Page 25 of Skating and Fake Dating
“Which means I have to drive in these things.”
“Forget ten and two o’clock. You only keep one hand on the wheel, anyway. If you need help with anything, it’ll be like teamwork. We can do this and we should probably go because I shouldn’t be late for the wedding.”
Glaring at the magician, I say, “Thanks a lot.”
In a much friendlier tone, Bailey says, “This is a memory in the making. Thank you.”
To be fair, the man looks apologetic and gives us a flyer for his big show next Friday night. I toss it in the bin on the way out.
Toting all Bailey’s flea market finds in our free hands, whenwe reach the Jeep, she automatically walks toward the passenger side.
“I think you’re better off climbing through. There’s no way I can make it over without contorting myself and I’ve had enough sideshows for one day.” I point to the driver’s side.
She looks me up and down, eyes warm as if they’re eating me up, and says, “Oh, right. Didn’t think of that.”
“Or going to the bathroom.”
Her lips pinch together.
“Eating.”
“I’ll feed you like a baby bird.” The woman dares to giggle.
“You’ll do no such thing.”
She climbs over the center console, yanking my arm with her.
“Let’s not injure the hockey player. I kind of need my hands, wrists, and rotator cuffs intact.”
“Sorry.”
It takes a little bit of configuring to get settled, but soon we’re back on the road.
“So breaking and entering, huh?” I ask, referring to her arrest.
“Jeff refused to give my sweater back. Technically, it was his sweater first, but he said I could have it.”
“Seems a little big to put in your wedding scrapbook.”
“That is a collection of ideas for my marriage. But I thought if he saw how cute he said I always looked while wearing it, he’d want to give us another chance.” Bailey shifts uncomfortably. “Anyway, he wasn’t the one. We hardly had anything in common.”
“Including an understanding of locked doors,” I tease.
“I learned my lesson. But my mother hasn’t. The second I step foot into Maple Falls, she’ll launch into full matchmaker mode.”
“Was she arrested for fixing you up with someone?”
“No, but she did arrange the blind date with Jeff and came up with Operation Sweater Retrieval. To this day, she regularlyasks me if we still talk and that I should try to give it another chance because he was a successful businessman in corporate trade.”
“So she’s the reason you got arrested?”
“I enthusiastically went along with it just like when we agreed to put on these things.” She lifts her arm and plops it down on the center console with a clink of metal. “But yes, my mother hatched the plan that I go to Jeff’s house, put on the sweater, wait for him to get home, and then flit around looking adorable so he couldn’t resist me.”
I roll my eyes, but the conversation rolls easily between us for the remaining couple of hours. She tells me how her family thinks of her as being flaky and unfocused.
Staring at her lap, Bailey says, “They like to put people in boxes.”
“Like the magician? I’m not doing anything like that ever again.”
