Chapter Twenty-Six: So, About That...
After I made him myfavorite apple cider, and he was back on the couch under the blanket, sipping it, I said, “You mind if I practice my tap?I didn’t get a chance yesterday, with everything.”
“Go ahead.”
I brought out my tap board, put on my shoes, and started practicing.He’d been looking at something on my laptop, but he put it on the coffee table and watched me.I did a routine to a different song this time, since he was sick of “Jackpot.”
I practiced for an hour.I had a lot of stress to work off, and tapping my brains out really helped.By the time I was done, it was dark outside.I stepped off the board, and he brought me a glass of water from the kitchen.
“Thanks,” I said and made it disappear fast.
He stared at me the whole time.
“What?”I said.
“Nothing.You done?”
“Yeah.”I handed the glass back.“Thanks.Hey, you wanna go out and look at the stars?”
“You trying to seduce me?”
“Yeah, but also, if you haven’t seen the sky outside the city, it’s worth seeing.Especially since this is our last night.”
I found a rechargeable flashlight plugged into the wall by the back door, so we used that and tramped through the woods—without snowshoes (he insisted), which meant we could hold hands all the way.We stood on the shore of the lake and looked at the stars.
“Wow,” he said.
“That’s how the sky’s supposed to look.When we get our own cottage, we’re gonna have a skylight in the bedroom so we can sleep under the stars.”
“Got this all planned, huh?”he said.
“Yeah.”
“Hey,” he said, “are there bears out here?”
“Yeah.”
“What?”He looked behind us into the woods.
