Forgotten Souls (The Saving Angels 2)

"The worst are the guys who think that they're too cool for sun block. They come hobbling onto the rides with their families, burned to a crisp after a day on the beach. You should see them trying to sit all gingerly and still look tough at the same time. None of them realize that the rickety coaster tracks will have them sliding all over the place before the ride is over. By the time the coaster comes back in, they need help to get off," Shawn said, making us laugh as he stood up from his chair slowly, showing us how they look.

Poor Sam laughed so hard she wound up choking on her Coke, which required a lot of back pounding from me.

Once our dinner plates were carried away, Miguel brought out plates of fresh from-the-oven-sopaipillas, dripping with warm honey. "These are on the house for the graduates," he said, setting the plates down with a flourish. "Also, Maria and I want our pretty new friends to pick their favorite piñata to take home to remember their special night."

Sam bounced in her seat at his words. She had been itching for a piñata since our first visit.

"Woot woot, I'm so excited!" she said, leaving her dessert behind as she wandered through the restaurant ohhing and ahhing at each brightly colored piñata hanging from the bare rafters of the restaurant.

Laughing at her excitement, Miguel claimed her empty seat to chat with the guys. Miguel was obsessed with his favorite team, the Padres’ chances of making it to the World Series. Lynn and I quickly became bored with their baseball talk.

"I'm telling you man, you need to switch teams, go with the Dodgers," Mark said, reaching across me to sock Miguel in the arm. "Besides, I think it's like against the law to live here and not be a Dodgers fan."

"Or at least the Giants, bro," Shawn said teasingly. "It’d be a shame to see a good man go down just because he chooses a suck-ass team."

When the conversation shifted to RBI's, I felt my eyes begin to glaze over. "I think I'm going to go pick my piñata," I said standing, but the guys were too far gone into their baseball talk to give much notice to anything around them.

"Do you want to come with me?" I asked Lynn, but she merely shook her head, examining the iPad that Karen and Tom had given Sam as a graduation present. Lynn and I were both a little jealous, though I had a sneaky suspicion I was getting one too. My mom had been quite secretive about my own graduation gift and I had seen her exchanging glances with Karen when she saw me ogling it. I could always read her like an open book when she was trying to hide a gift from me.

"Hey, have you found one?" I asked Sam, joining her on the far side of the restaurant.

"Ugh no, but I do have it narrowed down to either that one, maybe…" she said, pointing to a brightly colored maraca, "or that one," she added, pointing to a cute cat "or even that one," she said thoughtfully, pointing to one shaped as an oversized wine bottle, "oh, and that one there," she said, pointing to yet another one.

I started laughing. "Sam, you're a mess," I told her affectionately. "I’ll tell you what. I’ll buy you one as a gift from me. That way you can pick two of your favorites.”

"Woo hoo! I need to loop the restaurant again, now that I know I get two," she said, skipping away.

"Hey wait. I thought you already had all those ones picked out," I called after she pointed to the different piñatas along the rafters.

Sam just laughed and continued her frantic search.

Shaking my head, I searched for my own piñata. After a few moments, I settled on a brightly colored flower that reminded me of something from a carnival. Instead of heading back to the table for more baseball love fest, I headed for the bathroom to freshen up before we headed out.

I added a touch of my mango lip gloss from Bath & Body Works before I pulled the door open and barreled into Mark's hard and muscular chest. "Hey, I was looking for you. Did you find a piñata you like?" he asked, grabbing onto my hand as we headed for the checkout counter.

"Yeah, I want that pretty flower one," I said, pointing to the one right above our heads. "I promised Sam I'd buy her one too. She was having a hard time trying to decide."

Mark started laughing beside me.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Well, your dear friend also conned one out of Shawn and her parents, so if I'm understanding this right, she's going home tonight with four.

"What?" I asked in mock anger. "Here I thought I was doing something special for her," I said, bumping into her playfully.

"You are. I just couldn't decide," she said, sheepishly dancing away from me as I tried to swipe at her one last time.

"Sweetie, I'm going to head out with the Harrisons," my mom said, coming up to give me one last hug. "You guys have fun, but stay safe," she added, giving Mark a stern look. "No drinking and driving. Got me?" She asked, addressing the last part to him.

"Yes ma’am," Mark said solemnly. "We're just going to hang out at my house watching movies and stuff."

My mom raised her eyebrows at his phrasing.

"I mean, not stuff like that, I meant games and stuff…," Mark said, trailing off as his face paled.

I giggled as he buried himself deeper and deeper. "She's teasing you Mark," I said, finally swooping in to save the day. She knew where I stood on the whole sex issue. I had promised that I intended to wait, and truthfully, after all the drama lately, it left little opportunity for us to do much more than make out a few times. Not to mention, our Archangel made a pretty handy chaperone, since it just felt wrong to fool around too much with him around.

The sun had set by the time we arrived back at Mark's house. Everyone piled into the house laughing as Sam struggled to carry her piñatas on her own. Shawn finally showed her some mercy and carried three of them in for her. Their antics made me smile, but I had plans of my own as I tugged on Mark's hand, dragging him toward the path that would lead us to the back patio. "Let's sit by the pool for a little while," I said, craving some alone time with him.