Chapter 24

24

Dev had almost everything he could want. Charges had been brought against Mooney, Luongo, and Yapp and the three of them probably would likely never see the light of day again. And now he was free to pursue Kinsley.

He could hardly explain the sappy feelings that had taken over him. He felt like singing or humming. He felt like dancing. He felt like shouting for joy.

All due to the woman sitting across the room from him with his sister. Kinsley. He'd imagined for years what it would be like to be with her, but even his vivid imagination hadn't done the life-changing, life-fulfilling, life-altering emotions justice. He just didn't expect these feelings. He'd seen his brother and his teammates fall under the influence of a woman they loved, and he hadn't understood their behavior. He did now.

Boy, how he did.

Every movement unfolding in front of him grabbed his attention. Her joyful expression. Her hurried movements as if she couldn't contain her happiness. The way she grinned at Jada as they finally got to go through the memory box.

The fire had been contained the day after they'd fled to Portland, and they'd come home to cabins still standing. The firefighters had contained the fire two miles from home. At least home to Dev. Kinsley and he still hadn't found a way to make their separate lives come together. But for now, they decided to spend as much time together as possible and prayed that God would show them the way.

"Oh, look." Jada grabbed something small from the bed that Dev couldn't make out and bounced on the mattress while holding out the item to Kinsley. "Do you remember this? It was your thirteenth birthday party."

"Rollerama." Kinsley's mouth split in a broad smile. "How could I forget? Your mom rescued me from not having a party at all."

"Yeah, your parents didn't even remember it was your birthday. But Mom bundled us all in her minivan and took us for pizza and skating at the roller rink." Jada shot across the room to Dev and held up a ticket. "Do you remember that night?"

Did he? Of course he did. Packed into the minivan with Kinsley sitting next to him. His crush on her in full swing, and her leg touching his nearly sent his adolescent body into turmoil. Then at the rink, he had to pretend not to like her, so he ignored her, but Jada saw his desire, and that was the night she made him make the awful promise not to date Kinsley.

"You do remember," Jada said. "I can tell by the look in your eyes."

"Well, you should remember, too." He stared at her. "That was the night you made me promise never to date Kinsley."

Kinsley came to her feet. "It was that long ago?"

"Yeah," Jada said. "I saw him making googly eyes at you all night long, and I didn't want to lose you as a friend."

Kinsley came over to Dev and stopped in front of him. "I didn't notice you looking at me that way. All I remember is that you ignored me when I really wanted to skate with you."

"I wanted to skate with you, too, but I ignored you because that's what middle school boys do when they have a crush on a girl." He laughed. "Maybe if we would've just been honest with each other, we might have gotten together before Jada issued her decree and not lost so many years when we could've been together."

"Like I've said for the thousandth time I'm really sorry that I kept you apart." Jada's eyes got glassy like she might cry. "I wish I could change it, but I can't, so I hope you accept my apology."

"And like we said about the thousandth time," Kinsley said, "we do accept your apology, and we don't blame you. It is what it is, and we're together now, and that's all that matters." Kinsley sat sideways on Dev's lap and put her arm around his shoulders.

"Please don't tell me you're going to get all mushy on me again." Jada grimaced. "If so, I'll have to leave."

"You know," Dev said, grabbing their attention. "Do you think Rollerama is still open?"

"I have no idea," Jada said. "I haven't been out there for years.

"Well, there's one way to find out." Kinsley pulled out her phone from her back pocket. "The Google knows everything."

The three of them laughed, the way Dev hoped things would always be with the three of them.

She focused on the screen, but all he could focus on was that the woman he'd loved from afar for so many years now sat on his lap.

"Here it is. A link for the place." She tapped the screen. "Yeah, yeah. They're still open. In fact, they're having a special fifty-year celebration on Friday night. They're calling it a Blast From the Past, and they want skaters to come dressed in sixties attire."

Jada's eyes lit up. "We should go. It would be really fun to end my time here at the rink."

"But what about the clothes?" Kinsley asked. "I don't have anything with me to wear."

"Mom's a pack rat and is bound to have something we can use." Jada rubbed her hands together. "Remember when we were kids and played dress up? She had all of those boxes of clothes from the sixties and seventies."

"But do you think she still has them?" Dev asked. "I know when she moved to the house in town, she got rid of a lot of stuff."

"She said she still had my skeleton necklace in a storage locker, so maybe she kept them there."

"She did seem pretty attached to the clothing," Kinsley said. "Remember how she warned us to be careful with it?"

Jada nodded.

Kinsley stood. "Let's get over to the cabin and ask her if she kept it. I know she can't skate, but we can invite her to come to the skating night. Colin and Brooklyn, too."

Dev hadn't been so thrilled when it was first mentioned, but now his excitement built over going back to the old roller rink. He suddenly wanted to share the night with everyone he knew. "Why don't we invite the whole team and their families? It would be a great time for Kinsley to meet everyone."

He imagined the night. The attire. Oh, no .

"What is that look for?" Jada asked.

Should he say? They'd talked about not hiding things from each other. This was minor, but… "I just thought about Barbie Maddox."

"Maddox?" Kinsley asked. "Any relation to your boss and his brothers?"

"Their mom. She still dresses like a hippie from the sixties. She's bound to have a lot of things she could share, if she's willing."

"She's a real throwback, all right." Jada rolled her eyes.

"Then let's invite her too," Kinsley said. "If she dresses like that, she must be fun."

"She is." Dev didn't know if introducing Kinsley was a good idea or not, but Barbie had a heart of gold under the wild escapades she shared. "She's always full of stories, and she'll talk your ear off if you let her."

"Then I want her to come with us even more, and we should probably make dinner arrangements too." Kinsley swiped down on her screen. "I wonder if they still do pizza, and if it's as good as I remember."

"You know what they say about you can't go home again," Dev said. "Their pizza might've been good when we were young, but now that we've experienced pizza elsewhere, it might not be so great anymore."

"Probably isn't what you'd expect," Jada said. "But it'll have the taste we remember, and even if it isn't great, it'll be another special memory."

Dev knuckled his sister's shoulder. "I never knew you were so sentimental."

She laughed. "It was hard to be girly around two brothers, so I hid that side of me. But I've released it later in life."

"They still do pizza." Kinsley's excited voice grabbed his attention. "We can get a headcount of how many people will be attending and then order the pizza in advance so it's ready when we arrive."

Dev nodded. He didn't know how a simple ticket stub turned into a Blast From the Past at their old roller rink. Something at first he thought might be kind of lame. But now? Now that it had expanded to include all the people he cared about, especially Kinsley, he was on board, and he was sure they were going to have a great evening. One for her memory box.