Wings of Love

Wings of Love

Jeanette Skutnik

Published by Jeanette Skutnik at
Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Jeanette Skutnik

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Chapter 1

Amy Makowski glanced at the weathered, wooden
swing that swayed in the wind as she walked up the cobblestone
path.  She reached for the doorbell lit up in the
darkness.  Her hand shook as she pushed the
button.  Amy shrugged her shoulders as she rocked back
and forth to stop her teeth from chattering.  It was a
cold December night but that was not the reason she had goose
bumps.

Amy waited for this night all week
long.  She worked way too many hours which was not
exactly good for her social life.  Soon she would have
enough money saved to buy the rust colored Plymouth Duster that sat
in the parking lot of The Bad Axe Used Car Lot.  Granted
her walk to work did wonders for her slender figure but she could
do without the sore feet and frozen toes.

The door opened wide and the lights from
inside illuminated a man in his early twenties with a medium build
and stature.  He had curly black hair that just barely
touched the collar of his flannel shirt.  She recognized
that smile and his gray eyes immediately.  Adam had been
her brother’s friend for as long as she could
remember.  The scent of his Old Spice cologne aroused her
senses more than she’d care to admit. 

“Hi Adam,” Amy said as she looked into the
living room.  She could see the New Year’s Eve party was
already in full swing.  She heard 
Show Me the
Way
 by Peter Frampton as it played loudly
inside.  Happy New Year banners hung on the walls with
streamers and balloons strung up next to them from the ceiling.

“Come on in Amy,” Adam moved back as she
entered the house and escorted her into the living
room.  “Guess who finally decided to show
up?”  Adam hollered over the music.  He helped
Amy remove her coat and tossed it over the couch.

“It’s about time!  Haven’t you
heard the old saying, all work and no play?”  Joey
Makowski got up from the ottoman as he held onto a beautiful
blonde’s hand and walked toward Amy.

“Angie this is my twin sister,
Amy.”  Joey put his arm around them
both.  “Amy, this is Angie Deville.”

The blonde was almost as tall as her brother
and built like a brick house.  
Damn
she
sure was not from around here
. 

“You two look nothing
alike.”  Angie smiled as she hung onto Joey’s arm.

And bright too
.  Amy smiled
back politely.  “It’s nice to meet you, Angie.”

Adam walked back over to Amy and handed her a
drink.  He took her hand and they moved through the crowd
of people.  “I have a surprise for you.” 

Amy rolled her eyes as she followed
him.  “The last time you surprised me….,” she stopped in
mid-sentence.   “Oh my God.”

A perky young woman in a pink pullover and
gray lee jeans stood in the kitchen.  She flipped her
brown hair as she laughed loudly at something the guy in front of
her said.

“When did you get back in
town?”  Amy hugged her friend.

“I arrived home yesterday.  I am
officially finished with college.”  Janet Oakes had been
Amy’s best friend since kindergarten.  “We sure have a
lot to catch up on.  My boyfriend, Peter will be here
soon.  Maybe we can get together another
time.”  She reached in her purse and grabbed a used candy
wrapper and pen.  Janet jotted her name and number
down.  “Give me a call tomorrow and we can make plans to
go to lunch.”

Amy took the wrapper from Janet and stuffed
it in her back pocket.  She hugged her friend
again.  “I promise I will call you.”  Amy
watched as her friend walked away and chuckled to
herself.  She remembered the time Janet and her got
caught smoking in the girls’ bathroom at a junior high school
Halloween dance.  They were busted by a teacher dressed
up as a cheerleader!

Amy sat down to eat some sloppy Joes and
potato salad when Adam pulled up a chair next to
her.  “Man, I am starved.”  His plate was piled
high with every food imaginable.  “I worked today and
then had hockey practice afterwards, so I didn’t get a chance to
eat yet.” 

Amy watched Adam as he ate his dinner while
his guard was down.  When he glanced down at his plate
she noticed his thick, black eyelashes.  He looked up at
her with his smoky, gray eyes which only enhanced them more.

“What?”  Adam said as he
smirked.

“Nothing,” she blushed that he had caught her
staring at him.  She tossed a crumpled napkin at him to
ease her embarrassment.

Adam looked at her as if he was going to say
something but changed his mind.  He played with his food
then looked up at her again as he cleared his
throat.  “Amy would you like to go see a movie this
weekend?  I thought we could go see Rocky or
Carrie.”

Amy raised her eyebrows in
disbelief.  
Did she hear correctly?

He tapped the fork on his plate
nervously.  “Or we could go see The Outlaw Josey
Wales?”

I guess I did hear him
correctly!
  She sat there for a brief moment as she
hadn’t expected the conversation to take such a turn in her
favor.  “That would be great.  I have to work
until five, but anytime afterward would be fine.”

“Then it’s a date,” Adam said as he collected
their dirty dishes.  “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right
back.”

Amy watched as he walked away.  She
was quite pleased with herself for remaining so calm when she had
been as nervous as hell!

***

Adam tossed all the dirty paper plates and
plastic silverware in a garbage bag.  He rushed to get
done so he could spend some more time with Amy.  Between
his work schedule and hockey practice it didn’t leave him much free
time.  It dawned on him to check the coolers
first.  He grabbed the bag of garbage and another case of
Budweiser and headed out the door.

“Hey, wait up.”  Joey threw on his
leather coat and followed Adam out the door.  He lit a
smoke and took a deep drag then exhaled slowly.  “Well,
did you finally ask her out chicken shit?”

“Hell yeah, I finally got the cojones to ask
her.  You were right man, she said yes.”  Adam
threw the garbage in the can and slammed the lid back
on.  He added the case of beer to the cooler then gave
Joey a high five.

“Just remember dude that is my sister you’re
messin’ with.”  Joey took another drag of his cigarette
before he crushed it out on the ground with his
shoe.  “Don’t hurt her or you’ll have to answer to
me!”

Adam grabbed two beers out of the cooler and
handed one to Joey.  “You have my word.”  He
popped the tab and took a swig of his beer.  “Come on
let’s get back inside, it’s friggin’ cold out here.”

***

Amy found her Diet Pepsi and sat down on the
leather couch which recently had been pushed against the wall with
all the other furniture in the room.  The throw rugs had
been rolled up and put aside.  The lights were dimmed and
music began to stream throughout the house.  Couples
started to dance on the newly made dance floor.  One of
her favorite songs by Chicago came on 
If You Leave Me
Now
.

“Guess who?”  Adam came up behind
Amy and placed his hands over her eyes.  “Do you want to
dance?”  Adam took her drink and put it on the end table
next to the couch.  He placed his hand in hers and softly
glided her onto the dance floor, apprehensively placing his hands
on her hips.

It took Amy a couple minutes to convince
herself that Adam LaPointe held her in his
arms
.  Pinch me, I must be
dreaming
.  She composed herself and nestled her head
into his shoulder taking in the scent of Adam. The smell of
his recently washed hair intoxicated her senses.

Adam swayed back and forth to the music as he
softly caressed Amy with his hands that still rested on her
hips.  She felt the warmth of his breath as he whispered
in her ear.  “Only a few minutes until midnight.” He
pulled her even closer as they moved in perfect rhythm to the
music.  The slow song ended and 
Play That Funky
Music
 came on by Wild Cherry.

“Hey, it’s almost midnight,” Joey interrupted
as he handed them a horn and a hat.  He rushed around
passing out horns, noisemakers, and hats to
everyone.  The champagne was poured in plastic glasses to
toast in the New Year – 1977.  Everybody there was
getting into the excitement of the festivities and waited for the
countdown to begin. 

Adam placed his arm around her waist with his
drink in his hand.  He handed Amy a glass of
champagne.  She smiled up at him as the countdown
began.  “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five , four,
three, two, one, Happy New Year!!”  
Auld Lang
Syne
 played on the radio.

“Happy New Year!”  Amy raised her
glass as they toasted in the New Year.

“Happy New Year.”  Adam held her in
his arms and tenderly gave Amy her first kiss of 1977. 

This is going to be a happy, new
year
.  Amy held him close and kissed him back.

***

Amy was snuggled under the granny square
afghan her great-grandmother had made for her.  She lay
on her back as she stared up towards the ceiling.  She
had gotten home over an hour ago and was not able to fall
asleep.  Not that she really wanted to.  Amy
recalled every detail of the evening as she touched her lips still
tender from his kisses.

Somebody knocked quietly on her
door.  “Amy, are you up?”  Joey whispered.

“Yes, come on in.”  She sat up in
bed still wrapped in her afghan.  “What’s up?”

“I heard Adam asked you out.”  Joey
sat down at the foot of her bed.

“Yes, he did.”  Amy hugged her
pillow dreamily to her chest.  “How was your date?”

“I think I’m in love.”  He
staggered out the door as he held his hand over his
heart.  “Good night.”

“You’re always in love!”  Amy
tossed the pillow at Joey.  “Sweet dreams,” she murmured
then rolled over and drifted off into sweet dreams of her own.

***

Adam checked the clock on the kitchen wall
above the sink.  The hands showed that it was four in the
morning.  He turned the light off and headed up the
stairs to the bathroom.  Staring at his reflection in the
mirror he brushed his teeth and thought about
tonight.  He shut off the light unbuttoning his flannel
shirt as he walked to his bedroom.  He tossed the shirt
on the floor and removed his jeans.  Adam crawled into
bed in his boxers pulling the comforter up over him and turned on
his side.  
I have a date with
Amy!
  He reached toward the nightstand, turned on
the clock radio and listened to 
December 1963 (Oh What a
Night
) by the Four Seasons.  He closed his eyes and
drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Amy in his head.

Chapter 2

 Amy stretched her arms above her head
and yawned.  She dreaded the thought of getting out of
her warm, cozy bed.  She looked at her clock radio which
read 6:21am.  
Time to get up and make the
donuts
 she grumbled kicking off the covers and jumped out
of bed.  She put her slippers on and shuffled into the
kitchen.  She filled the Mr. Coffee with water, added the
coffee and clicked the button on.  The aroma of it
brewing awoke her sense of smell.  
Now what should I
have for breakfast
.  Scanning the cupboard she chose
a box of Frosted Flakes.  She reached in the refrigerator
and shook the almost empty carton of milk.

Amy ate her breakfast while she glanced
through the paper.  She checked out the movie section
excited to see what was at the show this
Saturday.  Rocky was at the Bad Axe Theater at
9:00pm.  This would be the first time her and Adam would
be alone.  They usually all went out in a group
together.  Amy put her bowl and spoon in the sink and
poured herself a cup of coffee.  She stared out the
window as she took a sip
.  I
am not
looking forward to the walk to work
.  She headed
up the stairs with her coffee mug in hand.  
I better
get my ass moving.

Amy put her rust, quilted coat on and snapped
it up.  She grabbed her lunch off of the counter as she
headed out the door and locked it behind her.  She would
be surprised if Joey was up when she got home from
work.  Joey and she rented the tiny two bedroom bungalow
for almost two years now.

As Amy walked down the street the snow
crunched under her boots.  She noticed rabbit tracks
imprinted on the glistening snow, proof that she was not the only
one up this early.