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“I really like the dinosaur coat. You think they make one in my size?” He gestured to his chest.
Phoebe leaned forward, laughter spilling out of her and floating along the cold air. “You’re so funny! Miss Harper, I really like him.”
Despite my intentions to remain as neutral as possible on the group date, the corner of my mouth lifted at their interaction.Me too, Phoebe.
“You ready?” he asked, hands raised as she adjusted her balance.
She nodded eagerly, and he gave her a gentle shove.
“Sounds like you know this little firecracker. How’s she doing on the board?” he asked, his eyes never leaving Phoebe.
“She’s still learning to make her movements tiny. She tries to do too much and—”
On cue, the board slid out from under her, and she crashed face-first into the snow.
“I see what you’re saying.” He chuckled as we trekked across the snow to get to her.
“No big deal. You did great! Let’s get right back up and go again.” Flynn positioned himself next to Phoebe, ready to help if she needed it. “Hands in the snow, knees up. There you go. You got it!”
“You sound like Miss Harper, but it’s cooler when you say it.”
“Gee, thanks, Phoebe.” I grinned.
“This time, I really want you to focus on your balance. Think of it like riding a bike. Big movements do what?”
“Make you fall! Can I try again?”
“Off you go.” He grinned, giving her a gentle nudge to continue slowly down the training hill.
“You teach kids to snowboard?” He turned his attention to me for a brief second.
“And ski. Sometimes we go tubing and race.” I pushed a lot of myself into my business, but I always made time to give back to the community. My favorite way of doing that was spending time with kids at the ski school or on the occasional trip to the local tubing hill.
“Do you cheat with her like you do with me?”
“Are you kidding? I teach her how to win.”
Standing next to him, watching Phoebe coast down the snow, felt too natural. Seeing him with kids all afternoon brought about emotions I was completely unprepared for. For the first time possibly ever, I could see a future I’d blocked myself from. And it involved the man next to me, and at least a couple of tiny versions of us.
It terrified me.
“What else don’t I know about you?” he whispered, leaning into me.
“Probably quite a bit. You’ve been gone awhile,” I replied, stepping away to go help Phoebe out of the snow. I needed space, fast.
“Harper.”
I paused long enough to look back at him, the hopeful expression on his face almost enough for me to turn back around. My resolve was crumbling, and I had no idea how I’d be able to continue fighting old feelings being around him all the time.
Thankfully, I could sneak off to work after all this was over and recenter myself. And remind myself of all the reasons to continue to keep Flynn Jackson at bay.
