Page 58 of One Steamy Pucking Meet Cute

“Never. Now, get lined up with the other couples so I can give instructions.”

The townspeople take a break from snacking on free food and gather around us. We’re all positioned near the harbor, and obstacles like soft foam shapes and cardboard boxes are scattered around the field. I’m studying it all as I try to guess what the challenge is going to be.

Jake leans down to my side. “Any guesses?”

“Looks like an obstacle course.”

He nods, face adorably serious. “We’ll crush it. Just gotta watch out for Nolan and Jesse. But they both went out drinking last night. Probably hungover.”

I grin. “Competitive, much?”

“We’re already ahead. And I’ll be damned if we don’t prove to the whole town that we’re the best couple.”

“I’m not sure that’s the point of the games.”

“Of course it is.”

I roll my eyes, smiling as Mia gets in front of us. “Okay! Here’s the game. One couple goes at a time. You both close your eyes, and we move the obstacles around randomly. One partner gets ten seconds to look, and then you both get blindfolded. The blindfolded partner has to walk the course. The only navigation they get is from their partner, who had ten seconds to memorize the course.”

There’s a collective groan and some laughter from our fellow couples.

“That’s sadistic!” somebody calls out.

“More like hilarious,” Mia corrects, not missing a beat. “The couple who crosses the finish line fastest wins. If nobody makes it to the finish line, then the person who gets closest to the harbor wins.”

There’s probably fifty yards of downward slope between us and the harbor. The finish line is set up suspiciously close to the water. So close, in fact, that I suspect Mia is hoping somebody will wind up taking a plunge.

The water is shallow, and the entrance is beach-like, so she’d be lucky if anybody did more than plant one wrong foot in the icy water, which is probably what she’s hoping will happen. Mia, you devil.

“I can run this. You navigate?” Jake says. He’s technically asking, but he’s got his competitive pants on today and I can tell he wants to be the one to run.

“Okay. Sounds good. But don’t get yourself hurt.”

“On what? Foam and cardboard boxes? I’m a finely tuned athlete, Caroline. I’m pretty sure I can handle this.”

I pat his arm. He’s not wrong about the finely tuned part, but I don’t know how much muscle and coordination help when you’re blindfolded.

We’re near the back of the line, so we get to watch the other couples go first. They both turn around while Paisley and some other townspeople help her scramble up the obstacles. The course is relatively narrow, so there’s no way to pick a straight line without hitting any obstacles.

Mia navigates for Nolan, who does surprisingly well. He moves at a steady jogging pace, adjusting to Mia’s shouted directions like they’re sharing a brain. He finishes in thirty seconds. He also seems to judge the distance well enough to slow down just a few steps short of the harbor, keeping himself completely dry.

Andi and Jesse do even better. Andi navigates, and their strategy is for Jesse to run straight and Andi to tell him what’s in front of him. We all laugh when we realize he’s just bulldozing his way through, kicking obstacles aside, and throwing cardboard boxes instead of trying to move around them. It earns him an even better time than Mia and Nolan.

The rest of the couples try to imitate Andi and Jesse’s strategy, but it doesn’t go quite as well for anybody else.

We’re last. Andi and Jesse’s time is still the time to beat. Jake grips my shoulders. “I have a plan.”

“Okay. What’s the plan?” I ask.

“They all jogged. If I sprint, I can make it from here to the finish in probably ten or fifteen seconds, I think.”

“If you don’t eat shit,” I add.

“That’s where my lovely navigator comes in.”

I take a deep breath. “That’s a lot of trust. Promise me you won’t get hurt.”

“I’m made of steel, Caroline. Do I ever get hurt?”

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