“I see,” I say, soaking in the information. Did something go wrong in his past?
“Who would you consider your closest friend?” he asks.
“If you asked me a few months ago, I would’ve said Dylan, but you know where that ended up.” Mentioning his name still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but I’m not as affected by him now as I was back in Denver. I hope this is a sign I’m finally on my way to being over that man.
“And your answer today?”
“Daphne, my sister.” I exhale deeply. “I’m a workaholic, so I don’t have anybody else I could call or watch a movie with if she isn’t around.”
“I get that. When I toured, I was on the road ten months a year. I didn’t have time for non-skating friends. I’m lucky I had Gemma and Frankie around. Besides, I’m not great with talking to people outside my skating bubble.”
“I disagree. I think you do really well with everybody. When we first met, you were great with me and Vicki.”
“That’s different.” I watch in amusement as the tips of his ears redden. “I needed help with Gemma and Tim’s cat. We talked about medical things, not personal stuff.”
“If you want to get technical, that’s how it was at first, but we crossed the professional line a long timeago.” I laugh.
“Touché.”
“My turn. What’s one thing about Gemma and Frankie you think I should know?”
“Never place a bet or wager with either of them,” he deadpans.
I arch my eyebrow. “Dare I ask why?”
“They always win. No matter what.” His eyes crinkle. “I never learned my lesson. Those two got me into so much trouble with our stage manager.”
“What type of bets would you make?”
“It varied. Sometimes it might be something skating related, like who could do the cleanest double Axels or most triple toes in a row. Other times it might be something connected to clothing, like who could go the longest wearing an inflatable T-Rex costume without someone saying anything.”
“Please tell me somebody took pictures!” I giggle.
“I can neither confirm nor deny their existence,” he says with a straight face.
“Ha! That means there are some out there!” He zips his mouth closed and throws away the key. I shake my head.
Fernando and I continue to exchange questions. By the end, I start to form a better image of his two best friends. Frankie may be competitive, but is also fiercely loyal to her friends and family. The entire reason she quit show skating was to move home and care for her elderly dad. Gemma, on the other hand, is more laid back and soft spoken. She’s the type of person who wears her heart on her sleeve.
“They both sound like amazing people. I hope I get the chance to know them a little better.” I think back to our short interaction at the antiques market a few weeks ago.
“You will. Trust me, it won’t take long for them to adopt you. Just don’t be too surprised if either of them tries to set us up, even though I’ve told them no many times before. Those two live for romance. Especially the showCupid’s Arrow.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I locate a hair tie and pull my hair backinto a ponytail. I’m excited to have something in common with them.
We stand and stretch. My feet still ache, but I’m not willing to let a little pain ruin spending the rest of the day in the town of Granada.
“We should take a few photos of us together in case your aunts end up wanting to see what we’ve been up to.”
“You’re right.”
We take a moment for some selfies. His long arms make it easy for us to fit more than our faces into the shot.
“What do you think we should say if they wonder why we only have photos of us together from the trip?” he asks, as we continue toward the parking lot.
“We could tell them a half-truth,” I suggest. “That our relationship is new, and we only decided to make things official recently. We can even use the story of you bringing the cat in to see me as our meet-cute.”
“I like it, except what’s a meet-cute?”
