AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She smiled, searching for the memory he was referring to. As it popped into her head, she could vividly recall the chill in the air and the sound of the music playing through speakers as people skated. But her smile faded as she remembered what had come after that moment.
The last time they had been skating had been only a few days before they’d broken up. Their time at the Winter Ice Rink was one of her last happy memories with Noah, followed by the crushing pain of realizing that the relationship wasn’t working for either of them.
They had both been so competitive and ambitious back then, always striving for more and more. The only problem with that was that both of them had started to prioritize other things over their relationship. Work and career aspirations had taken precedence over their growth as a couple, and it had chipped away at the bond between them until one day, everything had finally come crumbling down.
Mindy’s heart gave a swift, violent tug as memories of their breakup surfaced, and she suddenly knew that if she didn’t get off the ice that very moment, she was going to break down right in the middle of the rink.
“Um, I have to go,” she muttered, barely waiting to see if Noah had heard her.
She took off skating across the rink, going as fast as she could toward where her shoes waited for her. She grabbed them quickly, kicking off the skates and all but running them to the drop-off counter. Then she rushed out the door into the chilly night, never once looking behind her.
* * *
Noah stood rooted to the spot as people continued to skate around him.
He’d been so surprised by the sudden change in Mindy’s demeanor that he’d been unable to do anything but watch in shock as she’d skated away from him and hurried to throw on her shoes and return her skates.
His mind was reeling, unable to make sense of what had caused the sudden shift in her mood. It wasn’t until a kid of about ten who hadn’t been paying attention skated directly into him, almost sending him sprawling back out onto the ice, that Noah was able to shake himself and begin chasing after her.
He pushed himself as quickly as he could, trying to make up for lost time. He threw himself onto the bench by his shoes, all but wrenching the skates off his feet and shoving them into the boots that he’d worn earlier that day. When he’d returned the skates and finally rushed toward the front door, stepping out into the cold, he looked every which way, but Mindy was nowhere to be found.
Noah trotted through the parking lot, hoping to catch sight of the bright blue coat that she’d been wearing earlier in the day. But it wasn’t until he’d made it all the way out to the sidewalk that he spotted her in the distance.
“Mindy!” Noah called, breaking out into a run so that he could catch up with her.
He couldn’t go as fast as he wanted, having to be careful not to fall on some of the small patches of ice that hadn’t yet been scraped off the pavement. But he was able to catch up with her just before they reached the town square.
“Mindy, what happened?” he asked as he pulled up alongside her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “I just needed some air. You should’ve stayed and skated more.”
Her arms were crossed, and her gaze was set directly ahead as she refused to look at him.
“I didn’t want to stay. I wanted to be with you. Seriously, what happened? Did I do something wrong? Did you get hurt when you almost fell?” he asked, his heart still racing from the effort it had taken to catch up with her.
“I’m not hurt. Not physically,” she said, her voice sounding clipped and tight.
“Okay, then what’s the problem?”
She stopped abruptly, causing Noah to take a few quick steps past her before he realized that she was no longer moving. He turned to look at her, finding Mindy glaring at him with her hands on her hips.
“The problem is that—that—”
She broke off, color rising in her cheeks as emotions churned in her eyes. Then she shook her head. Moving so suddenly that it caught Noah by surprise, she bent over, her mittened hands raking through the snow. She packed the flakes into a little ball and then straightened and lobbed the snowball right at Noah.
It hit him in the chest in a puff of white powder, and his jaw dropped open.
“What the?” he sputtered, just as another snowball went whirling past his head. “Are you throwing snowballs at me?”
In answer, Mindy drew back her hand, preparing to throw yet another one, and Noah snapped into action. He bent, grabbing up a handful of the white powder at his feet and crafting it into a ball. Another one of Mindy’s missiles flew at him, and he jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding impact as he threw his own.
He caught a glimpse of her face just before she dipped to begin making another one, and most of the aggravation that had been twisting her features moments ago was gone. It had been replaced by a wild grin that lit up her features and threatened to steal his breath.
He shook himself, gripping the new snowball that he had forged and letting it fly. It caught her in the side, making her squeal in surprise, and Noah laughed before he started the process all over again.
Snowballs flew back and forth, some of them striking their intended target but most of them missing as the two ducked and dodged and threw themselves into banks of snow. With each passing strike, their laughter grew louder, until Noah darted backward in an effort to dodge Mindy’s most recent attack, and he stepped on a patch of ice.
His foot slid out from under him, his arms windmilling as he tried and failed to right himself. His back struck the ground with a thump, but thankfully he had fallen into a small bank of snow, which absorbed most of the impact.
