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I laugh, my tongue still burning. “Well, you knew I wasn’t going to listen,” I accuse jokingly.

The boy rolls his eyes and goes to help the elderly lady, who is next in line.

Realizing the time, I grab my shopping bag that’s waiting on the ground and swing around to head out since I’m supposed to meet a friend at the ice rink shortly. I turn too quickly and almost run smack into a guy who is right behind me.

I jump back in a quick yelp of surprise.

Familiar green eyes stare back at me. He’s wearing a gray beanie pulled down low over his eyebrows, but I’d know that face anywhere.

“I apologize for almost knocking into you. I wasn’t paying attention,” he says. His voice lacks any warmth or emotion, and I wonder if he even recognizes me.

“No worries. I wasn’t looking either.” I move to scurry away as quickly as possible, but his words stop me.

“Hold on. You have something on your nose.” He reaches up with his thumb as though he will brush away the offending spot.

I turn my head to avoid his thumb. “Umm, I got it, thanks.”

My pulse rapidly beats as I make a beeline for the safety of the stores across the street. Once there, I swipe my nose with the back of my hand, and sure enough, whipped cream comes off my face.

Embarrassment courses through me. After all of these years, I run into Brad Anders. The Brad Anders, the breaker of hearts and crusher of dreams. And I had whipped cream smeared on my face—just my luck.

I try to calm my racing heart as I make my way to the ice skating rink. It’s distressing that after four years apart, Brad still has the ability to make my insides turn to mush with just one look from his emerald-green eyes.

What’s he doing here? Why did he come back? It wasn’t for me, that’s for sure. I gave up that hope a long, long ago. I cringe just remembering all of those nights I spent crying and wishing he’d come to his senses and return to me. It took me years to get over him, but I’ve finally moved on. I’m a different person now, a stronger person. I’m not the naïve, starry-eyed twenty-one-year-old I used to be.

The challenges of the last few years have made me realize what’s important. I gave up what I thought was my lifelong dream and have settled into a life I’m happy with.

My legs speed up as I round the corner to my favorite place in the entire world, the ice rink. My second home. The brisk walk has cleared my head, and I’m eager to meet up with my best friend for our almost daily chat session.

Hanna is waiting to pounce on me as soon as I enter the rink. She grabs my hand immediately and pulls me into our break room.

She launches into her frantic tirade before the door even closes. Her large hoop earrings sway back and forth as she slaps her hands on the table.

“Where’ve you been? I’ve been waiting for you to get here forever. You’ll never believe what I heard. Like, seriously, you’ll never believe it.”

“Brad is back in town,” I comment dryly.

Her mouth opens in a soundless Oh. “You already heard.”

“Not heard. Saw. I got an up close and personal view of him as I ran smack into him at the town square. I’ll never be able to visit my favorite hot chocolate booth again.” I shake my head regretfully, only half kidding.

Hanna’s brow wrinkles in worry. “I wonder how long he’ll be here?”

My best friend, Hanna, is the only friend who knows what happened between me and Brad. She’s the only one who understood the devastation I felt when he left because she’s the one who helped pick up the pieces of my shattered heart.

“No idea. Hopefully, it’s a short visit, though.”

“Winny, be careful. Don’t let that handsome face make you forget what he did to you. Remember, it’s because of him you didn’t qualify at Nationals and lost your chance at the Olympics.”

My heart contracts painfully just thinking about how hard those days were. But Hanna’s words aren’t a fair retelling of what happened. “I can’t lay the blame for all of that on Brad. At the time, it was convenient to blame him, but he’s not the reason we didn’t qualify at Nationals. Todd and I just weren’t ready at that time.”

“You and Todd were more than ready. You’d been skating together since you were ten years old. You were one of the best pairs skaters I’d ever seen. Of course, you were ready. The day that Brad walked out on you, you gave up. You lost your spirit and your will to win. Maybe you don’t remember, but I do.” She throws her hands in the air. “You refused to leave your house for weeks.”

“And just look at what happened after that. I went back out there and ruined Todd’s life. He was my best friend and partner. I should’ve done better.” I nearly choked on the words. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. Because of me and one dumb, wrong move, he broke his ankle during our lift, and it never healed properly, you know.”

Hanna shakes her head vigorously. “Don’t go down that road again. You’re not to blame. You didn’t cause that fall or Todd’s broken ankle. We all know that. But your skating wasn’t perfect that day, and it’s because your attention wasn’t on skating. It was on Brad and the horrible way he left you. We both know who should be blamed for what happened, and it’s not you.”

A soft sigh escapes my partially open mouth. “That’s all in the past, and honestly, I don’t want to dredge up all that old drama. Besides, as amazing as the Olympics would’ve been, that wasn’t the path I wanted to go down. It was never really my dream. Todd always wanted it more than I did, but I stuck it out because he was my best friend and partner. Now that we’re no longer skating together, I can finally do what I want to do, and that’s coaching.”