Page 35 of Heat It Up (Off the Ice)
Since Maija needs to buy her mom a birthday present, we head to the kitchen department first.
“How about oven mitts?” I hold up a cute red pair with reindeer on them.
“I was thinking more like kitchen…” Maija scrunches her forehead in the way she always does when struggling for the English word she’s searching for. “I can’t remember the word for it.”
It takes us a few attempts before I guess it: utensils. We search the shelves, my thoughts all over the place, other than on helping Maija.
She lays her hand on my arm. I startle. “Are you okay?” she asks.
“Huh? No, I’m fine.”
Her head tilts to the side and she studies my face. “You seem distracted.”
“I need to get, um, something after this.”
She picks up a small knife. “What?”
It’s not a big deal. I’m sure she and Toivu are sleeping together.Just say it. “I need to get some…some condoms. For this weekend.”
She looks down, trying to hide the smile on her face, and switches the knife in her hand for another one. “And is there a certain person you need them for?”
She knows about Joni and what Muumu’s been up to, but she has also seen me several times with Kyle and told me he obviously likes me. Last week, before we hit the nightclub, she declared that my life is way more exciting thanThe Endless Circle. I’m not so sure about that.
“I’m going away for the weekend with Kyle.” At her grin, I add, “We’re staying in a cottage with a bunch of other people. I want to be prepared just in case.” Just in case we decide to go to home base—or whatever the hockey equivalent is.
“Good idea.” The grin remains on her face and she inspects the knife in her hand. “I think I’ll get this one.”
We join the line to pay for it, then head to the clothing department. After searching through the clothing racks and the stacks of clothes on the tables, I find a few more tank tops and a pale pink skirt.
“Sofia,” Maija says, next to a rack of swimsuits. “You should get this for your big weekend.” She holds up a white string bikini that looks more like a piece of lace than a swimsuit. “It will be perfect.”
“I have a swimsuit.”
“A one piece or a bikini?”
“A one piece.” A boring black swimsuit.
“I bet Kyle will prefer this one more.”
“I don’t know.” It’s a lot sexier than what I’m used to wearing. I take the bikini from her and try it on in the fitting room. The bikini is lined and does this cool trick where it looks like I have more cleavage than I do. Perfect.
A tiny voice in the back of my head asks me if I’m really ready for this. Confident me from the dance club has gone on vacation—to the moon.“Sorry, baby, but sex with you was…boring.”The voice is a perfect imitation of Ian’s.
Chewing my lip, I step out of the cubical to model it for her. “What do you think?”
She nods. “You’ll definitely need condoms this weekend.”
• • •
Joni is waiting for me when I get off the bus near Muumu’s building.
“Have you made a decision about this weekend?” he says before I have a chance to say hi.
“You mean, am I going away to the cottage with Kyle?” I nod. I haven’t told Kyle yet. I was about to call him, once he got off work. “I am. I know you don’t like him much, but he’s a nice guy.”
Joni snorts at the nice guy part.
“It wasn’t his fault I was upset at what his roommate told me,” I say. “If anything, you should dislike his roommate for lying to me.”
