Brent laughs. “To who?”
I pinch his side. “To her, apparently. That’s one reason why she didn’t like me. She has some misperceptions about me. Like I apparently handle things with grace.”
Brent rests his forehead against mine. “You do.”
I scoff. “Name one example.”
“How you’ve handled this situation with her, for one.”
I shake my head, not agreeing. “It’s over with now. Happy birthday to you.” He gives me another quick kiss. “So, you may have noticed that I haven’t given you a present yet.”
Brent shrugs. “I hadn’t really noticed. When you get to be my age, presents are a rare thing.”
“Well, I fully intended on finding you the best present ever, but,” I can’t believe I’m actually going to admit this, “I forgot between graduating and packing for the trip. You might want to break up with me for being a terrible, forgetful girlfriend. I’ll beg you to forgive me and take me back since I love you so much.”
“You can make it up to me later when we go to bed.” He winks before standing. “For now, we might as well dance while we’re here.”
“It’s your birthday. We’ll do whatever you want.”
“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for,” he says with a grin as he pulls me to the dance floor.
Our first port is Ketchikan. We see a lumberjack show, where lumberjacks compete in various activities. They’re all pretty funny and entertaining as well. Afterward, we find the meeting place where we load up on a bus to go to a totem pole park. Our driver tells us about Ketchikan. Things like how they’re popular for salmon, the five species here, and how to remember them by using your fingers.
The totem pole park sets the bar high for future excursions. The history and stories behind the various poles is fascinating. I can’t help but buy a miniature totem pole from the gift shop to take home with me. When we return to town, we still have time for some exploring before we have to return to the ship. There’s a little popcorn shop we stop at because Gregory is starved. We also go into a large gift shop.
“Do you see anything I can get for my girlfriend?” Gregory asks Brent.
“What kind of thing do you want to get her?”
“I don’t know. Something that says I thought of you while I was gone and here’s a non-crummy gift.”
“What about one of these?” I ask, running my fingers down the feathers of a dreamcatcher. “You can tell her something cheesy like it’ll keep the bad dreams away and she’ll only dream of you with it around or something like that.”
Brent laughs under his breath, but when Gregory glances at him, he says, “That’s a good gift.”
Gregory frowns. “Better than a necklace? I thought girls liked jewelry best.”
“If you knew you wanted to get her a necklace, why do you need our help?”
“Because I don’t know if that’s what I want to do.”
Brent sighs. “This is going to be the longest part of the trip.”
“Look, get her the dreamcatcher. If you two break up, she might not want to wear the necklace anymore; that would be money wasted. But she might keep a dreamcatcher around.”
Gregory shakes his head. “Now you’re talking about us breaking up already. Why should I spend any money on her then?”
“Don’t be a jackass, son,” Brent immediately interjects. “You can buy her something without blowing all your money and you can buy her something even if you break up. Look at me and your mom. I bought us a house and she got to keep it. You don’t see me whining about it or wishing I hadn’t bought it in the first place. So, do you want the dreamcatcher, a necklace, a keychain, a shirt, a bag or something else we might find at another port?”
Gregory seems to think about it for a few seconds. “Maybe I should wait. This is the first port. Maybe we’ll find something better at another one.”
Brent nods. We’re two steps away when Gregory says, “But what if I don’t? Then I missed my chance.”
Brent groans. “Go look by yourself. You’re worrying me.”
I smile and take Brent’s hand. “I think it’s cute that he’s so worried about finding a good gift to take back to his girlfriend.”
“I think I need to meet the girl that has him in a tizzy over a damn souvenir,” Brent grumbles. “Probably need to remind him about safe sex, too.”