Page 71 of Lucky Sucker

He patted his hands down my legs, lifting himself slightly as he reached my feet. “You’re not wearing the thick socks,” he said. “I told you it’s going to be cold. The feet are temperature regulators. If they get cold, you can become sick.”

“Really?”

Daddy mode was activated. He smirked. “I was told it, so I’m telling you. And I think it’s very true. If you didn’t bring any, I’ll put some of mine on you.”

I pouted at him. “I can’t be forced to remember all this information.”

“Lucky, I noticed before we went out.”

“Very lucky.”

With his hands on my back, we rolled over until he was off me. I laid on the bed, staring at the wooden posts across the ceiling. “Did you remember the projector?”

“I did, and I also downloaded one of those Santa sleigh things that goes across it like he’s flying,” he said from across the room.

I was looking forward to all the fun stuff we could do now we weren’t stressing about school or the hockey team. I liked stressing about that stuff, mostly because it made for two distinct modes of being. Adult mode and little mode.

Daddy tugged on my ankles, dragging me down the bed where he pulled my thin socks off and replaced them with the thicker, wool on the inside socks. “See, now you’re all prepared for the outdoors.”

I wiggled my toes in them at him. “They do feel nice.”

He pretended to bite them. “I bet they taste nice too.”

“Nooo, you can’t have them.”

“Nom, nom, nom, I’m gonna get them.”

* * *

Pineberry was a nice place, easy to walk, and much better to walk when your feet were properly taken care of in the warmth of Daddy’s thick cozy socks. We explored the small market stalls in the center of the town square, the library with it’s vibrant reading nook all painted in the colors of the rainbow. It was the most welcoming I’d ever felt coming to a place. My anxieties seemed to drip away, almost like I never had them.

As we spent a couple of days in the town, we’d discovered the best chocolate croissants at a bakery which was also part of another shop called the Stock Market, which to my surprise wasn’t full of businessmen shouting about money, but a place that sold soups, and only soups, with the bread made at the bakery. We didn’t manage to get to the ranch because of heavy snow blocking off the route, and possibly wouldn’t clear for weeks.

On the third day, Christmas Eve, we went to the lake. Everyone we’d spoken to had been telling Luke about how well it is to skate on, and that was before they learned he was a hockey player.

Lake Pineberry was a five-minute drive away. We’d waited most of the morning for the snow to stop before we went. Both sets of skates were taken, although I still held up that I didn’t want to go on the ice unless I felt comfortable, which was weird because Luke made me feel comfortable about everything.

A picturesque lake surrounded by snowcapped mountains. There were already several cars parked nearby, and twenty or so people on the ice. Their happy faces, slightly pink from the cold were laughing and giggling as they zoomed around, making patterns with their skates.

“Ok,” I agreed. “But only by the edges.”

“Only if you feel comfortable,” he said, taking my gloved hand and kissing it.

“But I want you to properly skate. I want you to show off in front of everyone because they must see how special you are.”

Daddy’s blushed, or maybe he was also just cold. “You’re special. I’m just—good at ice skating.”

From the passenger seat in the car, with my legs swung over the side. He fastened me up into the skate boots. I clung to Bloo, nearly tearing him in two from nerves.

“You want to take Bloo on the ice with you?” he asked.

“Oh no, he’s staying in the car. If he gets lost, I don’t know what I’d even do.”

“Ok, well, maybe we can position him on the dash so he can watch.”

It was a good idea, but he would have to pry him from my hands first, and although I had agreed to go on the ice. I didn’t know if I wanted to go on it, or just to say I’d been on it.

“I’ll hold your hand,” he said. “I’ll never let go. I promise.”

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