Chapter 8
~Hudson~
Riley waves as she opens the front door of her house, looking adorable in a thick parka with a fur-lined hood, gloves, and a scarf, as if she were heading on an Arctic safari rather than walking a few feet from her door to my car.
Inside, the heated seats are on, and the car’s interior is comfortably warm, so comfortable that I’m only wearing a half-zip sweater with no coat at all, a fact that she notices as soon as she slips into the seat next to me.
“Where’s your coat?”
She glances into the backseat as if it might be hiding there.
“I’m parking indoors at the mall, and we have a garage at our house. I don’t have to go outside at all.”
“But what if your car breaks down?” She scans the interior of my pride and joy warily. “Is this thing even safe to drive in the winter? It looks like it belongs in California.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Revving the engine, I give her a grin. “And if we break down, I have a survival kit in the trunk. Although, considering we’re not leaving the city, I don’t think we’ll need it.”
“Survival kit?” Her lips purse as she peruses that idea. “Is that like an earthquake kit?”
“Kind of. You probably did earthquake drills in school? We learned how to make a snow shelter in case we got stranded in the wilderness.”
Her wide eyes make me laugh.
“We’re not going to need it between here and West Ed, I promise.”
Growing up on the Canadian prairies, people either love or hate West Edmonton Mall. Lewis hates it because of how busy it gets and the sheer number of stores. He’d rather go without the basic necessities than dodge tourists to go shopping there.
Me? I love it. There’s always something to do or people to meet, and I’m excited to get to spend the day with Riley there. You can tell a lot about a person from how they approach a mall, and I have a feeling we’ll both know each other a lot better after today.
We park by the Galaxyland entrance, close to the large indoor amusement park since I’m hoping to end the day there.
It only takes a little cajoling to convince Riley to leave her winter gear in the car, since it’ll be much more comfortable to wander around inside without it.
Her dark hair cascades over the shoulders of her cable knit sweater, and her skinny jeans disappear into fur-lined boots.
There's an effortless charm about her, but I can't help but notice the slight hesitation in her smile when she meets my eyes.
It’s my goal to make that hesitation disappear today, and it doesn’t take long for the distraction to start.
“This is incredible,” she exclaims as she peers into the main doors to Galaxyland, spotting the swinging ship and a few other rides from the entrance.
Bright neon lights flash above, their glow reflecting off the polished floors, and the air is thick with the smell of fried dough, caramelized sugar, and the faint scent of popcorn.
High-pitched shrieks of excited children echo off the walls, adding a chaotic but joyful soundtrack to the whole scene.
“I can’t believe this is all inside the mall. ”
“This is just the beginning,” I promise. “Can I show you my favourite place before we go shopping?”
“Sure,” she readily agrees, the sheets we came here to get momentarily forgotten.
Walking side-by-side, our hands occasionally brushing as we navigate around the other shoppers, I lead her down the hall to the centre of the mall and the full-size ice rink in the very middle of it.
“What?” she gasps as she takes in the skaters circling the ice. Shoppers stop to watch along their way, both on the ground level and on the balconies on the floor above. “This is here all year?”
“Yup. And in the spring, after Worlds, Riverbend always puts on a show here with a couple of the city’s charities. It’s a lot of fun. Do you want to go for a quick spin around the ice?”
She eyes me with both curiosity and uncertainty. “Right now? We don’t have our skates.”
“I know, but we can rent some. They’re not going to be professional, but we don’t need to impress anyone.”
I bat my eyelashes at her playfully, and she laughs. “Does that puppy dog look usually work for you?”
“On my long-time childhood friend? Absolutely. Come on, let’s go.”
The rented skates wobble compared to our stiff ones, but it doesn’t take us long to find a rhythm on the ice, skating side-by-side as we circle the rink with the other daytime skaters, mostly young kids with their parents.
“Who wants to see Riley do an amazing spin?” I call out to the whole rink and no one in particular.
When the little girls around us all nod enthusiastically, she has no choice but to comply.
This is no half-assed spin, either; she does a gorgeous layback before pulling into a tight corkscrew and the kids all have stars in their eyes by the time she finishes.
“Let’s see your spins,” I encourage them, and Riley jumps in to help me give them all pointers. By the time they’re all dizzy, her smile is wide and her cheeks red, making her look even prettier than usual, and a ripple of desire shoots through me out of nowhere.
I’m not hitting on her today, I remind myself. This is just a fun day out with a friend, no matter what my body thinks.
When our time on the ice is up, we head down to the lake and the mini-golf course where I talk her into a quick round. We’re tied going into the final hole, and Riley bites her lip in concentration as she lines up her shot.
“Look out!” I call right when she winds back to swing, and her movement stutters, making her hit the ball so wildly that it bounces off a rock, over the barrier celebrating us from the shoppers, and into a furniture store on the other side of the hall.
“That’s cheating!”
She glares at me while I double over laughing but she’s not really mad. I can see the corners of her lips twitching, trying to hold back her smile.
An employee of the furniture store comes out with the ball, her long-suffering smile suggesting it’s not the first time a stray ball has ended up among the couches, and I let Riley take another shot.
It sinks gracefully, while I take two more strokes to drain mine, mostly because I like seeing the pride on her face when she wins.
After a quick stop at the windows to the water park where we watch the people playing in the wave pool and on the zipline, I insist on treating her to lunch at one of the restaurants on Bourbon Street.
“This mall is incredible,” she enthuses as she takes a bite of her quinoa salad. “I never want to leave.”
I feel just the same, but that has a lot more to do with my companion than with the mall itself. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun with a woman.
After we finish eating, we finally head to a department store to look at sheets.
While Riley debates over thread counts, I go one aisle over to the mattress area and lie down on one of the king-size beds on display.
With my hands folded beneath my head and my ankles crossed, I close my eyes, waiting for Riley to find me.
It doesn’t take her long. “What are you doing?” her amused voice asks from above me and I squint one eye open.
“Testing it out. Climb on up.”
“But we’re not here to shop for a mattress.”
“Nobody else knows that,” I point out.
Gingerly, she sits down on the mattress next to me, placing the sheets she picked out on the mattress next to her. When nobody yells at us, she gets bolder, lying down on her side to face me. It feels both tantalizingly intimate to be lying down next to her like this, but also surprisingly natural.
“Thank you for today, Hudson. This is just what I needed, even if I didn’t know it.”
“It’s my pleasure and it’s not over yet. Save your thanks until you make it home safely. We might still freeze on the drive home.”
She smacks my stomach and my body bows as I let out a surprised laugh. “Smartass,” she mutters.
“Can I help you two?” another voice asks, and we both raise our heads to see a saleswoman standing there, a friendly smile on her face.
Riley immediately sits up, ready to scramble off the bed. “No, that’s okay, we were just…”
“Just looking for a bed for our new house,” I interrupt, giving the woman my best charming smile. “She just agreed to move in with me, but the problem is, she snores terribly if her back’s not aligned properly. What do you recommend?”
Riley’s mouth falls open, but only for a moment before a mischievous gleam sparks in her eyes. “He’s kidding. However, he does have some bladder control issues, so we need something that can be cleaned easily.”
I press my fist against my mouth to keep from laughing. Well played, Walters.
The woman’s smile barely falters despite the rising panic in her eyes. “Well, we have some plastic mattress covers that might help. Let me go and check.”
As soon as she walks away, Riley and I both burst out laughing.
“Come on, grab your sheets and let’s get out of here before she comes back!” I whisper.
“What about you?” she asks, glancing down at my empty hands.
“I’ll get the same ones you’re getting. I trust your taste.”
Her head shakes, but she’s smiling and that’s all that matters to me. We pay for our sheets and escape from the store before having to discuss either Riley’s snoring or my nighttime bedwetting any further.