Page 15 of The Cost of a Bride
“Hey, careful! Hit me too hard and we might crash.”
As it turns out, Russell’s plan is to take us to the beach. It’s a beautiful sunny day, and based on what he asked me to pick up from my apartment, I should have figured that one out myself.
The parking lot isn’t too crowded, and we’re able to find a parking spot pretty easily. I start to walk toward the sand, but Russell takes me by the hand and starts to lead me in the direction of the boardwalk, where all the little shops and restaurants are.
“You want a hot dog?” I jokingly ask. Russell smiles and shakes his head.
“Nah, there’s something I’ve always wanted to do, though, that I thought we might do today.”
“Oh, yeah?” I ask. “What’s that?”
He just smiles and keeps walking. “I’ll show you.”
There’s something so exciting about going along with Russell, letting myself be led by him. I don’t know where he’s taking me, and even though I’m giving him a hard time about it, I kind of don’t want to know.
So much of my life has been in my own hands, my own control, taking care of myself after not having a mother or a father to take care of me. In fact, I’ve spent so much of my life taking care of my father and the issues he created for himself that it’s nice to basically just let go and have someone else take over.
We walk down the boardwalk, hand in hand, and eventually end up at a bicycle shop, where we’re greeted by an overly amicable man behind the register. “Hey there, you two. Wonderful day, isn’t it? Come to rent some bicycles?”
I can’t help but smile as I glance over at Russell. “We sure are. You have some of those two-seater couples bikes right?”
“I sure do, sir,” the man replies. “Twenty-five bucks for an hour, any more than that and you–”
“An hour will be fine,” Russell replies, handing him his card. Still smiling, the man takes it and swipes it.
“All right then! Helmets are optional, pedal backwards to brake, use the little dingy-thingy on the handle bars to let pedestrians know when you’re passing, and youareliable for any damages, but I’m sure you two won’t do any of that, right?”
“Of course we won’t,” I chime in.
The man hands Russell back his card and points to a row of low, two-seater bikes to our left. “Take your pick and have a good time!”
“Thank you.” Russell smiles and walks over to the bikes. I follow him and gaze over the selection laid out before us. He turns to me and motions at them. “Pick one.”
“Me?”
“No, Rebel Wilson,” he snorts. “Yeah, you.”
I laugh and lean into him, wrapping an arm around his muscular chest. “Umm…” There’s a blue one, a red one, a yellow one, an orange one, a pink one, and a bunch of boring black and gray ones. “I’ll do you a favor andnotpick the pink one. Let’s go with the red one.”
Laughing, Russell takes the back seat of the red bike. “Hey, I’m secure in my masculinity. I would have ridden the pink one.”
“No, no, it’s okay,” I reply, taking my seat. “Red is actually my favorite color.”
“Is that so? Well, gorgeous, off we go!”
In unison, we each take hold of the handlebars and start pedaling. The bike lurches forward, and we start moving quickly down the boardwalk. It’s a lot easier than I thought it would be, and we’re zipping up on the pedestrians in no time.
I reach out and ding the little “dingy-thingy,” alerting a high school couple to our presence. They move aside to let us pass, and I suddenly feel like a beach VIP. I glance back at Russell, and we both smile.
“This is great!” I exclaim.
“It sure is,” he smiles. He leans up for a kiss, and we both stop pedaling. Somewhere behind us, a few people clap and cheer, causing us both to smile. “Looks like we’ve got an audience,” he whispers.
I glance back and see it’s a few regular suburban people, just some friends out to have a nice day at the beach, and although I couldn’t be happier with Russell, I feel myself blushing at what they just saw us doing.
It’s so strange. I couldn’t have cared less the other night leaving his house if someone had seen me in the lingerie I was wearing at the mansion, but today when I’m not even lying out in my bikini, I’m feeling shy just being seen kissing Russell in public. What’s that all about?
We ride up and down the boardwalk and return the bike after just over a half hour. On our way down to the sand, Russell gets us both Italian ices. He orders a lime and strawberry, and I get a blue raspberry.