He nodded. “Earlier, I had a flashback to when Camille and I went down.” He rubbed his scar. “I don’t want you to suffer like I have. You’re not just my partner; you’re my girlfriend. If I had hurt you—”
Her stomach lurched. She scooted closer to him. How could she get through to him that she was fully aware of the risks of skating?
“You went through the worst possible experience a skater can have. Any other person might have turned their back on the sport and let their injury define who they are. But you didn’t.” She poked him in the chest. “You, Charlie, are the man who sought to defy the odds and come back from it. Answer me this—why doyoutake the risk?”
“At first, it was for purely selfish motives. I saw you as my way back into the sport. I wanted to prove to the world that I wasn’t a broken man; I could still skate.” His voice suddenly grew hoarse. “But the more time I spent with you, the more I started to develop feelings for you. I didn’t want to skate for myself anymore. I wanted to skate for you.”
He grasped her hand. “Not only are you stunningly beautiful, you are driven, passionate, and competitive. But the quality I’m most attracted to is your heart. You have so much more love and kindness to give the world than any person I’ve ever met.”
Frankie held on to Charlie’s every word. He was like a flower, and she was a butterfly. She couldn’t look away. The sweet scent of pollen sang to her.
“You’ve cast your magic spell over me. Because of you, I’ve rediscovered the joy I had for skating.” Charlie pressed his leg against hers. His hand brushed against her cheek. She felt as if she’d just sprinted full speed through a field of wildflowers and was breathless. “You asked me why I take the risk to skate pairs. It’s because I want to see you achieve your dreams. I want you to have everything you desire because you deserve it and I love you.”
He loves me.
“And I love you too.”
Leaning toward one another, they kissed. She was reminded of the intensity of an approaching storm. A primordial force that was both powerful and raw. The air would steadily grow humid. Thick, darkened clouds would pass overhead. While at first these clouds might produce a light mist or a steady stream of sprinkles, eventually, it would transform into a heavy downpour of rain. Nothing would be safe from becoming soaked through.
When they broke apart, her lips were swollen. Her pulse was as rapid as a flash of thunder. Her energy as electric as a bolt of lightning.
“When did you first realize you loved me?” she asked.
They nuzzled their noses together.
“The moment you challenged me to do a split twist. You set my heart on fire that day,” he said. “I’ll ask you the same question. When did you realize you loved me?”
Her cheeks colored. “The night I ran into the woods. Without you, I might still be stumbling around through the darkness.”
“You’re resourceful; you would’ve figured out a solution to your problem eventually.”
The ice packs on their bodies had fallen to the ground unnoticed. Frankie rested her head on the bony edge of his shoulder, and her fingers brushed against the rough fabric of his costume. She inhaled deeply. “We can postpone the skate. Your mental health always comes first. Skating will always be there.”
“If you want to skate another program today, we’ll make it happen. Hearing you say the three most beautiful words in the English language, I love you, has given me all the mental strength I need to do it. I’ll skate with you because I love you.”
They kissed a second time.
Frankie rubbed his knee as he pecked her on the cheek. “As weird as it sounds, the fall kind of scared all the nerves out of me. I feel like it was exactly what I needed to clear my head and get out of my funk. I feel so calm and at peace with my skating.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
They heard Leslie open and close the door to the rink and watched as she glided out toward them.
“Did you finish the schedule?” Charlie asked.
“Schedule?” She arched an eyebrow. “Oh right, yeah, the schedule. It’s done.”
He rolled his eyes.
Leslie’s eyes darted from her brother to Frankie. “Is everything cleared up between you two?”
They both nodded.
“We’re going to skate one more time,” Frankie confirmed.
In unison, they both stood and cringed. She felt as if she’d spent the entire session tossing her body around, attempting triple Axels just to see how many tumbles she could take on them.
I bet Charlie’s aches are just as bad as mine. We’re probably only going to get one more shot at this.
