Page 118 of Finding Hope

“Did you know about this?”

“Hell no. Kit didn’t mention it.”

We watch Bambie fly down the smooth pipe, so fucking fast I want to be sick. Her hair flies, a black streak behind her, then she zooms back up to the top, holds onto the lip with her left hand, and sends her legs flying high into the air while her right hand holds the skateboard. Bringing it back like she’s been doing this her whole life, she zooms back down the steep drop and smiles.

She fucking smiles.

“Fuck Alex and Scotch. Did you know your girlfriend was also related to Tony Hawk?”

“No… I did not.”

“Jesus!” Ducking his head low, Bobby closes one eye and presses a hand to his heart. “She just flipped upside down, Jack! Go get her off that damn thing before she breaks her neck.”

I don’t know about that.

This may be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Another minute of watching her practically fly, she drops her board, grabs onto the top lip of the halfpipe, then slides down on her ass.

It’s not until her eyes snap across the estate and meet mine do I realize we’re still in my car, the gates are still open, and Jon’s still stuck behind us.

Putting the Mustang back into first, I slowly crawl forward, but seeing as my entire driveway’s now occupied with a ton of timber, I park in one of the spares.

Climbing out, I wait for Annie – who’s not nearly as excited about this as I am – then slam my door closed and move forward with Bobby and Jon.

Approaching the group, I watch on as Bambie helps Bean onto her board and holds her hips while they roll back and forth. My niece giggles as they move a foot or so up the pipe, then roll down again.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Iz watches her daughter like a nervous mama, but she takes my hand for the shortest moment. A moment of communication without words. A declaration that she, too, loves Britt.

“Uh-huh.” Studying my girlfriend and my niece, I nod and plan forevers. “Pretty cool. Where’d you get it from?”

Jim brushes imaginary awesome off his shoulder. “We built it.”

“Who built it?”

“Me and the guys.”

“In one day?”

“Yeah. I had the old construction crew come down, told them you and B were bankrolling it. Roller champion money; Todd practically jizzed in his pants when I made the call. They walked off another job and came straight over.”

“What are we supposed to do with it, though? It takes up my entire driveway.”

“You told me five minutes ago you don’t wanna live in this house anyway,” Bobby argues. “Let’s just leave it here. Look at Bean go.” Smiling, he watches our niece roll a little higher under Bambie’s hands.

“Your girlfriend’s kinda awesome,” Jim grumbles. “She skates like a pro. Did you know she could do that?”

“No,” I answer for the second time. “I didn’t know.”

She doesn’t work out, my ass. Now I know how she maintains her lean muscles.

I watch her and Bean for a while longer, then we stand around for hours as the guys each take a turn. She holds the hips of grown men, too.

We’re fighters. We’renotnimble skaters. Weallfall on our asses a dozen times each before giving up, then the girls each have a go and make us look like clumsy idiots.

There were the regular girls – their regular skating, inevitable falling and the accompanying giggling.

Then there was Bambie, whom we asked over and over –and over and over again– to skate, just so we could watch.

---