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“It made me really fucking hot.”
A pair of new customers entered the shop just then, and headed for the counter. But damn, there was more to say. So much I wanted to admit to her, and maybe even to myself.
It would all have to wait, though.
Instead I pointed to the scene in my mug, which by now was a scrambled mess of whites and browns and dark chocolate swirls. You couldn’t even tell what it was supposed to be anymore.
“These people will be back in the alley again this coming Friday,” I told her, “doing the same thing they do every week.” My insinuations came with a knowing smirk. “You know, just in case you wanted to see that show again.”
Ariana’s fierce green eyes met mine. She was in total control again, I knew.
“You’ll be in Canada this Friday, remember?” she countered. “Playoffs.”
It was another noncommittal answer, especially since I knew she’d be spending part of the weekend up in Calgary with us. I faded back as the customers approached the counter, but not before toasting her with my coffee.
“There’s always another Friday,” I winked.
~ 24 ~
ARIANA
There was snow and there was Canadian snow. Storms and then blizzards. But a Canadian blizzard, mixed with sleet coming down sideways due to 45-mph winds? Well, that took the cake.
“We missed the turn, I’m sure of it.”
I glanced over at Axel, who was peering through my windshield with such intense concentration he might as well have been trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube. For some reason he’d insisted on driving. For some reason I’d let him. Right now, the backwoods roads outside of Pinatan Lake all looked the same. Which made our decision to get off the main highway all the more stupid, in retrospect.
“Relax,” Axel assured me again. “We got this.”
Our Quest for Coffee had been a dismal failure, and we should’ve known this from the start. For one, it was late as hell. Even if we were lucky to stumble across a diner or coffee shop, it wasn’t likely to be open. And so far, since departing the highway we’d seen very little in the way of civilization. The signs had outright fucking lied.
“You sure you don’t want me to drive?” I asked for the fifth time.
“No,” he smiled. “Of course not.”
“I mean, it is my car.”
Axel shrugged. “So?”
“So I know things about it that you don’t,” I explained.
“Like?”
“Well for one, the windshield wipers can go one notch faster than what they’re set at now.”
Axel reached down, rotated the dial, and the wiper blades sped up a little. It didn’t do much in the grand scheme of things, but in a storm like this, every bit helped.
“I do appreciate you jumping in with me,” I added quickly. “I mean, I thought for sure you’d ride back with Sherry and Denise.”
I hadn’t been able to get off on Friday or Saturday, but I was able to meet the boys in Calgary for their final two playoff games. They’d done well until the finals, where they lost on a heartbreaking, shorthanded goal.
It was funny how something so quick, so sudden, could send one team cheering in exultation and the other skating dejectedly back to the bench. The team’s mood was sullen, despite a fantastic effort. And rather than stay the extra night to celebrate as planned, everyone decided to drive back and commiserate at home.
Blake, Aaron, Nathan — they packed into Kevin’s van and took off before we even reached the lot. Kyle Spinelli immediately offered to ride with me, but knowing Kyle’s track record, Tyler and Zane had shoved him away.
“I’ll take her back,” Axel had stepped up, plucking the keys from between my fingers. Before any of us could say anything he slung his gear straight into my back seat. “You guys have been bogarting our girl lately, anyway.”
And so the long drive back had been a game of catch-up between Axel and me. For a while I tried keeping up with his rock star-like dating life, and in lieu of my non-existent one, I regaled him with my craziest and most entertaining tales from the coffee shop.
