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Sitting her on the top of the boards, I stood in front of her. “Have fun?”
Her eyes were wide as she nodded, biting her lower lip.
I lowered my gaze to the ice, then lifted my eyes to meet hers. “About this morning. I’m sorry I was so angry. I hated that you left our conversation for a phone call and never returned.”
Her brow furrowed. “Wait, that was real?”
I tilted my head. “What was real? That I was talking to you?”
She nodded.
I huffed. “Yeah, I thought we were going to really talk, Raven.”
She reached out and touched my jaw. “I’m sorry. I thought it was a concussion dream or something. You looked so intense. Too intense for me, so I thought I imagined it.”
I closed my eyes a second, then looked right at her. “Raven, we’ve known each other forever. There are things to be said.”
She swallowed hard. “Really?”
I nodded. “We dance around the subject a lot, but we never get there. Could we talk sometime? No distractions? No interruptions?”
Her mouth opened and shut like a fish a couple times as her hand slid to my shoulder for balance. “Um, yeah, sure. Whenever you want. I’ll turn off my phone and silence my computer.”
I nodded. “Good, now do you want to know how it feels when I skate?”
She gave a breathy reply. “So, so much.”
My mouth tipped up in a smile for the first time today. Her eyes sparkled. Her breath came out in pants of anticipation. I lifted her down and set her on the top of my skates.
She looked over her shoulder. “I’ll squish your toes!”
I shook my head. “Nope. Just bend your knees and trust me. I’ve got you.”
Her voice became small. “You won’t let me fall?”
I gave her a squeeze. “Never.”
Then I pushed off. Slowly at first, just letting her get used to the feel of me holding her and moving. Then I dug my heels in a bit more, pushing off harder and propelling us around the rink. She gave little shrieks as we went faster around the circle. I kept it simple since I couldn’t do any crossovers, forward or backward, but then I had an idea.
I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You trust me?”
She gave me a nod.
With a little turn of my ankles, we were skating backward. Flying, really, with as fast as we were going. She was shrieking more now, but I knew what I was doing. Skating was one of those things as natural to me as breathing. After a few laps, I stopped us next to the boards where she could step off my skates.
Spinning around, she looked up at me with rosy cheeks and a beautiful smile. She threw herself at me, letting me catch her in a giant hug.
When she pulled back, her smile was still there. “That was so awesome!”
Scampering off the ice, she went over to Molly. Her eyes twinkling with joy. Her face lit up with this inner radiance. And the way she did a little happy dance was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.
Stuffing my hands in my pockets, mostly to keep from reaching out to her, I headed for the bench and removed my skates. Others would be here soon to practice. If I was lucky, I could grab a couple hours’ sleep before I had to be back for team practice later. There was a game tonight, so we’d have morning skate around ten.
I gathered up my bag. “Come on, Molls, I’ll take you home.”
She grinned. “Nice progress today. Hope I see some of that on the ice tonight.”
I tipped my chin to her. Yeah, I think she would.
