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My eyes widen. “Um…”
Grabbing my hand more firmly, she heads toward the ice rink. “It’ll be great!”
“If you say so. I’ve never been ice skating before.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get you a cart like the kiddos use if you need it.”
I huff out a laugh. “So much confidence…”
“Hey, I was just trying to help. You were the one who sounded super not confident in the first place, I was simply trying to help.”
“Uh huh.” I shake my head, bemused by her.
Paying for our rental skates, we sit down to put them on and tie them.
Her gray eyes meet mine behind her glasses, and I can’t help but get lost in how they light up at the little things. It could be the smallest thing. A cookie, a new Christmas song on the radio, a friendly face. She lives her life like a bright ray of sunshine, and I can’t help but want to bask in her glow.
“All right,” she says looking over at me. “You ready?”
“As ready as I’m ever going to be. I can’t guarantee it won’t involve me face planting a time or two, but what the heck, let’s do this.”
I get up slowly, but obviously that doesn’t help when my skate hits the ice and I immediately start to scramble. Someone somewhere must have been looking out for me or else I would’ve been on the ground. Willow looks over and I can tell she’s trying her hardest not to laugh at my clumsiness. We start moving again and Willow glides across the ice like a snow angel. It’s effortless, and you can tell she’s probably been doing this every year at Christmas. I, on the other hand, am fumbling along, holding onto the railing while I watch her, hoping that I don’t almost fall again.
I watch as she circles back to me. “See, isn’t this fun?”
I huff at her enthusiasm. “Definitely, not the word I would choose, no.”
“Oh, come on, Mr. Grumpy. You’re doing really well for your first time. If you’re a really good sport, I’ll make it worth your time.” She winks, and the corners of my lips start to quirk into a smile.
Holding her hands out to me, I bravely remove mine from the wall barrier and place them in hers. “There you go. See you’ve got this.” She starts skating backward, holding onto my hands, and here I am feeling more and more proud of myself that I haven’t landed face first on the ice. Apparently, life thought I was a little too happy because, all of a sudden, my butt is on the ice and I’m sliding away from Willow. She circles back over to me. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?”
Bending down, she tries to help me back up, but my two left feet keep getting in the way because I can’t for the life of me stand up, and now we’re both laughing about it. The people around us are laughing and I don’t seem to care about anything other than her. “I’m thinking that maybe we’ve had enough fun for now. I have a treat for you later.”
“Yeah, I don’t think my butt can handle any more falls today.” I reach back and rub my left cheek.
“Well, how do you feel about a carousel?”
“Like the ones little kids get excited over?”
“Of course, silly. With the crazy cool horses…”
“I didn’t know Whiskey Run had one here.”
“You’ll come to find out Whiskey Run has just a little bit of everything.” Finally pulling myself off the ice by the wall, I hold onto the rail until my feet are safely back on solid ground. Sitting down feels like a relief, and I can’t help the sigh that slips from my mouth.
Undoing the skates as fast as humanly possible, I swap them out for my regular sneakers. Standing up, I look down at Willow and pat my leg. “Here, put your foot here and I’ll untie them for you.”
“That’s sweet. Thank you.” She beams at me, and I can’t help but count another smile I’ve given her. Plus, I can’t help thinking about how I want to kiss those bright pink lips of hers again.Not now.I tell myself. She places her foot against my thigh, and I untie the first skate, then she swaps it for the second. Taking our skates back to the rental, we head off on our way to the carousel.
I can hear the music from the carousel as it’s carried through the breeze. An all-familiar tune from many years ago. When I was little, the town I grew up in had a completely restored carousel. This carousel is enclosed within its own pavilion building dedicated to whichever family donated it to Whiskey Run. It’s in motion already when we get in line for the next go round.
She moves forward with the line, but I pull her hand so she stops. She turns to me in question. “I’ve been wanting to do this for the last hour. I can’t wait any longer.”
I lean in and take her lips in a passionate kiss, my tongue entwining with hers. It’s like the dance of the sugarplum fairies in her mouth. She’s always so damn sweet. I let my warm breath linger above her swollen lips for a minute before leaning in to press another kiss to her forehead and then her nose.
Circular row after circular row of horses painted in all different themes and colors stand before us. Some poised with their mouths open as if they’re ready to fly into battle. Others seamlessly await their next rider as their manes seem to flare with some unseen breeze. Large, animal-like eyes trailing over every person, large or small, waiting in line to climb aboard this once popular children’s ride, now alight again with life.
“So, this carousel was restored several years ago by the Marcus family. It’d been sitting in an old barn and was put up for auction to the highest bidder. They just couldn’t see it going to waste, so they brought it back to life for all of Whiskey Run to enjoy.”
