Page 38 of Date With Skates

His eyes widen, as if once again, I said something that he can’t believe is true.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

He shakes his head and looks away. “No reason.”

“You’re surprised.”

“A little.”

“Why?”

He sighs, then looks at me again. “I don’t want to say you look like the kind of guy who doesn’t do things like donate to causes, because that’s not it. I just didn’t expect you to do something to help kids.” He shrugs again, then looks back out at the Village.

I blink a few times, my chest feeling a little tingly.

“I was a hungry kid.”

He whips his head toward me. “What?”

“I went into foster care when I was two because my mother couldn’t take care of us. We were homeless and had nothing.”

“Your foster homes didn’t feed you?”

I don’t usually like talking about this stuff because it doesn’t make me feel good. But I want to share this with him.

“Some of them were okay and did what they were supposed to, but those were always the homes I didn’t stay at for long. Most of them were shitty people who just wanted a check and used the bare minimum to buy us food so they could use the rest of themselves.”

“Connor, I—”

“It’s okay,” I interrupt. “You don’t have to be sorry or anything. I don’t expect people to feel bad for me. In fact, I wish you wouldn’t.”

“I don’t feel bad for you, and I’m still not sure why I’m so shocked about it. I guess it’s not just you, but the world these days. It’s hard to find kindness.”

“Which is why I do what I can.”

He reaches out and takes my hand. It’s simple, but it means a lot. We don’t talk for a little while, just stand there with each other, looking out at the view. Until Étienne sighs, and says, “I guess I need to tell you how sports almost killed me.”

I chuckle. “I’m so ready for this.”

Étienne tells me about the one and only time he set foot on the ice—and broke his ankle.

Now I know why the ice is a terrifying thing for him.

“Maybe if I cared about being an ice skater, I’d get back on the ice, but it’s not something I need to do, so I just avoid it.”

“What if I took you out? Would you trust me to keep you safe?”

He frowns, shaking his head. But then he grins. “Yeah, if you carried me.”

I hold out my hand. “Deal.”

We shake on it, and then I pull him close to my side. We find a place to sit with him resting between my legs, his back to my chest and my arms around him. We stay up there for an hour like that, just sitting together and enjoying the view. It’s something I will never forget.

Chapter Eighteen

Étienne

We wait a while for the bus. He was right: they don’t run as often during the late night. We sit together on the bench; me huddled against him for his warmth. Despite it being so cold, he doesn’t seem bothered or affected by it. There’s so much heat coming off him.