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Jillian gasped as her eyes grew wet, “Cash.”
I scanned her face and tucked the beautiful, loving expression on it away in my mind. I never, ever wanted to forget it.
She laid her head on my chest, and we stayed like that for a while. Finally, I said, “We should get up before our bodies freeze to the ground. We’d be bad guests if that happened.”
Jillian giggled and raised her head. “We might not get invited back.”
We both laughed for a minute before her face grew serious. “Two more minutes?”
I nodded.
Because I knew what she meant. Two more minutes in our bubble. And then back to real life.
She snuggled into my side as I wrapped my arms around her. Something occurred to me, so I asked, “Why are you out here all alone? Couldn’t sleep?”
Jillian shook her head and said, “No, I’m nervous about tomorrow.”
I frowned, not understanding. “You’re nervous about Christmas?”
Again, she giggled like the sparkling, twinkling stars above. “No, tomorrow is the day we hear back—” she took a deep breath, “or not, about the Olympic team.”
Ah.
That made sense.
“You’re a shoo-in, sweetness. You know that. They’ll be lucky to have you.” I hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head.
She gave me a squeeze. “Thanks, but there’s more and more competition every year. Younger, talented women.”
I spoke against her hair, “None with your experience, Jillian. You’ll get a call. Don’t worry about it.”
She didn’t let go. Not for a second. “I hope so, honey.”
We laid there for a while longer.
Holding each other.
Watching our breath escape into the cold, dark night air.
I rubbed her back and sighed. “All right, time to get up.”
With a grumble, Jillian gave in and stood with me. Then we made our way across the rink and into the back porch. We both sat down on the wooden benches and took off our skates. I hung up my coat and Jillian gave me hers.
She opened the door to the pool. The warmth and the smell of chlorine was just too tempting. I stopped at the edge and took off my shirt. I’d left my socks in the back with my skates. They were all sweaty and gross.
Jillian was at the door that went into the house before she realized I wasn’t behind her. “What are—” she asked and then raised her voice, “You can’t go swimming!”
I grinned over at her.
Then I pulled my sweats and boxer briefs off in one quick movement.
And then—I jumped in.
My toes tingled at the temperature change. The rest of my body enjoyed it. Wes told me he liked to keep the pool on the warmer side. And he sure did.
I surfaced and sucked in a lungful of air. I spotted Jillian at the side of the pool, staring down at me.
“Come on in, sweetness. The water’s warm,” my voice echoed in the semi-darkness. The windows let in a good amount of moonlight. Enough so that lights weren’t needed.
