The Florida air was humid, and Sonny was incredibly jealous of Amanda's easy handling of it. She and the girls walked ahead of him animatedly, looking at the massive sculptures in the center courtyard of their hotel. Sonny spotted a few he recognized from movies he'd watched with Mia, with his sisters growing up. Their room was a lot of the same, themed around Finding Nemo. The girls loved the paintings on the walls and the little touches in the room. Sonny swung himself onto one of the beds, horoughly enjoying the air conditioning. The flight had been an early one, and there was a lot of day left.
Billie bounced on the bed next to him. "Let's go let's go let's go!" she begged, tugging on his arm.
Jesse and Amanda came out of the bathroom. Jesse was wearing a gray shirt with a sparkly pink Minnie Mouse bow on the front that said Big Sister on it in Disney script. "Your turn!" she announced to her sister. "So we match!"
"Okay!" Billie got down and ran to Amanda. Amanda eyed Sonny. "Hey, vacation planner, you and Jess gotta figure out where we're going first!"
He sat up, pulling Jesse into his arms. "I mean, with a shirt like that, 's there any other choice other than Magic Kingdom?" he asked. "Jesse, how about we go check on Sienna, make sure she likes her room?"
"Yeah!"
He tossed a thumb. "Her room is right next door to us. We'll be over there."
Amanda was trying to wrestle Billie out of her shirt and into the one that matched Jesse. "See you in about ten years."
Sonny knocked on Sienna's door and waited a few seconds before he heard the deadbolt click back. "Hi Mr. Carisi," the teenager said. "This place is super cool!"
"Did you see the bed?" Jesse asked her. "It looks like the reef!"
"Yeah I did," Sienna agreed. She had changed out of her jeans and longsleeve shirt into a pair of denim shorts and a Princess & the Frog tanktop. She looked up at Sonny. "Thanks again for bringing me with, Mr. Carisi," she said. "All of my friends are really jealous."
"Well, we appreciate it, and we'll do everything we can to make their jealousy worth it," Sonny told her. He looked down at Jesse. "Okay, so Jess, do you wanna go see Mickey and the castle today?"
"Yeah!"
The door opened and Amanda and Billie came out, Billie now dressed in her Little Sister shirt. "We all set?" Amanda asked. She swung her purse over her shoulder, and handed Sonny his camera.
Sonny didn't miss the excitement in her voice. It occurred to him, that even living only one state away, Amanda had probably never been to Disney World. I'm gonna do my damndest to make this a great vacation for them, he decided right there. "Magic Kingdom it is."
Amanda didn't think the look of awe would ever leave her daughters' faces. Even before they went through the gate, Sonny had gotten a picture of her and the girls in front of the Mickey flowerbed, and then showed Sienna how use his camera to get a shot of him with them. Amanda took a picture with Sienna's cell phone of her and the girls. Security was a breeze, and soon they were standing on Main Street.
Jesse stared. "Cinderella's castle, Mommy! Look!"
"I see it, baby, I see it." Amanda let herself be pulled down the street, Sonny and Sienna working to keep up with Billie and the stroller. Billie was looking at everything, bouncing excitedly in her seat. Sonny spotted a candy shop off to his right and made a mental note that before they left, they'd need to stop.
They had just gotten to the door of the castle, ready to walk through to Fantasyland, when Billie squealed, "Cinderella!"
"Oh." Jesse stopped short, and stared at the woman in the bright blue dress coming out of the castle. She had a Disney handler with her, but when she saw the group of kids who were waiting anxiously, they stopped. Jesse was closest to the princess. "Hi," she breathed. "You're so pretty!"
"Why, thank you!" Cinderella smiled at her. "I love your sparkles!" she said, pointing a gloved finger at Jesse's shirt.
"My sister has them too!" Jesse pointed to Billie. Sonny unbuckled Billie and brought her over to where Amanda and Jesse were standing.
"Is this your mother and father?" Cinderella asked Jesse.
"This is my mommy and my Uncle Sonny!" Jesse replied. She looked up at Amanda. "Could we take a picture with her?"
"Oh, I have a very important ball to go to," Cinderella replied. "But if you come back when the clock strikes twelve, I would love to meet with you again!"
"Kay," Billie said shyly, burying her head in Sonny's arm.
Cinderella waved to the other kids in the crowd before being ushered down a path in a different direction.
"Mommy!" Jesse said sharply.
"What?" Amanda bent down. From the tone of Jesse's voice, she was afraid she'd seen something, or gotten hurt.
"Mommy, the magic is gone at twelve!" she gasped.
Amanda bit her tongue to keep from laughing. "Not that twelve, honey. She means noon, like lunchtime."
"Oh. Whew!" Jesse smiled in relief. "Okay! Let's goooo!"
Sonny's SD card was almost full by the time the Cinderella meet and greet happened. He'd snapped pictures of Amanda and the girls on the carousel, atop the Dumbo flying elephants, and then given the camera to Sienna while the four of them spun around in the teacups. Jesse had needed a minute after that, so the four of them sat down in Frontierland while Sienna took a turn on Pirates of the Caribbean, and then she traded off so Sonny and Amanda could ride that one and Jungle Cruise.
After that, both girls were hungry, so they made their way back to Main Street for food. "Thank God for air conditioning," Sonny said.
"Baby," Amanda teased back. He grinned and squeezed her hand across the table.
Just as they were finishing, music filtered in from the front door of the restaurant, and they saw most of the patrons moving to go stand outside. Amanda was the first to figure it out. "Girls, look! A parade!" She looked at Sonny.
"Go, go, I'll take care of all this," he said, nodding to their mess at the table. "You too," he told Sienna. "Go on."
She grinned and took Jesse's hand, racing for the door.
The girls were exhausted by about mid-afternoon, which worked out nicely, because Sonny had another plan in mind for the rest of the day. They took the bus back to the resort and Amanda put the girls down for a nap on one of the beds. They looked so adorable crashed in their matching shirts and brand-new Mickey ears that Sonny couldn't help but snap another photo. This one on his cell phone, and he sent it to Amanda so she could have it on hers as well.
"You need a nap too?" he asked her. The two of them were sitting just outside their hotel room on a bench in the courtyard, one eye on their hotel room door, the other on each other.
She shook her head. "No. I feel…." She paused, searching for the right word. "Happy," she decided on finally. "Today was so much fun."
"Good." He snuck an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. "This vacation is just as much for you as it is for them, you know. 'Cause I'm guessin' you didn't get much of this growin' up."
"Closest I've been is the Disney store in Times Square," Amanda confirmed.
He dug in his pocket and handed Amanda a small piece of plastic. "Disney gift card?" she asked.
He nodded. "I have an assignment for you, Detective," he said. "You are going to go to Disney Springs and you're going to spend every cent of that-on yourself," Sonny stressed. "Because tomorrow I have plans for just the two of us. Sienna is going to watch the girls tomorrow night and you and I are going to see what kind of adult fun we can get into."
"In Magic Kingdom?"
He grinned. "Animal Kingdom," he growled in her ear, nipping her earlobe.
"Don't start that right now," Amanda said. "I don't think Disney would consider my response to that very family-friendly!" She tilted her head up so he could meet her in a kiss. "All right, Counselor, I'm going. And I'm taking Sienna."
"Considerin' the bags she brought back with her from the park, that girl is gonna be a terrible influence on you," Sonny warned her.
Amanda sat up and stood right in front of him, hands on her hips. "Says you," she pointed out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, fingertips lingering just next to her earlobe. "Have fun babysitting."
"Plan to."
Sienna was in the moment she heard the word 'shopping,' and she and Amanda stepped off at the bus stop. "Ms. Rollins, I'm having the best time," she told Amanda. "Thanks for saying I could come with!"
"Sienna, as far as I'm concerned, for all the times I've asked you to stay late, to come over at weird hours…you're part of the family, and you've earned it." Amanda told her honestly. "So thank you. And honestly, I could use another woman's opinion on this."
"I'm here for it!" Sienna said. She rubbed her hands together. "So what's the plan?" She grinned. "Did Mr. Carisi say anything about what his plans are?"
"Not a word."
"Guys," Sienna rolled her eyes. "That's so not helpful. Well, okay, did he say where?"
"Sounds like Animal Kingdom is the plan for tomorrow," Amanda said, "but I don't know much beyond that."
Sienna nodded thoughtfully, standing in front of a 3-sided display with the shops and stores listed. "Well, you're gonna want something comfortable, but really cute, since this is pretty much a date." She ran her hand down the directory. "Yep. We're starting there." She grabbed Amanda's hand. "Come on!"
Amanda stepped out of the dressing room in a tan, knee-length, off the shoulder dress. "What do you think?" she asked.
Sienna grinned. "Yep. That's the one. Kind of screams 'safari' to me," she explained, "and…." She got up off the pouf and looked around. "What size shoe do you wear?" she asked. She handed Amanda a pair of ankle boots. "Try these," she instructed. "'Cause Mr. Carisi is tall."
Amanda slipped out of her sneakers and into the boots. "Oh heck yes," Sienna enthused. "You're getting those, Ms. Rollins, you have to!"
Amanda studied herself in the mirror. "All right, you twisted my arm." Not really. But she knew how much Sonny would love the dress and it wouldn't be hard to get out of later, she thought to herself with a wicked grin. She went back into the dressing room and changed out of the boots and the dress. Then, she helped Sienna pick out something for herself to bring back to New York. "You know, I saw one more stop we have to make before we go back to the hotel," she told Sienna. "Follow me." She led Sienna back out into the humid afternoon and a little ways down the street. "A little piece of home," Amanda grinned, pointing.
Kate Spade New York.
"Yes please!" Sienna looked at the bags in Amanda's hands. "You know what would look really cute with that dress is a cute little clutch or something."
Carisi was right. She really is a terrible influence.
Good thing you can charge to the room.
