Page 86 of Next in Line
With a huff, I release Miles, and he falls backward onto his butt, his legs bent toward me and his eyes hard on mine. “How do you know?”
I swallow slowly, cracking my neck painfully as an ache shoots up from where he cranked on me. With a heavy sigh, I reply, “I miss her when she’s not around. I can’t stop smiling when I read her texts. The minute something halfway interesting happens to me, she’s the first person I want to tell. It’s a fucking unicorn shittin’ rainbows, man.”
He’s still out of breath when he looks at me. “A unicorn shittin’ rainbows?” he repeats.
I nod somberly. “I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. And I wouldn’t risk our friendship if I didn’t want a future with her.”
“Jesus, man. You’re serious? Like long-term serious?” Miles asks, running a hand through his hair.
“Fuck, I think I’d marry her tomorrow if you weren’t such a controlling asshole.”
“You’d marry my sister?” Miles asks, his voice taking on a weird, high-pitched tone.
“That’s what I said.”
“Would I be your best man?”
I look up at him, his eyes full of hope and wonder as I reply stone-cold seriously, “Yes.”
In a flash, Miles stands, grabs me up off the floor, and pulls me into a bear hug that crushes all my organs. He slaps my back so hard, I’m certain I’ll have Miles-size handprint bruises there tomorrow. He sniffles into my shoulder. “I’m feeling very emotional about this,” he murmurs.
“I can tell, big guy,” I reply, holding on for dear life.
“Part of me wants to love this, but part of me still wants to murder you a little.”
“I get it.”
“Mixed emotions are hard.”
“Yeah, they are.”
Miles pulls back, gently wiping at his red eyes. “Does Maggie love you too?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know, man. She never said.”
Miles blinks nervously at me. “If she doesn’t come for you, I’ll kill her.”
I smile a small smile. “Boy, you really came around quick, didn’t ya?”
When the Going Gets Tough…
The Tough Go Fishing
The next day, it takes all of my energy not to text Maggie. After my wrestling match with Miles, he told me Sterling was okay and only needed a couple of stitches, which means I have nothing more to say to Maggie. I’ve said all I can.
At Tire Depot, Miles tries to talk to me, but I don’t want to hear anything his sister has to say from him. If she’s back together with Sterling, I need to hear it from her. But she never shows up. She doesn’t call or text. Not even a lame fishing joke. So by the end of the day, I decide the best thing for me to do is to go fishing.
It’s dark after work, but Marv says there are some good spots to hit at night where the fish will come to you. I sled out to the lake he recommended and do my best to quiet the raging voice in my head reminding me I screwed everything up for good.
My fishing hut is quiet as I jig my rig by the dim light of my lantern. I keep thinking about what Maggie would be rambling about if she were out here. She’d probably ask about when fish sleep, and where they sleep, and if they sleep with their families, or if they’re just swimming along and all of a sudden black out only to wake up the next day and discover they’ve lost their entire family.
“Get a fucking grip, Sammy,” I mumble to myself and then frown when headlights shine along the side of my hut.
I prop my pole in its holder, grab my lantern, and unzip the doorway to see a sled approaching over the ice. I squint through the flurries and see headlights to a sled with two riders on board. The driver looks to be wearing a red and white snowsuit, but it can’t be Maggie. There’s no way she can drive a snowmobile.
The sled comes straight at me, stopping with a harsh jerk only four feet from my hut. My jaw drops when I see Maggie pull off her helmet and shake out her long, dark hair. “This thing drives like a dream, Marv!” she exclaims and turns around to look at him.
He removes his helmet and looks like he’s just shit himself. “That will never happen again, darling,” he says softly, his voice trembling with fear.
