Page 95 of Learn Your Lesson

“That damn song will be stuck in my head all day.”

“Sure you don’t want to do the teacups instead?”

She considered for a moment, then shook her head and lifted her chin. “I’ll surviveSmall World.But I’mnotletting you twirl me around and make me vomit on this thing — especially after that hideous pretzel and cheese we just had and calledlunch.”

“Mmm, I want another pretzel!” Ava said, popping up beside me with her eyes wide with glee. She’d been like that all morning, from the moment we’d stepped foot inside the park. It was almost impossible for me to remember her as she was before now, when I first started as her nanny. Gone was the child who barely smiled, barely laughed. It was as if once she realized how nice it felt to do both, she decided she never wanted to stop.

Today, her brown, wild hair was tamed into two long pigtails on either side of her head. The only way we’d been able to convince her to leave the hockey uniform at home was to promise to buy her a brand-new shirt once we got here. She proudly wore a pin on that pink Tinkerbell shirt that saidFirst Visit!

“Maybe later,” I offered. “Or should we save room for some Mickey Mouse ice cream?”

“Oh! Ice cream!” Ava clapped and bounced, and then Will was joining us, his brows set low over his eyes.

How this man could scowl at the happiest place on Earth was beyond me — but he’d managed to all day.

We’d wrangled him into a t-shirt that Chef Patel and I had made that said “Disney Dad” on it — though he’drefused us once we’d tried to complete the look with a pair of Mickey ears. The shirt was almost too small for him, but only in the way that made the muscles of his arms impossible to ignore. I knew he had to be tired after a late game night, but perhaps the win had given him energy. Or perhaps he was just so excited to bring Ava here that he’dmakethe energy, if he had to.

Even through his grumpiness all morning, it had been the sweetest thing to watch him hold Ava’s hand as Juan led us safely around the park. He did his best to ignore the other guests as we passed them, especially when they pulled out their phones to take photos of him. A few had asked him for autographs and selfies, much to the dismay of Juan, who was doing all he could with security in tow to give us an unbothered experience.

But Will had handled it all in stride, smiling for the pictures and scribbling autographs before turning his attention right back to his daughter.

I’d listened intently all morning as he’d told her about Jenny’s favorite park — Magic Kingdom. We’d started in Tomorrowland, because it was how Jenny always started, and Ava had jumped for joy when she was just barely cleared as tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Will had dug up an old, printed photo of him and Jenny on the very same ride — Jenny smiling and yelling with her hands in the air while Will looked scared to death beside her.

It had gotten a good laugh out of all of us.

The morning zipped by in a rush of rides and food and games, along with Ava shopping her little heart out at every gift shop we passed. Our tour guide and Will were both loaded down with bags — bags Chef Patel happily held while we did most of the rides without her.

It turned out she had a major fear of rollercoasters, and also a fear of throwing up.

But I could tell that regardless of whether she rode the rides or not, Ava was happy Chef Patel was with us. She skipped and held her hand and chatted her ear off between rides, pointing at everything we passed and forcing Chef to take a picture with her and Goofy when we found him signing autograph books.

It had truly been a magical day so far — and now, we were ready to tackle the teacups ride.

At least, Ava and I were.

Arushi was sitting out, and the way Will was frowning at the ride, I wasn’t sure we wouldn’t have to beg him to join us, too.

“We could skip this one,” he offered grumpily. “We still have lots of park to cover before the fireworks.”

“But you said Mommy loved this one,” Ava reminded him, and I covered my smile with a hand as she tilted her wide eyes up at him.

Nowaycould he say no to that look.

Will heaved a heavy sigh, looking up at the sky before he rubbed his daughter’s head. “You’re right. Let’s do it.”

“Yay!” Ava jumped into the air, clicking the heels of her light-up sneakers together before she hurriedly dumped her stuffed Dumbo into Chef’s waiting arms and took off in a sprint toward the line.

Juan took off after her as Will and I jogged to catch up. We were escorted to a shorter line, and were ushered onto the ride the very next round.

It would have been impossible for us to do Disney World the way I had in the past. Even with a tour guide and security, we’d had guests taking photos and hollering out to Will every chance they got. The more people madea scene, the more the guests around them asked who we were and got out their own phones.

Anyone who was a hockey fan knew him.

Anyone whowasn’twanted to — because he was famous. He was a professional athlete. He was someone to take a picture of and post online and brag about being in the same vicinity of.

It was madness.

Our tour guide had offered several times for us to walk the park underground through the tunnels the staff used, but Will wanted Ava to get the full experience.