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Billy shook his head mournfully.
“Huh? Why not?”
“I can’t do it. Daddy tried to teach me, but my feet keep falling over.”
“Aaw, well, maybe Daddy’s just a bad teacher.” Mikayla winked at William. “But if you don’t want to board, we can build a snowman, or go to the play center and play on the trampolines. Whatever you like.”
“Okay.”
“Great.” Mikayla turned back to Juniper, saying in a low voice so that Billy couldn’t hear, “Give me his board anyway, just in case.”
As they left the café, Rafe asked, “You want me to come with you?”
“Nah, unless you want to. I’m good. You go with the guys. You’ll enjoy it.”
“Okay.”
“Come and check on us in about an hour, though. There’s a good chance Billy will be bored, hungry, tired or a combination of all three.”
“Okay, I’ll do that.” He gave her a quick kiss and caught up with the others as they walked towards the terminal.
“Alright, little man, it’s just you and me. What do you want to do first?”
“Build a snowman, please, Mikky.”
They did that for a little while, but Mikayla could see that Billy’s heart wasn’t really in it. “What’s the matter, mate?”
He was watching a couple of kids gliding down the slope on their snowboards, a wistful expression on his face. “I wanna do that.”
“Well, your mum left your board, so we can try it if you like.”
He shook his head. “I’m scared I’ll fall.”
“I’ll catch you.”
“I’m not very good at it.”
“Nobody is when they first start to learn something new. But you’ll never be good at it if you don’t start. Come on, let’s do it.” She could see that it was really getting to him that he couldn’t do it, so she put some authority in her voice to make him think it wasn’t really up for debate.
He got up, somewhat reluctantly, and let her put his helmet on and strap his little feet to the board. She started off just holding his hands and dragging him along the snow, trying to give him a chance to get a feel for it, but he was very wobbly, only staying upright because she was there. Next, she tried dragging him a bit then letting his hands go to see if that would force him to find his balance, but he fell over every time. The last time she tried it, she saw tears well in his eyes and her heart squeezed. “Aww, little man, don’t cry. We’ll figure it out.”
“I’m not crying, Mikky, it’s just my feelings leaking out my eyes.” He sat in the snow, knuckling at his eyes, so determined not to let the tears fall that it nearly broke her heart.
She was more determined than ever to help him, so she sat in the snow with her legs crossed, facing him. “You know that I met Rafe when we were little kids, don’t you?”
He nodded, the dejected look in his eyes giving way to curiosity.
“Well, he was small for his age when he was little, and he was really bad at everything. When we were about ten years old, he came on a family trip with us to the snow. He couldn’t snowboard either and it made him angry and sad.”
“It makes me angry and sad, too.”
“I know, darling. But you know what Rafe did?”
“What did he do?”
“He didn’t give up. We all helped him practice and practice and practice until he could do it. He got good enough that he could do it without falling over, but he couldn’t go very fast. Then when we got home, Callum gave him an old skateboard of his and he practiced on that so much that the next time we went to the snow, he was practically an expert. He was almost even better than me, if you can believe that!” She poked Billy’s nose with her forefinger, and he laughed. “So come on, let’s be like Rafe and not give up until you can do it.”
He got to his feet with a determined frown on his face. They tried a few more times but without much luck. Then Mikayla had an idea. “Okay, we’re just gonna do this and see if it helps you with your balance.” She adjusted his feet on the board, so that they were a little wider apart. “Let’s try it now.” He was definitely steadier, so she took a risk and let go of his hands, walking briskly next to him so she could catch him. But he didn’t need it. He went a fair distance on his own before his little legs gave out, and he plonked down on the snow.
