Page 72 of Lucky Sucker

“Promise?”

“Pinky promise?”

“And seal it with a kiss.”

Pinkies were promised and kisses were pressed to my face, but they were cold, and made me shiver. It was a deal. I tugged on the rim of my Orcas team merch beanie just so it hugged my ears and kept them warm.

As we stepped and the crunch of snow underfoot cried out, I took in some slow deep breaths and exhaled them even slower. I knew nothing bad was going to happen to me, everyone else was having fun, which meant I should be out there having fun as well. Luke kept looking back at me, he hadn’t shaved in days and the scruff on his face gave him so much more of a Daddy look now, it felt like a hug just to look at him.

There was a natural divot where people had stepped from the land to the frozen lake. Daddy took the first step onto the ice, and I wasn’t letting go of his hand, so I took the second step and I held on tight.

“Oh god, oh god,” I mustered under my breath of panic.

With one hand locked with mine and another around my waist, he guided me on the ice, slowly, skating around the edges, but there were no barriers here. I clung to him as if he was about to be snatched away.

“You’re doing a great job,” he said. “You’re being so good right now.”

“Thanks, I think I might pee myself if we stop.”

“Don’t do that, you’d have to take them off, and then you’d be really cold,” he said. “Or I would, because I’d have to take my clothes off for you.”

And before I knew it, almost like he’d distracted me, we’d left the edges of the lake. Not by much, but enough for me to know I couldn’t just take a leap of faith and find land at my fingers.

“I like that we can do this together,” his words soft and close to my ear. “Maybe the Orcas can recruit you next year.”

I offered a weak laugh for the joke, because it had to have been one. “I’ll stick to writing.”

“Am I getting to read anymore of it?”

“Maybe, I feel a bit weird now that Liam and Dom have been hooking up. Have they mentioned anything to you about it?” And he was distracting me with conversation, making me comfortable so we would skate further out.

“I think Liam knows I saw him,” he said. “He mentioned something in a question, about noise, and how far our room was from his.”

“They were a couple rooms down, but we didn’t hear them. Although, if they’ve been dating for a while, they’re probably good at being quiet.” We came to a slow stop as people passed us with quick speeds. “Look at this view.”

I had to admit. It was worth it, skating all the way out. Seeing the mountains around us from a central point. It was breathtaking. I tried pushing the thoughts away that were telling me I was on frozen water, and beneath it fish were probably in stasis, if not swimming. I didn’t know how down it went.

Slowly turning around to see all angles, I hadn’t noticed Luke leave my arm until I’d turned fully back to him. He stood with a blue velvet plush box out in his hand. “This isn’t what you think,” his first words.

“Uh.”

Opening the box, there was a silver band with a rainbow chromatic coloring within it. “I wanted to do something special,” he said. “This is a promise ring. And I wanted to give it to you before Christmas, but I hadn’t found the right time. Ideally, at the petting zoo in your happy place.”

I stared at him, suddenly very conscious of being stood on the ice. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“It’s a promise from me to you, a promise that I’ll be the best partner, boyfriend, and Daddy you could ever want,” he said. “A promise that our connection goes deeper than anything I could’ve expected.” He took my shaky hand.

“Ok.” I nodded a little.

“I love you, Wren Duffy, and I promise never to stop learning how to make you happy.”

Warm tears hurt as they came down my cold face. Happy tears, but I never expected to be out here crying because of this, maybe the fear of being so far out on the lake, but not because of how much I loved him.

“Do you accept my promise?”

“Yes,” I said, wiping my eyes and sniffling. “I accept.”

He took my glove off and slipped the ring over the ring finger, which held its own meaning, but this was his promise to me, and his intentions were clear. He wanted to be with me. Maybe forever. I hoped it was forever.

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