My Favorite Souvenir(18)

“Not if it’s what your heart is telling you to say.”

“Then...yes.” She nodded. “I say yes. I want to go.”

Relief washed over me.

“Let me ask you a question,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

“Said yes to a pseudo-stranger who asked me to go on a blind adventure with him.”

“Maddie, welcome to the craziest day of your life.”

She grinned. “Hookers Part Two?”

I lifted my hand and high-fived her. “Hell, yeah.”





Chapter 6




* * *



Matteo



“They’re on a first date. He’s worried his credit card is going to get declined because he overspent this month on his webcam-girl porn addiction.”

Maddie looked at me like I had two heads. I lifted my chin and pointed to the couple standing at the counter. The guy was rubbing his hands down the sides of his legs like his palms were sweaty, and he really did look pretty pale. Of course, that could’ve been because he was about to rent a machine that goes a hundred-and-fifty miles an hour with only a helmet for protection. But I liked my story better.

Maddie caught on to that I was playing our game again and leaned toward me. “He met Candi, his webcam girl, a year ago online. They never talk. He’s into voyeurism, so he sends her messages about different things he wants her to do, and then when he signs on, they both pretend he isn’t paying her to watch. The girl he’s with today, her name is Emily. She lives a few blocks from him. She thinks they met at the gym by chance. Poor thing has no idea that the new guy she’s seeing has been climbing a tree across the street from her for over a year. He watches her get changed through her bedroom window at night.”

My eyebrows jumped. “That’s a little creepy. I freaking love it. I didn’t think you had it in you, Madeline Ophelia Hooker.”

She chuckled. “Ophelia? That’s my middle name?”

I shrugged. “Our mom was a huge Hamlet fan.”

After Maddie and I decided to continue our adventure, we’d rented a car at the airport, and I drove us up to Steamboat Springs. Maddie had said she’d never been snowmobiling, and the trails here had some of the most gorgeous scenery. I figured we could incorporate her photography into our day exploring the beautiful Colorado mountains. Plus, the idea of spending the day with her body pressed up behind mine…well, that didn’t suck.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hooker?” A man yelled from behind the counter. Sweaty man and his date had disappeared somewhere.

Maddie looked at me. “Did you tell them we were husband and wife, instead of brother and sister this time?”

“Nope. Just registered us as Maddie and Milo Hooker. I guess they assumed.”

We walked up, and the guy who’d helped us with our paperwork took us outside to our machine. I’d rented a two-person Ski-Doo Grand Touring model, which had great suspension and a place to store Maddie’s camera equipment. It sat one passenger in front of the other, motorcycle style, and I had Maddie get on before I saddled up.

“We’re going to go about a half hour before our first stop,” I said. “These things are loud, so it will be hard to talk. Give me a tap if you need me to stop for any reason.” I’d come here enough times to know the best trails, and I was looking forward to seeing her reaction when I got to the place I had in mind. “Are you scared?”

She flashed a huge, toothy smile. “I am!”

I chuckled. Normally people who were scared looked like they were about to shit their pants, but not Maddie. She seemed to channel fear into excitement, and it had an exhilarating influence on me. Like yesterday, for example. I’d been avoiding going skiing for four years. If it were up to me, I’d never have clicked into a binding again, but she’d inspired me to turn the bad memories into new, good ones.

I finished packing her camera equipment into the rear storage bin and tucked away the Thermos of hot chocolate she had no idea I’d bought for our ride. Then I straddled the snowmobile in front of her.

“You comfortable?” I yelled.

“I am. But where do I hold on?”

There were grips she could grab attached to the sides of her seat, but luckily, the guy who gave us the equipment overview hadn’t mentioned that fact.

“You wrap your arms around me.”

“Oh. Okay. I need to move up then.”

“Yeah, you do.”

She’d been sitting with a gap between us, which she could’ve maintained if she’d known about the handles. Instead, her thighs wrapped around mine, and I reached down and gave one a squeeze. “You good?”

“Yes. I’m comfy.”

Yeah, I couldn’t agree more—definitely more comfy this way. Too bad we were both bundled with heavy winter coats. Note to self, steering this adventure to a warmer climate to shed some of these layers might not be a bad idea.

I started the snowmobile, and Maddie tightened her grip around my waist.

She shrieked, “Eeep! I’m so nervous,” and I couldn’t stop smiling as I hit the gas.

The trek through the trails was gorgeous. Huge evergreens blanketed in thick snow outlined the perimeter of the path. On more than one occasion, Maddie yelled and pointed things out. Even though I’d ridden here a hundred times, everything seemed new today, like I was seeing it through her eyes instead of mine. We wound through the mountains until we were almost at the top, and then I slowed down.