awake.
So being taken to some mystery beach had her curiosity turned up to level ten.
Maybe he's taking us to a lake? She thought, sitting back in her seat. There were a handful of lakes near Denver, but all of them would still be half-frozen this time of year.
While Laura was busy trying to figure out where they were going, Ethan was having fun with the kids. He was taking one of the foam, bendy noodles that Laura had brought and was poking them with it. He started off by pressing it into Ivy's side and then as soon as she spun around, he hid the noodle out of sight.
“What?” he asked, with an innocent expression.
“What was that?” Ivy asked.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” he said.
She turned back around and once again, Ethan poked her with the noodle. Every time he did it, he looked like he hadn’t done anything. Dallas saw him, though, and soon the little game had him laughing. As soon as Ivy realized what was going on, she started laughing too. Watching the way Ethan interacted with them made Laura smile. It also helped to pass the time and the next thing she knew, Craig was looking up in the rear view mirror to tell them that they had arrived.