Page 118 of Breakaway Hearts

“He’s the best, isn’t he?”

“He’s not the worst,” I concede.

She laughs and Owen rolls his eyes before they debate ice cream parlours. I get the feeling Owen would be one of the ones who stays for that, but he insists he has something so he can drive me home.

I want to invite him up, mostly because I don’t want today to end, but mixing friends with ‘just sex’ sounds like a slippery slope I’m very narrowly avoiding.

I can’t tell if I’m relieved or offended when Owen not only doesn’t argue, he doesn’t even try to kiss me goodbye.

Chapter Forty-Six

Owen

Noah had one of those

“Sorry I’m late,” I say, walking into the ice cream parlour after dropping Madison off. Izzie loves it here because they’re one of the few that carries the cookie monster flavor.

The crowd has thinned out, but it still takes me a minute to get a cone and find Izzie at the back, by the jukebox.

“You look very serious for someone who just killed it at a skating competition.”

“Have you ever been wrong about something?” Izzie asks without looking up from the song list.

“All the time,” I assure her. “You don’t know what you don’t know, you know?”

She giggles before specifying, “I mean a decision. That was the wrong one.”

“Probably just as often,” I agree. “The important part is to admit when it happens and try our best to do better next time.”

I can handle training and babysitting during post-practice Mama Joy’s runs, but I am practically in cold sweats over what feels a lot like Iz asking me for life advice. Instead of Noah. Which means I can’t fuck it up.

“I started hockey because Noah plays, and I wanted to hang out with him.”

I smile, because everyone who knows her knows that.

“Iz, if you don’t want to stay on the team, Noah will understand. No one will be mad at you.”

“That’s not…” She sighs, and I feel like an idiot who just made things harder on her. “I love figure skating,” she tells me. “The wind on my face without a helmet, making waves in my glittery skirt whenever I twirl…It’s everything I hoped it would be.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” I say cautiously, as there’s clearly more.

“I train with the same girls every week. Same rink, same time…but separate corners. And Jen is so upset Mindy got silver that she won’t talk to her. Erin cheered when Daya landed a jump in practice, but I heard her muttering ‘fall, fall, fall’ when she was doing it today.”

“That’s terrible.”

“I loved having everyone in the crowd, and I don’t care that I didn’t get a medal…but I really didn’t like doing it alone. In hockey, Noah says we win as a team or we lose as a team, and winning is awesome, but I had more fun coming back here when we lost the division last year.”

She looks utterly defeated.

“Then I think the only mistake would be continuing to do something that doesn’t make you happy when you know exactly what does.”

“You don’t think Noah will be mad about paying for all my figure skating lessons? And all the outfits?”

“Noah doesn’t have money problems, and I can guarantee the only thing he cares about is seeing you happy. So I’d say quit if it doesn’t, but wear the outfits to open skate, because I know they do.”

“That easy?” she asks.

“Plus side to the lonely sport is that you’re not letting anyone down.”