Page 8 of Imperfections Forbidden
“What a coincidence,” she says sarcastically.
“Yes, it is.Is there some written law that says you can’t be seen in public with me?”
“No.”
“Then case closed, let’s go.”
I grab her hand, pulling her off the couch; we put on our jackets at the door.Cat pauses with her hand on the door.“You didn’t think of everything, Mr.Prepared.”She holds her hands up and points at her head.“No hat or gloves.”
She keeps doubting me.I hold my index finger up for her to wait.I walk back in the room, come back out and hand her a white knitted hat and a matching pair of gloves.“I told you, I like to be prepared.”
Cat reaches up on her tip toes, grabs me by the front of my coat, and kisses me on the lips between each word with a smile.“Yes.You.Do.”
She lets go of me and races out the door before I can grab her back inside and kiss her senseless.Hopefully the rest of the day is this good.
“So are you ready?”
“Hell no!”she says, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck.
“Cat, you’re starting to choke me, and people are looking.”
“I should have never listened to you.I told you this would happen.”
“You’re overreacting; we’re not even out on the ice yet.Stop being a big baby.”
“Oh shut up, I am not!”
“Really!Look at the little kids skating around the rink.That one can’t be more than three.Now, let go and put your damn foot on the ice.”If I didn’t know it was going to upset her even more, I would laugh.Too funny!
“Fine, fine, fine!Are you laughing at me, Nick?”
“Who, me?Nooo.Why would I laugh at a grown-ass woman who’s afraid of a piece of ice?”
“If this grown-ass woman falls and busts her ass, I’m taking your ass down with me!”
This time I can’t help but laugh.This is like when we were kids.However, I shouldn’t have done that, because when she gets both feet on the ice she purposefully yanks on my arm, pulling us both down ass-first on the ice.“Ow!What did you do that for?”
“Next time you’ll think twice before laughing at me, you big baby.”
“I’m going to get you,” I say, scrambling across the ice to get her.
We probably looked like two fools on the ice, Cat scrambling to get up on the bars across the ice and me chasing after her, hands flailing in the air until I finally catch up to her.I grab on to her coat by the waist, out of breath, and we fall back against the railing while other skaters fly by looking at us.
“You were right, this is fun.”
“I told you, now that you’ve made a spectacle of both of us, do you want to tone it down and let me show you how to skate?”
“Well, I guess so, since I wasn’t the only one out here making a fool of myself.”
“When are you going to start believing me?If you look like a fool, then I’m going to look like a fool.I’m always going to be by your side.”
We skatefor a while before we are so tired and cold we can’t skate anymore.She wasn’t too bad.Eventually she let go of the bar, but she wouldn’t move more than an inch away from it.She’s adorable in her red pea coat and white accessories.Afterward, we sit on the benches and I help her take off her skates.She is so relaxed she forgets about someone we know seeing us.She lets me put my arms around her to keep her warm while we stand watching people skate.
“You okay?”I say to her.
“Yeah.I love it out here, all the lights, the decorations, people happy.The only thing that’s missing is the Christmas tree, which will go up in about two weeks.”
“It’s nice, festive.Gives you that holiday feeling.”
