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Her arms already prickling with tender goosebumps because of the air touching her skin in a way that threatened to make me jealous.
She always wore her hair in a ponytail that was way up on the back of her head.
Not a care in the world either.
Her earrings didn’t match. She didn’t care.
Her lip gloss almost sparkled, making those late night thoughts of mine come to life.
Why can’t I just skate over there, take her into my arms and kiss her?
“I thought I heard him yelling,” she said.
That’s when I finally regained enough consciousness to skate closer to her.
“He stormed off a couple minutes ago,” I said.
“So he’s gone?”
“He’s gone.”
“Did you get him nice and angry as always?”
“You know how that goes. I breathe the wrong way and he loses his mind.”
“He loves you, Henry,” Sage said.
Seeing her lips form the word love tore through me.
I blinked fast.
I didn’t respond.
“Sorry,” she said. “Maybe that’s a lot to hear. I shouldn’t have said that. I just… he means well…”
I nodded at Leon’s granddaughter, captivated by her sheer existence.
I leaned against the boards and gripped my stick tight.
I was like the kitten that wandered outside for a bit, then you tossed it a few scraps and now it was part of the family but still kind of not.
Left to figure out too much, too soon, Leon took me on simply as an outlet for the two of us that revolved around hockey.
And for the record, for as much as the guy yelled at me, he knew more than he cared to confess, which meant there were many times after our lessons he would magically find some freshly cooked dinner and claim it was leftovers. Or he’d find a twenty-dollar bill on the floor and give it to me. Then there were the occasions where I did sit at the dinner table with him.
And with Sage…
“Did you need him?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”
Sage grinned. “Are you worried about me, Henry?”
“Can’t stop thinking about you,” I said in a silly voice.
The truth poured from my mouth just then too easily.
The voice I made was cheesy enough to make Sage laugh and not think I was being serious.
But I was being serious.
