Page 62 of Pucker Up
“I’m shocked that Gideon believed her.” Goldie’s eyes shone as she looked at me. My stomach had been clenched the whole time, and I let out the breath that had been trapped inside my body. Goldie believed me.
“Me too, Goldie.”
She bit her lower lip and instead of stroking Morton, she slid her hand past the dog to hold on to mine. “The only person who can clear your name is Hailey.”
I scoffed. “I tried that. She’s sticking to her story.”
“What a cunt,” Goldie whispered. “Sorry. I don’t like to use that word, but it sounds like Hailey might be an actual contender for it.”
“A total see-you-next-Tuesday,” I replied. “She ruined my relationship with my brother.” My throat constricted and I tried to gulp down the tears. “I idolized him, and he believed…her.”
“Oh, Ace.” She squeezed my hand. “He’ll come around.”
“That’s what Mom said too.” Usually, if I blinked hard enough, I could stop the tears from falling out of my eyeballs. It didn’t work. Goldie unbuckled her seat belt, leaned over Morton, and kissed the tears from my face. “Why don’t we pull over and get a coffee?”
“I’m fine.” Another goddamn tear, a hot one, streaked down my cheek.
“Ace.” Her voice was soft. “Pull off the highway.”
There was a donut shop on the side of the road and I pulled into the parking lot. It was too cold to turn off the engine, so Goldie ran in and returned with two cups of coffee and a box full of donuts. There was even a plain donut hole for Morton. We sat in the parking lot drinking coffee and sampling the box of donuts. By the time we were done, we’d each taken a bite out of every single one. “They’re all terrible.” She laughed.
“I don’t know, I kind of like this one with the sprinkles. I can really feel the sugar grinding into my teeth with every bite.” I chomped on the multicolored sprinkle one to show her the sound it made.
“That’s the worst one of the dozen.” She cozied up to me and I fed her a bit of the sprinkle donut. When we kissed, there was a hint of chocolate and sprinkles between us. “I knew it couldn’t be true.” I wasn’t sure whether she was speaking to me or to herself.
Morton and Goldie had traded spots, and she rested her hand on my leg.
“Thank you for believing me.”
“Thank you for taking me for a drive. You haven’t told me where we’re going yet.”
I sipped my coffee, put it in the cupholder, and then got back on the highway. “I’ve rented us a cabin on Lake Muskoka for the night.”
“The night?” Goldie seemed shocked. “I thought we were just going for a drive. Ace, I didn’t bring any overnight clothes.”
“Shit. I didn’t tell you?”
“No.” She laughed. “You failed to mention that small detail.”
“Well, that’s easy enough to fix.” The GPS on the phone instructed me to exit the highway at Bracebridge. “There’s got to be at least one store in this small town. Get ready for your montage scene.”
Goldie’s eyes sparkled. “You don’t have to buy me anything. Can’t I just wear your clothes?”
The idea of Goldie in one of my T-shirts, and only my T-shirt, made me insta-hard. She pointed to a variety store. “I will need a toothbrush though.”
TWENTY-THREE
GOLDIE
I believed Ace.Not because I touched him and saw the truth. As a matter of fact, I realized that when I touched him, I didn’t see anything. There was no electrical current, not even a tingle. I believed him, because I knew in my heart he was telling me the truth about Gideon.
The little town was quaint, but every store had closed by the time we got there. Ace picked me up a toothbrush and some facewash and then we headed out of town, towards the cabin he’d rented.
The road was a single lane and the snowbanks were up to the windows of the truck. “Where are you taking me?” I marveled. We seemed to be driving into the woods, not to a lakeside cabin.
“I’m just following her instructions.” He pointed to his phone. “Look, we’re close.”
The sun had dropped in the sky and the road just seemed to be getting narrower. We passed laneways that weren’t plowed. Ace really was driving me into the middle of nowhere.
