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“What’s a snack bishhh, mom?” Johnny asked curiously.
I grinned and was about to encourage his use of the phrase, but Griff shot me a warning look in the rearview mirror, and I felt my shoulder’s slump. He was always taking away my fun. Griff promptly turned up the country song he was playing and rolled down the windows, definitely trying to distract Johnny.
We drove through Northfield’s busy downtown and made our way to the less-populated, more woodsy part of town where Max and Paige lived.
As soon as we turned on the gravel road that went around the lake, I knew we were close. A nervous energy coursed through my body at the prospect of seeing Claire so soon…
20.Claire
Addie and I went over to Paige and Max’s a little before two just in case they needed any help setting up. Adhering to Addie’s advice, I wore a bikini under some cut-off shorts and a tank top; however, I was already regretting this outfit choice. While Addie was perfectly fine flouncing around in whatever, I already had a huge wedgie and was pissed about it. As soon as I could, I was going to run back to the car and fetch my regular undies. I’d rather just keep my high-waisted shorts on for comfort for the rest of the day. Besides, I was already looking forward to tubing today, and I always kept belted jeans on when doing so thanks to an unfortunate clothing malfunction when I was a tween in which my bathing suit bottoms fell clean off. Everyone in the boat laughed at my poor 12-year-old-self while I had to keep dunking underwater to try and find the bright pink material before it became one with the bottom of the lake forever.
Addie and I brought a whole cooler full of Jell-O shots with us because those were her favorite, and she said they were the perfect summer party favor. Her ability to make perfect Jell-O shots reminded me that she went through a pretty intense party stage back when she was younger, which seemed so out of character for her now because she was practically a twenty-seven-year-old grandma. She was in bed by nine almost every single night, and she claimed she was drunk after one and a half glasses of wine.
We both carried one end of the cooler as we trekked down the sidewalk that ran alongside their house and down to their lakefront backyard. It was a very long, sloped walk down to the lake. In the winter, it was perfect for sledding, but you always wound up on the frozen lake— which wasn’t the safest. Max and Paige bought this place when it looked super shabby for a cheap price right after they got out of college. And when I say shabby, I’m talking seventies shag carpets, pink tile bathrooms, a collapsing roof, a collapsing dock, and in desperate need of a paint job. But even though it was kind of a shithole, it was always a fun place to hang out. They played host to all the rink kids through the years, giving them a little respite from the serious rink culture.
Over the past few years, the two of them flipped the said shithole house into a beautiful home. They painted it all a dark blue color with white trim and did some impressive landscaping work to make a sandy beach at the base of the lake. Their old dock did still sag and look like it was about to fall into the water though.
As soon as we turned the corner into their backyard, Paige spotted us and waved excitedly. Max followed the direction of her wave and immediately ran over to us and lifted Addie off her feet into a big bear hug. Where I saw Max all the time at the rink, Addie probably hadn’t seen him for a while. She laughed and patted his shaggy black hair. The two of them had become best buds as teens when they worked together at the Ice League’s concession stand.
“How's it going? How’s Paige and Frankie? How’s Darla? Is she here today?” Addie asked, excitedly looking over his shoulder for her.
He shook his head out as he set her back on the ground and gave me a knuckle punch. “So many questions, woman! And she is!” he said with a proud missing tooth smile. He usually kept his fake tooth in, except when he played pick-up hockey or helped coach older kids. I sensed he was prepared for rough play today with the guys. “Darla’s on kiddie duty inside. She’d probably love to see you though.” He hitched a thumb toward the screened-in sunroom addition they built onto their house.
“Kiddie duty?”
“Yeah, everyone’s bringing their kids here, so she volunteered to help watch them inside so we can party. It honestly made her whole day… maybe even her whole month,” he said with a laugh. “Darla loves living her best Grandma life.”
Max then lifted our cooler onto his shoulder and started forward. We fell in step behind him and walked down the sidewalk toward the lake past the huge bonfire pit– already stacked with logs and ready for later that night– and then past the Swedish lawn bowling and corn-hole tournament set up, as well as the designated beer pong table. Ahead of us, the wobbly looking old dock had an ancient pontoon waiting at the end of it, as well as one brand new jetski, and one empty jetski lift.
“TJ and Ellie took out the other jetski,” Max said, nodding toward the empty lift.
“They stayed here last night because they got a bit shwasty,” Paige explained as she hugged both of us hello. “They used the jetski this morning to go see his family. No point in driving because they’re spending the night here again. See that yellow house across the lake…” She pointed out a sunny looking ranch-style home. “That’s TJ’s family’s house.”
Addie squinted, trying to recall who he was from the rink. “TJ… Vonnie? Kinda Italian looking?”
“Yupp,” Max confirmed. “He’s a bit younger than us, and a bit older than Claire.”
It dawned on me then. “I remember TJ! He’s the one who was pinning after that Clarrisa bitch a couple years ago!”
Max immediately started laughing. “That’s the one! Except he’s wifed up now to a much nicer girl.”
“His wife is named Ellie,” Paige added. “She’s a power skating instructor in Detroit. I’ll introduce you guys, you’ll like her,” Paige said confidently. “But other than those two, you guys are the first here.” She checked her phone. “I think Jules and Grey should be here soon too.”
Seconds later, Canyon and his buddy Troy came sprinting down the hill towards the lake. They threw off their shirts and shoes and shouted out hellos to us all without breaking their stride. The entire dock wobbled under them as they ran, but they continued until they jumped off the end of it into the lake with loud splashes.
Max strolled down to the end of the dock to look at them as soon as they resurfaced.
“Who won?!” Troy shouted up at him.
Max put his hands on his hips. “Tie. Need a tiebreaker. Let’s see it again.” He nodded toward the hill.
They both shouted out complaints over this but were secretly smiling. They definitely wanted another go at jumping in.
Paige turned to us with a bright smile on her face. “Guess the Scotts are here.”
After we were finished putting all the snacks and drinks outside for people, Paige made the three of us some strong mixed drinks and we all pulled plastic adirondack chairs onto the wobbly dock. We sat there working on our baby tans through SPF and chatting while people started streaming into their backyard. I recognized most of the people from the rink— there were tons of tanned, tatted hockey dudes, as well as fellow figure skating instructors— but there were others who were coming over on kayaks or boats and anchoring them, then swimming into their property to join the party.
Unfortunately, one of the people in one of those boats was Daniella. I put my sunglasses on and faced the sun, trying to remain unbothered that she was stripping her clothes off suggestively and diving into the water in her skimpy bikini. I really had no issue with her other than the fact that she was the one who Duke chose to make-out with the other night… which I knew wasn’t exactly fair to her. Duke was a great looking guy. You’d have to have zero pulse to think otherwise… with his swoopy hair, impressive looking biceps, especially when he reached up and pushed said fluffy hair back, and his–
