Page 39 of Best Man
“Ah!” Niko’s eyes lit. “So now it’s maybe your turn to explore the world?”
She snickered. “Yeah, maybe.”
“So where are you going to go?”
“I dunno.” She hesitated. “Piper keeps pestering me and saying I should go to college, but I was never good at school. I hated it, really.”
He chuckled. “Ugh. Same. School is the worst.”
“I know, right? Plus, all my friends who went to college came back, and now they have tons of debt and most of them don’t even have good jobs. So why bother? Besides, I don’t even know what I’d study.”
“Me neither. If it wasn’t for hockey, I’d be screwed.” He smiled at her. “Hockey is the only thing I’m good at.”
“Not true! You’re pretty good at making sky lanterns, too,” she joked as he tossed another completed one to the growing pile.
“I got an idea. Me and you.” He leaned his shoulder against hers. “We can start a sky lantern factory together.”
She giggled. “Oh, now wouldn’t that be a dream?”
He still wanted to find out what Paulina’s real passion was. “When you were a little girl, what did you want to be when you grew up?”
“I mean …” She trailed off uncertainly. “It was always pretty clear I’d end up working on the farm. So—”
“No, no, no.” He cut her off. “Forget the farm for a moment. If you could be like Piper and do whatever you wanted, what would you do?”
“If I could do anything at all?” She grumbled and mulled it over. “I guess … I dunno … I guess I always wanted to make stuff.”
“Like what?”
She clammed up. “I dunno.Things.”
“Sky lanterns?” he asked as he began crafting a new one.
“No!” She laughed. “Not sky lanterns. I think I’ve made enough of these for one lifetime. After tonight, I definitely have.”
“So what would you make, Paulina?!” he persisted, refusing to let her change the subject. He thought it was funny that she was so easy to talk to in general, but getting her to open up aboutthissubject was like pulling teeth.
“Clothes!” she blurted out at last. “I’ve always wanted to design clothes. There. Happy?”
“Nice! I love clothes.”
She snickered. “Most people do. Job security, I guess.”
“Okay, so what kind of clothes do you like to make?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she demurred. “I just make doodles of clothes I’d like to wear. I’ve never actually made any. And I’ve never worked a sewing machine in my life, either. So it’s a total pipe dream. Silly, right?”
“Not at all,” he said with a shake of his head. “It’s what you’re interested in. So now we know, if youdodecide to go to college, you should study fashion.”
“Thanks for the career advice.” She softly laughed. “You really make thingssoclear, Niko.”
He knew she was mostly joking, but who knows, maybe she was partly serious, too?
“My pleasure,” he said, and they continued to chat and work.
13
Niko
