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“What about you?”
“I can be sick, I don’t even get to go home for Christmas this year,” Claire grumbled.
I turned to her. “No? I thought you guys were headed to Minnesota tomorrow?”
“Not anymore,” she sighed. “Addie’s on bedrest, so we decided to stay in town with them. I think Duke’s upset about it because he was looking forward to going home too. We usually spend Christmas Eve at my dad’s and then everyone goes to his parents for Christmas, and now I feel bad about making him miss that too. And I can’t be upset about it because it’s for my sister, ya know? But I am upset. I miss my dad.”
Stevie patted her on the arm. “Just tell yourself a different story to make it all okay,” she said with a kind smile.
I paused for a second, replaying her words. Where did she get that from? Was there something she was upset about and she was making up stories instead of dealing with her feelings? I made a mental note to clue Tyler in about that comment.
“It’s good to hash out your feelings though,” I started, “and–” I was cut off by another knock on the door. “Did you invite someone else?”
They both shook their heads. I wiped my hands on some paper towel and went for the door. The second I opened it, Duke burst in, red in the face and out of breath.
“Claire, I–” He paused and leaned his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
Claire rushed to him and smacked his back. “Breathe!”
He licked his lips and nodded.
I directed him to sit, but he shook his head and looked back at Claire. “I have an early Christmas present for you, babe. Woo.” He wiped sweat off his forehead. “I rushed here. Have to tell you early. Starts tomorrow.”
“What?” Claire asked him, eyeing me confusedly. I shrugged. “You’re not making any sense, Duke.”
“I know you said you wanted to figure things out yourself, but I wanted to help. I’ve been thinking about what you’re really good at and… You have water?” he asked me.
I quickly went to my fridge to fish out a water bottle for him.
“Thanks,” he said.
Claire tapped her foot, impatiently waiting for him to finish what he was saying.
“Anyway, and with this, you can yell at people all you want, baby. Hell, you can make peoplecryif you want. Becausewe’rethe people!” he said excitedly.
Her forehead scrunched in confusion. “What?”
“I got you a shot as a workout trainer for the Crewmen. Starting tomorrow. They wantintensity, babe. And you’re a beast at working out. I think maybe you’d really like this more than if I got you jewelry or anything like that.”
Claire went perfectly still. “You got me… a job?”
Duke’s face dropped. “Oh shit. Was it a bad idea?” He looked to me in question, then back to Claire. “I’ll go get you jewelry if you want, I swear I will, babe. I’m trying to show you that I hear you and that I know you.”
Claire launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck. He hugged her back, lifting her from her feet. She squeezed her eyes shut, and I could tell she really needed that. She needed reassurance that he saw beyond just the figure skating version of her.
I immediately wanted to do something like that for Tyler. We weren’t officially dating, but maybe I could still give something to both him and Stevie.
“Oh, and the best part,” Duke said, putting her back on her feet.
“There’s more?” she asked, wiping a stray tear from her eye.
He gently tugged the back of her neck toward him and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Babe, are you crying? Quitting skating’s making you soft,” he teased.
She elbowed him in the stomach.
“No, I like it,” he laughed. “You can be as soft as you want with me, baby. You know that.”
“Ugh!” She fanned her face to stop more tears from coming forward. “What’s the next surprise? I don’t like crying. Let’s go.”
