Page 63 of Real Forever
“Yeah, a couple of days is fine, but I can’t ask you to do this Nikki.”
“You ain’t asking me. I’m tellin’ ya. Nobody else is buying that fucking truck. And if Lauren needs the money, then we figure it out.”
Madison tumbled into Nikki and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you, Nikki. You know you’re like a big brother to me right? I fucking love ya, bud.”
“I love you too, Mads. You’re like an annoying pain in the ass little sister to me too.”
Madison chuckled into Nikki’s chest. “You know she loves you too, right?”
Nikki gave Madison a little rub on her back before stepping away from her embrace. “Yeah. I know.”
26
Jake
The white Christmaslights on Lauren’s house reflected on Jake’s windshield as he watched Madison scurry from the front door to his car. She was bundled up in ski pants and a parka. Only a small slice of her face poked out from between her hood and scarf.
The most beautiful little slice of face in the world.
She opened the passenger door and climbed in, handing him a large, silver thermos. “Hot chocolate.”
Of course she brought hot chocolate. It was so Madison to add a little extra cherry on top.
She pointed to the big living room window. “I’m supposed to make sure you wave at Maisie.”
Jake turned to see Maisie jumping up and down in the living room window, waving frantically. He grinned and waved back, his chest swelling with warmth. It felt good to have someone so excited to see him. It felt good being Uncle Jakey.
“So,” Madison said as Jake pulled out of the driveway, “you’ll head south out of town for about five minutes and then I’ll let you know where to turn.”
Madison had planned their date tonight—ice skating on the frozen pond of a local farmer. Every year he prepared the iced-over slough on his property for locals to skate on. Over the years, he’d added benches and lights and even rigged up a makeshift Zamboni attachment for his lawn tractor and he ran it over the ice every day.
“Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get together for the last few days.” Jake turned his head toward Madison but struggled to meet her eyes. “Work’s been hectic.”
Madison reached over to his lap and took his hand. “No worries. You don’t have to apologize for your work.”
It should have made Jake feel better Madison wasn’t demanding about his need to work late. But it just made him feel worse.
About ten minutes into their drive, Madison pointed to a dirt road on the left. “It’s this one up here.”
They inched down the thin dirt road to the yard before it dipped and looped right through the trees. When they came around the back side of the loop, Jake’s neck fell back and he stared, wide-eyed. White twinkle lights hung in the trees around the entire perimeter of the rink, as well as across it, in long swags crossing over the ice. An old wooden gazebo stood in the closest corner. It, too, was bedecked in sparkling white lights. Coloured ice blocks covered several dozen solar lights dotted around the area. Wood benches and picnic tables were dotted around the edge of the pond, along with several small fire pits.
“This is incredible,” Jake whispered.
Madison clapped her hands and bounced a little in her seat. “I knew you’d love it here.”
After they’d parked, they chose a bench and sat down to swap out their boots for skates.
“This won’t be pretty, Madison. I haven’t skated since I was a kid. I don’t even own skates. These are Zach’s.” Jake held up one of the hockey skates as evidence. Zach had decorated it with a massive sticker depicting a banana with sunglasses, arms and legs riding a skateboard while jerking himself off.
“Nice,” Madison laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Nobody is even out here tonight to point and laugh when you fall on your ass. Well, I mean, I will, obviously. But no one else.” Madison finished tying her laces and stood up, pushing off and gliding across the ice.
I’m going to look like an idiot.
Jake clapped his mittens on his knees and stood up, holding his arms out for balance.
“And he’s up!” Madison shouted from across the rink.
He shifted his toes out just slightly, but it was enough to send his right foot sliding out wide in front of him. Quickly correcting, he pulled his foot back under, but the counter pressure sent his left foot out in front and his right foot even further back. He pulled both legs back underneath him and once more it was an overcorrection. His legs went flying in opposite directions. He helicoptered his arms in a desperate bid to swim through the air to a place of balance, while his hips jutted back and forth, searching for equilibrium. In seconds, Jake was, as predicted, on his ass.Ouch.
