Once more, her sweet tone warmed his heart.
Chapter 23
Alice
The far end of Anchorage Park was filled with multicoloured twinkling lights surrounding a rectangular ice rink and two wooden alpine cabins. Large animatronic reindeer bobbed their heads as a mechanical Father Christmas waved over by the entrance, where lively festive music played.
Alice, Jamie, and Benny went straight to the skate-hire lodge and paid for an hour on the ice.
With how illuminated everything was, there was no telling just how dark the sky was, and there were so many happy skaters around, their combined warmth seemed to take the edge off the night-time chill.
Benny pointed out some of his friends as they plodded over to the rink.
‘Off you go then,’ said Alice. ‘Have fun.’ She turned to Jamie. ‘You ready?’
He laughed, carefully stepping onto the slippery ice. ‘Not sure I know how to do this anymore. We were teenagers the last time I went skating.’
Alice grabbed the rail to help steady herself as she joined his side. ‘The last time I did this was with you, so we’re in this together.’
He laughed and took her free hand. ‘We’ll go slow.’
Robson came whizzing by, bringing himself to a halt in front of them. ‘Hello, you two need some help from a pro?’
Alice grinned. ‘No one likes a show-off.’
Demi stumbled into Robson’s side. ‘He makes it look easy.’ She pointed behind her. ‘I’ve been round twice already, and so far so good. Come on, Al, let go of the rail and give it your best shot.’
Alice let go of her strong grip and shuffled forward with Jamie holding her hand tightly. ‘We’ll see you round the other side.’ Laughing, she watched Robson swirl off like he skated for a living, and Demi do her best to slide across the ice with grace.
‘I think we’re doing great,’ said Jamie, holding his posture well.
Alice wasn’t too sure but no longer cared. It was a lovely night, and she was out enjoying herself, even if she was praying every five seconds to not fall over, or worse, take Jamie with her.
They came to a stop in front of Benny, who was helping a girl around his age get back up from a fall.
‘All okay?’ asked Alice, watching the girl tidy her blonde hair, then wipe along the dampness of her jeans.
Benny nodded. ‘Yeah. Oh, hey, Mum, this is Ellie.’ He turned to the rosy-cheeked girl, who looked slightly nervous. ‘This is my mum, Alice. And that’s Jamie.’
Jamie said hello first, as Alice was too busy wondering if Ellie was more than just a friend, seeing how Benny was holding the girl’s hand even though she was back on her feet and in no need of further assistance.
‘We’ll see you later for hot chocolate,’ said Benny, skating off with ease, still holding Ellie’s hand.
‘Huh!’ Alice looked at Jamie. ‘Did I just get introduced to his girlfriend?’
Jamie grinned. ‘It did look that way.’
‘Well, it’s the first I’ve heard.’
‘Did you tell your mum about all your boyfriends straight away?’
Alice scratched beneath her red woolly hat as she raised her brow. ‘And just exactly how many boyfriends did you see me with?’
‘I said that without thinking, didn’t I?’
‘Hmm.’
‘Well, perhaps if you didn’t spend all your time hanging out with me, you would have had some.’
