Page 199 of While You Were Trending

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“You need drill time though, don’t you?”

“I can do both.”

“I don’t like falling.”

I do.

I love falling.

Falling for Ginny.

39

THE LOVING EDGE

Ginny

Ice is slippery.

That’s my first takeaway.

My legs slide wide, but Declan grips me by the forearms, supporting me as he skates backward in front of me, dressed in gray sweatpants and a faded black T-shirt.

“Feet closer, there you go,” he murmurs.

He’s sweaty, his hair falling over his forehead, breath making puffy little clouds on the college rink he’s borrowing for the early morning. While the very kind older gentleman who let us in helped me find ice skates that fit, Declan got in some practice time.

If he wants to get back into hockey, time on ice is important.

Keeping his skills sharp.

He’s giving up half his practice time to teach me to ice skate though.

“Think I can skate backward before we’re done today?” I ask him.

He smiles a crinkly eyed smile at me. “Absolutely.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

He laughs that rusty, delicious laugh that always makes me feel like my insides are getting a bear hug. “Maybe not today. But soon if you keep practicing.”

There’s no one else at the rink.

No one in the stands around us.

The teams that use this rink are all on away trips, and so it truly is private.

We’re alone.

Just us on the ice.

“What’s that bullshit Zander was talking about you always being second best?” I ask as he pulls me along.

He shakes his head. “I am.”