Page 50 of Icing on Top

Heart-stopping was how it felt. Those two minutes in the Sin Bin were worth every second.

Calvin wiped his mouth with a napkin and then sat back in his seat, subconsciously rubbing his full belly. “How about a rematch now? I just have to turn on the lights around the rink, and you’ll be set,” he offered. “Can even get a bonfire going for Peg and me to watch.”

“I don’t know about that,” I hedged. My hand moved to rest on my own bloated stomach. I’d eaten far too much, but Peg’s food had been so good, I couldn’t get myself to stop piling more onto my plate. “I don’t think I could even bend over to get a pair of skates on.”

“Wait. You have your own hockey rink? Here?” Charlie asked.

“Yup. Wanna see?”

Calvin held his hand out to her, and Charlie nearly tipped her chair over getting out of it, dragging the poor man to the back door and the window that looked out over the yard.

“Daddy! They really do have their own rink.”

“Well now I know what she’ll be asking Santa for,” I joked under my breath.

As if she didn’t spend enough time on the ice up at the rink I owned. If we had one at home, I’d never get her out of her skates. That’s if I could even find room for it between the playground and trampoline.

Charlie turned, her eyes already pleading with me before she’d even opened her mouth. “Can we go skate, Daddy?”

I pressed my lips together, hating when I had to disappoint her.

“We forgot to bring your skates. I’m sorry, Tot.”

Peg waved her hand dismissively as she stood from the table. “That’s no problem at all. We kept all of Zoe’s skates from when she was little. There’s bound to be a pair that fits.”

Zoe’s brows furrowed and she spun to face her aunt and uncle.

“You kept all of them? Why?”

Skates weren’t cheap, and they probably could have made decent money selling the ones she’d outgrown. At least, that’s what my parents had done. Any money they made off of them went back toward new equipment and tournament fees. The only skates they saved were my very first pair.

Calvin shoved his hands into his pockets, eyes not quite meeting Zoe’s. “We wanted to save them for when you had little ones of your own.”

The muscle in Zoe’s jaw jerked, but otherwise she let no emotion show through. The topic of children hadn’t come up, so I wasn’t sure where she stood on having kids, but her reaction—however small it may have been—made me think that it was a bit of a tender subject.

Peg cleared her throat and reached her hand out to Charlie.

“Come on. Let’s go see what we can find.”

Charlie didn’t have to be told twice. She eagerly took Peg’s hand and led her down the hall herself.

“I’ll go get the bonfire started for us,” Calvin announced and then he was gone.

I waited until the door had clicked shut behind him before I reached over to rest my hand on Zoe’s leg. Her mind was clearly elsewhere. It took a few seconds for her to respond to my touch, but then she turned to me, a timid smile on her lips.

“You good?” I asked softly.

She nodded absently. “Yeah. I just… I suppose I feel a little guilty for letting them down. It’s not like they have anyone else to give them grandchildren.”

I frowned and adjusted in my seat so I could face her straight on.

“Do you want that? To have children?”

Her lips pursed. “I never really thought much about it when I was younger. It was just one of those inevitable things; when the timing was right and I’d done what I wanted to with my life.”

The tightness in her jaw returned as she seemed to mull something over in her mind. The more time I spent around her, the more I noticed her tells. One of them being that glazed over look she got in her eyes when she was lost in her thoughts.

“Then Jada and Levi had Bash, and the baby fever hit hard, but…” She shrugged helplessly. “It’s not like I had any prospects.”