The fairytales she'd watched growing up and the Disney movies she rewatched with her daughters always had some guy promising the princess that he'd give her the world.

Amanda stood just inside the gate of EPCOT, watching as Sonny posed Jesse, Billie, and Sienna for a photo in front of a massive fountain, and realized that just maybe, Dominick Carisi was on his way to doing that for her.

"Okay, here we go…One, two, three!" Sonny hit the shutter with expert timing as the fountain exploded behind them, capturing Jesse and Billie's excited squeals on digital film.

"Again!" Billie demanded. "But Mommy too!"

Sienna glanced around, spotted a Cast Member in a brown vest standing nearby. "Hi!" she said. "Would you be able to take our picture for us?" she asked.

"Absolutely!"

Sienna beckoned Amanda over. "Come on, Ms. Rollins!" she said, waving her over. Amanda pushed their stroller closer and set the little wheel brake. Jesse had somehow monkeyed her way onto Sonny's back for a piggyback ride, and Billie stretched up so her mother would pick her up.

At the last second, Sienna slipped discreetly out of the way as the picture was taken. She shot a thumbs up to the Cast Member with Mr. Carisi's camera. "Thanks!" She took the camera back and handed it to Mr. Carisi. He skimmed through the shots, pausing on the final one. He looked at Sienna.

Sienna grinned. He shook his head with a smile. "All right, ladies, the world's yours. Where are we headed?"

"Mommy gets to pick first today," Amanda said with a sly grin at Sonny. She put Billie in the stroller and started off at a clipped pace to the right. Sonny gave Jesse her hat and turquoise Ariel sunglasses before following, pulling his own sunglasses from his pocket.

"We look cool!" Jesse declared, and he laughed.

It was evident a few minutes later where Amanda was taking them. "Mommy's favorite!" Billie exclaimed as giant letters proclaiming THE SEAS WITH NEMO AND FRIENDS appeared in front of a giant building. "Fish!"

Off Sonny's confused look, Amanda explained, "The Georgia Aquarium was about the one place we'd go as a family," she told him. "That or the one in Chattanooga. I did some Googling last night."

"Is that what that was?" Sonny grinned, thoroughly enjoying watching Amanda turn beet red. "Only fish I've ever seen are the ones at the Museum of Natural History."

"Let's go find Nemo!" Jesse instructed.

Sienna's eyes widened. "Wait," she said, noticing a sign just inside the building. "Can…can we go there?" she asked, pointing. "I see the clips of this on TikTok all the time!"

"Turtle Talk?" Sonny read the sign. He frowned. "What-"

"The turtle from Nemo!" Sienna clarified. "He talks to the people in the audience and you can talk to him!"

"I wanna go talk to the turtle," Billie said.

"Me too!"

Sonny crouched down so Jesse could slide off his back. "Next one's in about ten minutes," he noted, checking the schedule. He looked at Amanda. "I'm down."

Sienna ran ahead to get them a place in mind as they jogged to keep up. A few minutes later they were inside a small room with a big glass aquarium window. "Mommy, can we go sit in the front?" Jesse asked. "With the other kids?"

"Can you handle sitting with your sister that long?"

"Yes," Jesse said. "As long as she sits."

Billie frowned. "I can sit."

"Okay," Amanda agreed. "Remember to sit nice. We will be watching you."

Jesse took Billie's hand and guided her to the front, where they sat on the carpet next to a couple other kids. Sonny, Amanda, and Sienna made their way into the small bleachers and sat down on the bench where the girls were in eyeshot.

A giant turtle scuttled out from behind a reef. "Like, dudes and dudettes, welcome to my humble abode!" he greeted the crowd. "Weird, though, 'cause I thought humans couldn't be underwater without those weird masks and stuff."

He swam down so he was eye level with the kids. "Oh, but like, this one came with some weird goggles," he said. "Tiny dudette in the sunglasses, what's your name?"

"Jesse!" Jesse announced proudly. Amanda snuck out her phone and aimed it at her daughter, hitting RECORD.

"Jesse, nice," the turtle bobbed its head. "So like, what brought you here today?"

There was a pause, and then Billie said, "A bus!"

The audience broke out into polite laughter.


"Mommy, these turtles aren't talking."

Billie pulled her nose back from the aquarium glass and looked at her mother with a frown. "How come these turtles aren't talking?"

Amanda brushed her hair back. "Honey, I think you and your sister did enough talking to turtles this morning," she said. "Crush probably told his friends to rest for awhile before they get sore throats talking to you!"

Billie watched the sea turtles in the water push through the water past some colorful reef fish. "But I liked talking to the turtle."

"Me too!" Jesse said. "But it's okay if they don't talk now." She glanced back at her mom and Uncle Sonny, who were holding hands on a bench behind them. "Maybe we can go talk to Crush again later!"

"I was thinkin' maybe we go find some food," Sonny cut in. "Since my girls love trying new things so much, how about we let you pick the country?"

Amanda paused. My girls? she wondered, wondering if Sonny'd even caught what he said. She waited, but he showed no sign of walking it back.

"There's a place I always wanted to try," Sienna said. "You guys mind if I go check it out and meet up with you later?"

"It's your vacation too," Sonny reminded her. "Let's meet up back under the ball in like…two hours?"

"Awesome. Thanks, Mr. Carisi! Thanks, Ms. Rollins!" Sienna ruffled the girls' hair before darting off into the crowd, phone in hand.

The group walked over to a park map. "Okay, here's your choices," he said, gesturing to the little pictures of the countries that ringed the lake in the center. "What sounds good today?"

"This one looks like Aladdin," Jesse said, poking the picture of Morocco. She looked up at Amanda. "Mommy, what did Aladdin and Jasmine eat?"

"Should we go find out?" Amanda smiled.

"Yes!" Billie replied.

This oughta be good, Sonny thought. They walked past Canada and the United Kingdom, over the bridge into France, and finally into the Morocco Pavilion, where they got a table. Sonny and Amanda took care of ordering things they thought the girls might like (and things they'd eat if the girls didn't). About twenty minutes later, Jesse declared the spiced chicken better than anything the Chinese place on the corner from Amanda's apartment had, and Billie was wrinkling her nose at the lamb. Sonny kept stealing pieces of it off the sampler platter when she wasn't looking. He foresaw a stop for something all-American in the United States Pavilion in their near future.

But Amanda spotted something she knew Billie would love. "Hey, sweetie, look," she said, pointing over the fence.

Princess Jasmine walked by with a Cast Member handler. Billie's eyes widened. "I wanna go say hi!"

"Me too!" Jesse said, "but I still wanna eat!" Her eyes started to fill with tears.

"I got an idea," Sonny said. "How about if Mommy takes Billie over to say hi first, and then you and I finish eating, and then we go over?"

Jesse nodded, sniffling. "Okay," she said. Amanda took Billie's hand and the two of them walked over to where a line was starting to meet the princess.

Sonny leaned down to Jesse. "You wanna finish all that spicy chicken and then we sneak off for gelato?"

The tears were gone almost instantly. "Yes!"