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“Okay, you two. Hold your arms out like this.” I demonstrate the correct position. “Start out with marching in place.”
Both of them repeatedly pick their feet up one at a time and place them down again.
“Good balance, you two. Now, march across the rink to Coach Carling.”
“That’s my grandpa, Dar,” Tillie says.
I smile. “I know that. But he’s Coach Carling to Three.”
The two of them make it across the ice without falling. Coach shows them how to march in place to turn around and then he sends them back to me.
“Dude, he’s doing really well,” I say to Levi.
Leah laughs. “Uh oh. Levi will have a breakdown if he wants to play hockey instead of football.”
Evie sighs. “Yeah, I didn’t really want her to learn to skate. Hockey players are bad enough, but I don’t want my little girl getting checked into the wall.”
“Checking has been banned in women’s hockey for years,” I say.
“Okay, but even still, that doesn’t mean it’s not rough.”
I watch Tillie refuse any help from her grandpa, and laugh. “I have a feeling she’ll be able to handle herself just fine.”
Ryan steps onto the ice and his arms begin to windmill around him. I place a steadying hand on his back.
“However, I’m not sure about her father,” I say.
Ryan laughs. “Would you believe this is the first time I’ve put on skates?”
“No,” I say, but I nod my head. We all laugh.
“Help me out here, Kastellanos. Make a skater out of me,” he says.
“Dude, just because I play in the NHL doesn’t mean I’m a miracle worker.”
“Well, give me some pointers so I don’t break my neck.”
“You need to tighten your core and get control of your arms. If you do that your balance will improve.”
He does as I suggest and he begins to move around with more control. He grins and yells, “I’m skating.”
I glance over at Tillie and she and Three are already racing around the ice. This is everything I wanted it to be. It makes me long for Evie and me to have a baby, but there’s plenty of time for that. She needs time to work on her career first.
I skate over to her. “Are you going to join us?”
“Nope. I’ll wait until there aren’t any witnesses around.”
“Naked skating? I like how you think.” I growl.
She snorts. “I’ll pass on that too. Sharp blades and dangling body parts don’t go together.”
I wince at the thought. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Now you’ll never forget.” Her mouth curves with humor.
“You probably don’t want to hear this, but your daughter has natural skating ability.”
She sighs. “You’re right, I didn’t want to hear that.”
