Thirty-five
“Hole in one,” announced Nadine triumphantly as her neon-green golf ball dropped into the hole. Exhausted from a dawn-to-dusk day of searching, they’d decided to leave the house and all Dot Voline mystery talk behind to let their subconsciouses work on the problem over dinner. When they’d passed the mini golf place on the way home, Nadine had insisted they stop.
Wes looked at the scorecard. “How are you so good at this?” She had come in at below par or whatever it was called at each hole.
“My parents liked to go to the same place on vacation every year so they could see the same people, eat at the same restaurants, and play at the same mini golf course.” She bent down to retrieve her ball, the stripes of her dress glowing a dull purple.
It was the most calming thing in this entire room. Wes had never played mini golf before and doubted a glow-in-the-dark course was the best introduction. He was lost in an eye-aching neon hellscape, but Nadine was happy, which meant Wes was happy.
He put his own ball down on the most used section of the tee, assuming it must be the best place to putt. “Did you play a lot?”
“So much. My goal was to get a hole in one for every hole.” Nadine stopped talking to let him tee off. “Oh, close.”
It was close, Wes saw with satisfaction, and all he had to do was tap it in. “Did you do it?”
“All but the hole six windmill. I must have tried it dozens of times. Maybe hundreds.”
“You’d think statistically one would have gotten in by chance.”
“I know!” she exclaimed. “It’s like I beat the system but not in the positive way.”
He swung his putter and swore as the ball swooped around the edge of the hole and off to the side.
Nadine laughed and slid her arm around his waist to kiss him on the cheek. “Almost.”
There was a difference between a hot sex kiss and the warm, honey-sweet, affectionate one she’d given him. The kiss felt natural and real. He could hear Caleb and Amy telling him to stop overthinking and enjoy it for what it was—a lovely gesture from a woman he loved spending time with and was in a relationship with .
However, was a Wes who didn’t overthink things even Wes?
He watched as she lined up her next shot, eyes narrowing as she checked the distance, and realized he was having more fun playing this appalling game than anything he could remember. She made it fun. He cheered absently as her ball landed near a set of concentric hi-vis orange circles.
“Wes?” Nadine’s teeth glowed when she smiled at him. “You ready?”
“Sorry.” He gave the ball a tap, and Nadine threw her hands up, her shout rivaling the kids behind them.
“Hole in one!” She jumped over a garish pink curb and hugged him. “I knew you could do it.”
Wes held her and kissed the top of her head, feeling strangely grateful when she smiled up at him. What an odd feeling to have at glow-in-the-dark mini golf. Or any mini golf probably.
***
Nadine put on the wipers to clear the dust from her windshield when she heard Wes click his tongue. She glanced over. Surely he wasn’t upset at being utterly demolished at the game.
No, he was staring at the gas station up ahead. “Can you turn in there?”
“Why? I have enough gas,” she said.
“Please, I beg of you.” When she saw him holding his hands in a prayer position, she laughed.
“Fine,” she said as she pulled in. “Who am I to deny you some gas station snacks.”
As she was deciding between the sour cream and onion or BBQ chips—which would leave her with worse breath, and did she care?—Wes came up with a receipt.
“What’s that?” she asked, holding the chips.
“Your car is very dirty,” he said.
“Oh yeah.” She decided on the BBQ. “It gets like that.”
“As the loser of tonight’s mini golf game, my punishment should be to get it washed.”
She was intrigued. “I’ve never gone through a car wash before.”
The receipt jerked in his hand. “You’ve never washed your car.”
“That’s what rain is for.”
“You can’t be serious.” He looked faint.
Nadine should have known that a man who ironed his socks would not see this in the same light as she did. She looked out the window and saw the faded “Wash Me” her brother had written with his finger the last time she was home. “All right,” she said. “I’ll try it.”
Wes paid for her snacks, and although he didn’t skip back out to the car, it was close.
“What do I do?” she asked.
“Drive over there.” He pointed to the entrance. “Then we make sure the windows are up and put it in neutral. That’s it.”
“No people?” she asked.
“Not at this one.”
Nadine pulled up as Wes opened the bag of BBQ chips. “Is this something you do a lot?” she asked. “Go through car washes?”
He picked out the perfect wish chip, its sides folded until they touched, and handed it to her. “It’s calming. You’ll see.”
“You like things tidy,” said Nadine. She closed her eyes and made her usual wish, the one that hadn’t changed since she was a teenager. The car lurched forward, and a spray of water obscured the windshield.
“I do.” He ate a chip. “It makes me feel as if part of my life is under control. I suppose I should have added that to my answer about the ironed clothes when you asked.”
Before she could reply, huge rags slapped against the car, and soapy water sluiced over the windshield as Nadine’s phone dinged at the same time as Wes’s did. “You owe me a beer,” she said absently. She hoped the message wasn’t another one from Lisanne, although that was gutless, and she should just deal with her friend’s success. But she was still too sour about the situation, which she didn’t feel good about.
It was her mother checking in, which wasn’t much better. Where are you? We went by your apartment with some food and your downstairs neighbor says you haven’t been home.
She was going to kill Otto when she saw him, the snitch. He’s been in and out so he probably didn’t see me , she lied. It was easier to throw Otto under the bus. One day, she could tell her mother to bug off, but that wasn’t today.
Okay, sweetie! Happy you’re safe. Lunch next week? Your dad cleared out your old room.
That was strange. Okay, but why?
So you can move in! Have you talked to your landlord about your lease?
Nadine ground her teeth. Mom, I said I was fine.
Sweetie, you know we’re right.
She shut her eyes until she heard Wes put away his phone. He gave her a crooked smile. “My mother.”
“No way. Mine too.”
They sat in silence as the car shook from blasts of air. Nadine watched the little balls of water slide up the windshield. “You want to talk about yours?” she asked.
“Not really. You?”
“No.”
The car jerked, and Wes nodded at the gearshift. “You can put it in drive now. We’re done.”
Nadine drove away, marveling at how much she could see. Maybe Wes was onto something with this car washing idea. She merged back into traffic.
“The thing is,” they said at the same time.
“You go,” said Wes.
“You know what we were talking about the other night? About how hard it is to stand up to family?” She waited for him to nod. “I told my mom I don’t want to move home, but it’s like talking to a wall. How do I make her listen?”
They were through the next intersection before he answered. “I don’t know if you can,” he said.
“That’s not encouraging.”
“I know. I was thinking about my own mother. Her worldview is different from mine. In hers, she’s constantly battling. Fighting other people, fighting herself. What’s at the end of that battle, I have no idea. It’s like she needs me and my sisters so she has someone there to be in conflict with.”
Nadine touched his hand, and Wes continued.
“I’ve recently realized I can never win because she refuses to see that she doesn’t need to quarrel with anyone. I think fighting is how she feels alive.”
“You think my parents’ mindset is why they don’t listen? Like your mom?”
“It could be. You said they thrive on safety. They may not understand that you don’t feel the same way, or they may not be willing to understand.”
“Because if I don’t feel the same way as they do, they need to question their own assumptions?” This made sense. “Regardless of the motive, it doesn’t help me with how to get them off my case.”
“I think you’re doing it. When they call, you tell them no. You might need to be firmer.”
“I thought I had, but maybe I was wrong.” Nadine pulled up at Dot’s golden gates. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Your mom. What are you going to do?”
“There’s nothing much I can do at the moment besides keep saving money and hoping for the best.” Wes opened the door to get the gate, then got back in the car. “I want to hear more about your mini putt experiences.”
She let him change the subject and decided to tell him about the time Noah calculated all the angles for the local mini putt as they entered the house. The story didn’t take long, but that was fine. Once they hit the bedroom, they had new ways to distract each other.