Both of us froze and I could smell the change in his scent. Nobody had given her a compliment in a while? What the fuck?
It was a good thing she wasn’t with her ex anymore. He sounded horrible.
Kai snapped photos of us. “Two little hockeys sitting in a tree…”
Steven pulled himself up into a sitting position, then bent over to give me a kiss.
“Tree selfie.” Kai snapped a picture, leaning against me still, and immediately posted it with the caption,Climbing trees.
“You aren’t supposed to be up there,” a staff member yelled from down on the ground.
“Whoops! Sorry.” Kai started shimmying down.
“Oops.” Steven slung himself onto a lower branch, then dropped down to the ground and grabbed his water bottle.
I climbed down as well.
“Apologies. We didn’t see a sign,” I told the staff member as we grabbed our things. “It’s a really nice tree.”
“Yes, it is, but we don’t need all the kids climbing it,” the staff member said.
We finally went to leave, which of course was through the gift shop. I went right for the exit but noticed Kai wandering around. So, I simply followed Kai as they browsed. The shop had books, magnets, wind chimes, and all manner of things.
Kai picked up a package of note cards made with the leaf prints and a bookmark of pressed flowers.
Steven was busy arranging the magnetic letters into phrases that probably weren’t fit for a family-friendly place.
Kai was looking at some necklaces in a case. I checked my phone to see if there were any team updates.
“You are going to buy your omega that, right?” an elderly gentleman said.
I realized that an elderly woman and Kai were talking, as somebody got necklaces out of the display case for them.
“Do you think I should?” I hadn’t actually thought about buying a souvenir, but that would make sense.
“Why wouldn’t you?” the gentleman said. “Even if things are tight… just watch. Sometimes it’s worth it. And I think this is one of them.”
Kai’s eyes lit up as they held the necklace and looked in the mirror. It was a dragonfly.
It was the joy that got me.
I came over to Kai. “Dragonflies are your favorite insect, right?”
“Yes. It’s just so pretty.” Kai held it up to the light. It looked like it was made of glass.
“It is.”
“It’s a little much, I’ll wait. Thank you,” Kai told the shop person.
“We’ll get it,” I said, getting out my wallet. “You look excited and it’s a little memento of your visit here with us. So you’ll remember it.”
“It’s not very often that I get to climb trees with hockey players,” Kai confessed.
“I want you to have it. Please?” I was afraid that Kai would turn it down. After all, we were strangers. I was grateful enough that Kai trusted us to actually get in a car and go off for the day with us.
“Thank you,” Kai finally said.
I paid for the necklace.
