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“Thank you, but I was thinking that it’s nice that people don’t recognize me much anymore. Before my accident, when I was doing a lot of ad campaigns, people stopped me when I was out. A lot of the time, they didn’t know my name, but they knew I looked familiar. Now, though, I’m just another anonymous person, and I really like that.”
I looked over at her and smiled. “I do not think you could ever be another anonymous person, Sheridan. You are too beautiful.”
“Not today,” she said, wrinkling her nose and laughing. “In my puffy parka and stocking cap, with no makeup on. I look like an Eskimo.”
“You are sexier than Eskimos.”
She busted out laughing. “That might be the best compliment anyone’s ever given me.”
The car was quiet again, but when I was with Sheridan, the silence never felt uncomfortable. There was always something warm and peaceful in the air between us when we weren’t talking, and it was something I’d never felt with anyone else.
I reached over and covered her hand with mine, just as she let out an excited gasp.
“Are you serious? There’s an outdoor ice rink over there!”
“Do you want to skate?” I asked.
Sheridan turned to me, her eyes bright. “I do, but would it be boring for you? You ice-skate practically every day.”
“Not like that,” I said, trying to figure out if I needed to take the next exit to get to the outdoor rink. “Not with you.”
“So skating and then shopping?”
“Sure.”
I’d skated outdoors before, mostly when I was a kid. This rink was crowded and loud, but I made sure not to cringe, because this was something Sheridan wanted to do.
The skates we rented were old and worn out. The only pair they had that was big enough to fit me had a hole in the toe area, but I made myself laugh about it with Sheridan instead of bitching.
“Let’s go check some kids,” I said, grinning. “This is going to be fun.”
“Oh God, please tell me you’re joking.”
I arched my brows and laughed. “Of course I am.”
“Well, you usually don’t joke, so I never know for sure.” She looked up at me from the bench she was sitting on. “Did I mention I’m not very good at ice-skating?”
I reached for her hand and helped her up. Her expression was panicked as she struggled to get her footing.
“I won’t let you fall,” I assured her.
“Are you sure? I’m exceptionally good at falling. I probably should have thought this over more. I could end up having a back spasm and then you’d have to drag me off the ice.”
“Relax. Hold on to me, however you feel most comfortable.”
She felt most comfortable clinging to me for dear life, both arms locked tightly around my waist. Kids were flying past us, even the ones using the little walkers with wheels that helped hold them upright.
“We cannot move this way,” I told her. “Only one arm around my waist.”
She took a deep breath and released her hold with one arm, tightening her other. We started slowly, a smile spreading across her face as we made it ten feet and then twenty.
“It feels weird balancing on this little blade,” she said. “I can’t believe you skate the way you do.”
“Hockey skates are different,” I said. “Better.”
“Are you saying your toes don’t poke out of your hockey skates?” she teased.
“They do not.”
“Is your toe cold?”
“No, it is fine.”
“I think you’re pretty amazing, in case you didn’t know that.”
I looked down at her face, warmth blooming in my chest. “I think you are very amazing, too. The amazingest, but that is probably not an English word.”
“It is now. You just made it up.”
We both laughed until Sheridan slipped, one of her skates sliding out from beneath her. She was just starting to cry out in distress when I caught her.
“See?” I smiled down at her. “I won’t let you fall.”
A few hours later, we dropped off a load of shopping mall purchases at my SUV and were heading back in for round two. I usually hated shopping, but I was having fun. Sheridan was taking the lead, deciding which stores to go to based on what we were looking for. She’d helped me pick out designer sunglasses and soft scarves and stocking caps for my mother and sister, and science experiment toys and clothes for my nieces. My sister had sent me their sizes, and that was all Sheridan needed. She mixed and matched different items, completely in her element.
“I will start chewing on my fingers if we do not eat soon,” I said as we walked hand in hand back to an outdoor patio area of the shopping mall.
“Next time, you might want to mention how hungry you are before you reach the point of eating your own fingers,” she said playfully.
