Page 49 of All I Feel

I loved seeing the challenge in his eyes and the mischievoussmile on his face. This was what I’d always known with Ace. Ease. Comfort. Fun. He’d always been such a laidback guy who was always up for a good time.

Unable to tamp down my own excitement, I was beaming at him as I reached my hand out to his. Ace hesitated for only a few seconds, his eyes darting between my hand and my face, before his hand engulfed mine. Then we made our way out to the rink.

Keeping track of time had never been an area of my life where I excelled. But even if it had been, I wasn’t quite sure it would’ve been possible to do so now. Because as song after song played, Ace and I made our way around the rink without a care in the world. It was the most fun I’d had in a long while, and I couldn’t have been more grateful to Ace for giving this to me.

Though he didn’t get too fancy with his footwork, Ace certainly impressed me. He wasn’t unsteady. And although it wasn’t necessary to keep a hold on me, he never let go of my hand unless it was to watch me after he encouraged me to show off my skills on my skates. As soon as I’d finish showing him something, he’d reach for my hand again. I truly had the best time and hadn’t realized how late it had gotten until Ace finally said, “We should probably grab something to eat.”

I nodded my agreement and allowed Ace to lead us to the snack bar, where we ordered slices of pizza and a side of fries. By the time we sat down, I realized just how hungry I was and dove right in.

After taking a few bites, I said, “This was so much fun tonight, Ace. Thank you for being willing to bring me here.”

“I’m glad you had fun, Tessa. It’s nice to see you laughing and smiling again.”

“You impressed me out there. I really thought you were going to struggle.”

He arched a brow. “What? Are you saying I don’t look like a guy who skates regularly?”

“I’m saying you don’t look like a guy who skates at all.” I popped a slightly mushy fry into my mouth. “But you pull it off and look good doing it.”

His lips twitched as his eyes dropped to his pizza. “I’m relieved to know I could do something to impress you.”

“You impress me a lot, Ace, and it has nothing to do with skating.”

Curiosity washed over his expression, his head tilting to one side. “I impress you?”

I nodded.

“How so?” he asked.

“Well, for starters, you can fix cars that have been all banged up in accidents,” I shared. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin. You’re also observant, caring, selfless, and loyal. I never realized how important loyalty was until recently. Most impressive of all is that you’ve got time management skills that I don’t. Oh! And it’s quite remarkable that you don’t get upset about my lack of those same skills.”

“You think all that about me?”

Smiling, I answered, “Yeah. If you gave me enough time, I could probably come up with a list three or four times that size.”

“That was nice of you to say.” A genuine smile spread across his face. “Though I will say that even though I managed the skating today, I’m not sure how you do it on a regular basis. You actually enjoy doing it by yourself?”

I shrugged. “Well, this has probably been the most funI’ve had skating for as long as I can remember. But I don’t mind doing it myself, especially because I’m usually outside. It’s how I like to exercise unless I’m going to go to Harper’s studio to dance.”

“You only have so much time left before it gets too cold out to skate.”

“Then I’ll have to resort to dancing and the occasional day of snowboarding.”

Ace popped the last bite of his pizza in his mouth. “You know, it’s kind of crazy. Our parents used to have us out snowboarding together all the time when we were younger. Now, our whole group might get one or two days over the entire winter that we all go riding together.”

Nodding, I said, “You’re right. I mean, I prefer when it’s warmer out, but we can’t exactly escape the cold here. And when I think back to those times when we were younger, I always did have so much fun. In fact, until the day you took me to First Tracks recently, I’d completely forgotten about the mornings we’d go there first. We really were such lucky kids.”

He covered my arm with his hand and brushed his fingertips lightly back and forth. “If you decide that you’d like to do it more often this coming season, and you’d like someone to go with you, I’d love to join you. I’ll even take you for breakfast first.”

I grinned. “Only if you promise to share your Belgian waffle with me.”

Laughter spilled out of him. “Why do you think I got one when I took you there recently? I knew how much you used to love them.”

My mind had been such a mess that morning. Hearing Ace admit that he’d intentionally ordered a waffle becausehe remembered how much I liked them made my heart melt. Years of casual observation had led to moments like this. Moments when he didn’t get upset that I was late. Moments when he offered to take me roller skating. Moments when he admitted knowing what I liked to eat.

I understood we were just friends, but the way he was with me had me asking myself one simple question. Why had I been willing to accept anything less?

“Looks like we’re going to have a blast this winter.”