Armed with boxes of pizza, I went to find us a place to sit. Since it was a Monday afternoon, the rink was quiet enough that we had our choice of table. I found one near a window, spreading out the food and waiting for the others to join me.
Lunch flew by in a blur of the girls’ excited voices and them practically inhaling their food before they were strapping on their skates. Jacob held a white pair out to me and already had his own on.
“You ready for this?” he asked after the girls took off and he watched me clumsily trying to stand up on the wheels.
I shook my head. “When I said I’ve never been the best at this, I wasn’t joking. You’re not allowed to laugh at me.”
He held his hand over his heart, a grin spreading on his lips. He still managed to sound sincere, though. “You have my word.”
“You’re also not allowed to make any comparisons to a baby horse trying to walk over a frozen lake.” I smiled fondly when I remembered how Kat used to tease me about it.
Jacob looked like he wanted to ask but thankfully chose not to. “No baby horse comparisons. I understand.”
“Well, then. Let’s go do it.” I tried to take a step forward but wobbled and had to catch myself on the table.
My companion, however, moved as gracefully and easily as if he was wearing his favorite pair of sneakers. As soon as he stepped onto the rink, I realized he was a natural. He executed an easy turn before skating backward toward the girls while I inched my way closer from the table.
Allie seemed as comfortable on her skates as her father, and she was showing Katie the ropes. Jacob reached them and said a few words to his daughter, who nodded and took Katie’s arm. He watched them carefully for a minute until he was satisfied they were okay before racing around the rink with a huge, carefree grin on his face.
By the time he had completed his lap, I was just getting onto the rink. He came to a swift, perfect stop just a few feet away. “Are you okay? I’d be happy to help if you need me to.”
“I’m fine,” I said, shifting my weight on my feet to try maintaining my balance once I let go of the railing. “I just need to find my center and then it’ll all come back to me.”
He didn’t come any closer, but his mere presence was enough to distract me. He still had that grin on his face and it made his eyes sparkle under the lights. A flop of his hair had fallen across his forehead while he’d taken a lap, and combined with the grin and the shining eyes, it made him look adorable and boyish.
Which I definitely won’t tell him. Sexy, manly lawyers with fancy cars and expensive houses would never take kindly to being called adorable or boyish.
The thought made a smile grow on my face, but it also stole what little concentration I’d been keeping on my balance. My feet started drifting apart, and I threw out my arms while trying to pull my feet back together again.
Unfortunately, when it didn’t work, I started waving them like freaking windmills while Jacob watched me with quiet amusement.
“Are you sure you don’t want any help?” He appeared at my side, a stable hand reaching out to grab hold of my own.
I scrambled to make my stupid feet move the way I wanted them to and somehow ended up pressed against his solid chest. His arms looped around me, holding me up while also managing not to lose his own balance.
“Whoa,” I breathed, though I didn’t know if it was because of the way he felt against me or because I was suddenly feeling dizzy.
This close to him, I smelled an elegant, masculine scent of woodsy cedar and pine, and I couldn’t help myself when I took a deeper whiff. Jacob’s chest rumbled with laughter, but he was keeping his promise by not laughing out loud.
“Are you okay? If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought you just sniffed me.” His voice was strained with the effort of trying to hold in the laughter when I wobbled again and nearly fell out of his arms.
How is that even possible?
“Luckily, you do know better,” I said once my feet started behaving and it didn’t feel like I was about to have an intimate encounter with the floor. “Thanks for helping me. How are you so good at this if you said you haven’t been here for ages either?”
“I grew up playing hockey,” he said.
I groaned internally. Of course, he used to play hockey.
“Next time they want to have a play date, we’re going horseback riding or crocheting,” I said. “That’s what I grew up doing.” Reading and writing too, but I doubted they’d want to spend a play date together reading and I still wasn’t getting any writing done.
Jacob dipped his head and smirked. “I grew up riding horses too. It’s a date.”
“It’s not a date,” I mumbled.
He laughed. “Fine. A play date, but whatever.” He held his hand out toward me. “Want to hold onto me for your first time around and see how it goes?”
I very nearly snorted. Just looking at him had made me lose my questionable balance the first time. Somehow, I didn’t think touching him would end well for me.
“You can go ahead,” I said. “I’m just going to keep it slow, and I doubt that will be much fun for you.”
“Slow is fine,” he replied, skating ahead of me backward again so he could keep his eyes on mine.
Show off.
He kept me company while I wobbled my way across the rink until we eventually caught up with the girls. Allie was no longer holding on to Katie, who definitely seemed to have gotten the hang of it.
“Kids are as elastic as rubber bands,” I muttered. “Their noses can be to the floor and they’ll somehow still manage to bounce back.”
Jacob chuckled as he watched them. “You can say that again. I remember looking at people in their early twenties and wondering why such oldies would even come to the rink if they sucked so badly.”
“Oh, ha,” I said dryly. “At least I’m pretty sure you’re older than I am. I’ll accept that I suck if you can accept that you’re the oldie.”
He laughed again. “No deal.”
A sudden giggle ahead made me look up. Katie was halfway to the floor, but Allie caught her before she took a fall.
Seeing them in that position triggered a memory that I hadn’t thought of in years. It was one of Katherine. She’d caught me in almost exactly the same way.
It was obvious that Allie and Katie were becoming true friends, more and more, and I was reminded of how my sister and I used to be. It made me remember what it had felt like to have that person by your side. The one you could trust to never let you fall or who would at least try to catch you when you did.
A pang of sadness hit me straight in the heart. I missed my sister dearly in moments like these, and it killed me to know I would never have that feeling back. I was unbelievably grateful that Katie had found someone like Allie to share it with, but all that did was remind me of yet another thing Katherine would never get to see Katie experience.
And that was all it took.
A single look at the simple gesture of friendship, and the dam inside me threatened to break. All the emotions I fought every day to clamp down on in front of Katie and the rest of the world swelled up, and I knew I had to get out of there.
Fast.
Just for a minute.
Luckily, there was another exit just a few feet away from where I was. I gave Katie a tight smile, motioning toward the bathrooms. “I’ll be right back.”