He leaned sideways to kiss my temple. “This one went behind my back.”
Charlie looked sheepish. “I might’ve helped.”
We told Law about Harper’s worries about her mom and how we’d had the idea and so on.
Law cleared his throat and took a sip of his coffee, appearing a bit choked up. Then he glanced at Charlie and me. “Thank you, both. Seriously. This is….”
Aww. It took a lot to make my guy awkward, and I cherished every moment. This time I leaned to him and kissed his cheek. Then we changed the subject and finished our breakfasts.
I asked to drive when we went to the SUV again, and Law handed me the keys easily.
When he realized we were going to my grandparents’ neighborhood, he looked confused. “Where are we going?”
“Well, first we’re going to Gram and Gramps’ to get some stuff, but then we’re doing something I’ve wanted to do for a while.”
He reached for my hand and squeezed. “What’s that?”
“Remember when I said I wanted to go sledding?” I’d mentioned it the previous week when the kids had been sledding with Charlie and Uncle Teague.
Law nodded slowly. “And I, maybe stupidly, said we can go with the kids soon.”
I glanced at him. “Not stupidly. I didn’t specify, baby.” I flicked the blinker on and turned into Gram and Gramps’ driveway. “But I really want to have fun with you, and I really meant it when I said I wanted to go sledding.”
I wasn’t wrong. After we got the different equipment—a tire tube, a plastic sled and a plastic large disc thing—and headed to the hill near the grandparents’ house, Law started to get excited.
“Uncle Teague said they used to come sledding here a lot as kids,” I told him as we got closer.
“Do a lot of people use it these days?”
“Apparently not as many. Some teenagers and grandkids of the older folks living around here. It’s a bit secluded to be in common use.”
The spot was empty of other people, and I hoped it would stay that way. We climbed up the hill and Law picked the tire tube, while I took the disc.
“See you down there?” I asked as we aimed ourselves.
“Three, two—” and he pushed off, cackling as he went.
“Cheat!” Even if it wasn’t a competition, he’d still cheated.
I gave myself a push and started down the hill. The wind whooshing past me as the disc propelled forward faster and faster made me feel elation like not many things could.
I whooped and held up my arms as I let the disc spin me around a little. I wasn’t scared at all; I’d done this so many times before that I knew what was safe and what wasn’t.
Law, however? He’d gone sledding with the kids at another spot in town, a longer, less steep hill a couple of times, but this one? Yeah.
As I came to a stop near him, he looked half scared, half excited. Like you should after some decent sledding, if you asked me. I was pretty sure he hadn’t thought he’d get the speed he’d gotten and was recalculating his expectations.
“How was it?” I grinned.
He knew I could tell he was feeling uneasy and made a face at me. “Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not. Come on, you’ll get used to it.” I grabbed the disk and his hand, and we walked back up the hill.
The next try, he was a bit more careful, trying to slow down with his feet, and ended up accidentally steering himself into a snowbank.
I, however, spotted a little jump some kids—probably teens—had made to the other side. Now that one I had to try!
On our third run, I suggested he’d take the disc because I felt it was easier to control being that you were practically on the ground, and took the tire from him.
