Epilogue
NATHAN
“Riley, you didn’t need to take the day off.” I frown as my girlfriend fusses over a pillow and reaches for my leg to put it on top of the cushion. “I’ve got it.”
“You’re still recovering from surgery, Nat.” She gently captures my ankle and guides it to the pillow.
“The surgery was three days ago. And the pain is improving already.”
“Could be the pills,” Riley argues.
“No.” I shake my head. “Even when I was taking medication before, I felt an ache. But the ache is gone. The doctors said I can be on my feet by tomorrow and I fully plan on being at Gordie’s conference Friday.”
“Either way, I promised your mom I’d take care of you,” Riley insists. “I’m not leaving your side.”
The declaration pleases me and I sit up, wrap my arms around her waist and pull her into my lap.
My eyes fasten on her soft, pink lips.
I lower my tone. “Now that our parents are gone, are you staying over tonight?”
She squirms.
True to their word, my parents flew in to take care of me before and after the surgery. Riley’s parents and her Uncle Will also flew in to see Riley. They had many questions about her career change and Riley took special care showing them her garage and introducing them to the mechanics in town.
Her Uncle Will looked impressed.
It was nice having lots of family around, but it also meant that Riley and I haven’t been alone for a while.
“Nat, your leg.”
I press my chin into the dip of her neck and shoulder. “Nurse,” I whisper, “on second thought, I’m not feeling too well. I think I’ll need overnight observation.”
Riley blushes and shoves my shoulder hard enough to make me gasp.
I rub the bruised area as Riley scrambles to her feet and the stern teacher voice reverberates through the air.
“I do plan on staying over, but if I feel like you’re up to no good, Mr. Campbell, I’ll ask Gunner to be your nurse tonight.”
The smile whips right off my face. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” Riley smiles sweetly. “I already asked Rebel. She said Gunner would love to.”
The only way that could be true is if Rebel used her powers of persuasion on her boyfriend and Kinsey was backed into a corner. I doubt he volunteered. Both of us would rather spend the night in a jail cell than play patient and nurse with each other.
Riley notices my frightened expression and her lips quirk. “Do we have an understanding?”
“Yes, Ms. Carter.”
“Ms. Carter.” She grins. “I like the sound of that.”
“Mrs. Campbell has a nice ring to it too.”
Riley rolls her eyes. “Who said I’d take your last name?”
“Why wouldn’t you take my last name?”
“Maybe I want to hyphenate.”
“Riley, you can call yourself whatever you want, as long as I get to call you my wife someday.”
She clears her throat and blushes. “Smooth talker.”
I’m about to capitalize on my momentum by reaching for her hand when her phone rings.
She sees the name on the screen and, like a switch being flipped, Riley’s expression shifts to a stern, concentrated one.
“Jimmy,” she says into the phone. Whatever he says makes an amused smile grow on her face. “Jimmy, just a second. I’m with Nat. I’ll put you on speaker. Can you repeat that?”
Jimmy’s loud voice booms through my living room.
“So like I was saying, we set up the hidden cameras like you said, Boss. And we looked at the footage today. Turns out, there’s a rat in the shop and it was running all over the place.
We saw the rat heading up to the ceiling, so we got a ladder and went up there.
This critter somehow got an oil bottle up in the ceiling. ”
My jaw drops. “How does a rat take a bottle up to the ceiling?”
“Not to brag, but the rats in Lucky Falls are next level.”
“Okay then…”
Riley laughs. “There must have been something sticky on the bottle. Maybe it stuck to the rat’s paws.”
“That makes more sense.”
“The ceilings are porous and kind of moldy,” Jimmy explains. “So the oil kept falling from different parts of the ceiling while the rat was kicking around the bottle up there. That’s why the puddle was always somewhere new, and we could never find the leak.”
“Mystery solved then!” I celebrate and offer my hand to Riley.
She gives me a high-five. “Finally.”
Riley takes the phone and asks in a business-like tone. “Before you go, Jimmy, I wanted to ask about the car that came in yesterday…”
Riley migrates to the kitchen while I check my phone.
There’s a text from Max wishing me a speedy recovery and warning me that I’ll be in the Lucky Strikers reserve lineup until I’m medically cleared to play.
I notice a text from Chris too.
Chris: Glad you’re recovering well, Campbell. If you get hurt again, my sister will break your other leg so try to stay out of the hospital from now on.
I chuckle and flick down to another message.
It’s a confirmation of my bank transfer to the Happy Go Lucky Nursing Home.
Betty is safe for now, but even if someday Uncle Will decides to investigate what happened at Riley’s previous job, Betty’s nursing home fees will be taken care of.
Riley returns to the living room and I tuck the phone away. “Everything good at the garage?”
“Yeah, I just wanted to go over a few details.” She checks her watch. “You have a couple hours until you need to take your next medication. What do you want to do in the meantime?”
“Well…” I lean toward her.
Riley places a hand on my chest. “Nathan Campbell, I’m going to warn you. There will be no kissing, teasing or nibbling until you are one hundred percent recovered. Even if it wasn’t an invasive surgery, your doctors said not to…”
I swipe the remote from behind Riley and watch her face turn pure white and then a bright shade of red. “Relax, shrimp. I’m not going to pounce on you. I only wanted the remote.”
“Oh,” she stammers. “W-well, why didn’t you just say so?”
I grin, my heart exploding with happiness.
It’s a miracle that I get to play hockey again, but I’m even more grateful that I get to call Riley Carter mine.
“What are we watching?” Riley squeaks, staring a hole into the television.
“Betty suggested a new show. Her favorite Korean singer is starring in it. She said it’s good.”
“Hm.”
The show starts and Riley is sitting stiffly in embarrassment. Slipping an arm around her, I drag her across the couch and against me.
Her jaw drops.
“Cuddling wasn’t included in your no-go list,” I defend myself. “That’s all we’ll do. Scouts honor.”
She scrunches her nose but eventually relaxes against me.
And the day passes along in a quiet, ordinary fashion, but it somehow feels extraordinary, all because I have Riley with me.
“Congratulations, Gordie. That was a fantastic speech.” I hand the seven-year-old the flowers that Riley and I bought on our way to the ‘Children In S.T.E.M.’ conference.
“Thank you!” Gordie says politely.
“You were so inspiring,” Riley says, beaming down at the little girl as she shoves a bouquet of her own into Gordie’s hands.
“I totally agree,” April says, trying to foist her bouquet on Gordie too.
The little girl’s face is soon hidden behind beautiful, freshly-cut flowers.
“Gordie, why don’t I help you?” Cordelia offers, extending a hand to take some of the flowers from the little girl.
Finally, Gordie’s cheerful face is revealed again.
“Thank you for coming everybody.” Gordie grins at all of us.
“Did you like our signs?” Max asks, lifting up the placard he passed out that read ‘GIRL GENIUS’ and ‘GORDIE IS THE BEST’.
“I did.” Gordie giggles. “But you’re not supposed to cheer like that, Uncle Max. You’re supposed to be quiet.”
“In my defense, your dad was shouting louder than I was,” Max says, pointing at Renthrow.
Renthrow raises both hands. “Guilty.”
Kinsey rolls his eyes.
McLanely hefts Gordie into his arms. “Gordie, tell me the truth. Who do you love best out of all your uncles?”
“Um…” Gordie taps her chin. And then her eyes land on someone in the distance. “Miss May!”
“Miss May isn’t an uncle,” Max says, his eyebrows tightening in confusion.
“I think she means that May is here,” Cordelia interprets.
Max spins around like a puppet on a string and then a hard frown crawls across his face. Curious about what caused that response, I look through the crowd too.
May is skipping toward our group, but she’s not alone.
Her fingers are linked with a tall, tan guy in a letterman jacket and jeans. He looks vaguely familiar, but I’m not sure where I’ve seen him.
“Hi guys!” May waves with her free hand.
I catch Riley’s attention.
She has a similar ‘what’s going on’ expression.
April’s eyebrows fly up as she stares at her sister. “May, you’re here! With…”
“Oh, uh, everyone…” May giggles nervously. “I’d like you to meet my boyfriend.”
Chance looks the guy up and down. “I know you. Aren’t you the captain of that team…”
“The Frosthaven Ironhawks.” May’s boyfriend lifts his chin up in a calm gesture. “We’re playing against you guys later on in the qualifiers.”
The curious atmosphere turns chilly.
“Surprise!” May squeaks, blinking up a storm.
My gaze darts to Max and then back to May.
The tension is thick enough to choke on.
Riley squeezes my hand and leans into whisper, “Why is everyone being so weird?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I respond quietly, noticing how the new guy is smirking at Max.
Life in Lucky Falls is about to get interesting.
Thank you for reading Ice Obsession.