“In a heartbeat.”
“So you could continue to skate professionally?”
“So I could avoid ever having to have this type of conversation with anybody ever again.”
“Sorry.” Sergio winces. “I shouldn’t have pried.”
“You didn’t. You weren’t keeping tabs, remember?”
“Touché.”
“Besides, saying it all out loud now, I gotta say, I’m kind of glad you didn’t. This shit is depressing.” He tugs the corner of his eye again.
“I don’t know about that.” Sergio admires him as he takes a sip of his tea, enjoying the way the ginger slightly lights up the inside of his ears as he swallows. He lets go of his mug with one of his hands and reaches across the small space between them to grab onto Jeremy’s hand, finally satisfying the craving he first felt when they left the restaurant. “I think your story, as it stands right now, is kind of inspiring.”
To his relief, Jeremy doesn’t pull away. “How so?”
“Look at you,” he says, giving Jeremy’s hand a squeeze. “Sure, you’re not where you thought you would be, and your life took a major, unplanned left turn—”
“To put it lightly.”
“But you’re still involved in a world you love, coaching someone who is showing promise of being the next great skater. That’s rare. Not a lot of people can do what you can.”
“Says the world-renowned photographer,” Jeremy points out.
“Anyone with a camera can do what I do,” Sergio says. “I know for a fact that not everyone on a pair of skates can do what you do.”
“Is that so?” Jeremy asks, a conspiratorial smirk spreading across his lips. “You want to put your money where your mouth is?”
Sergio narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Jeremy puts his tea down on the coffee table, then rises to his feet and tugs Sergio up with him. “Come on. Let’s get you in a pair of skates.”
Sergio gulps. He’s never been on the ice even once. “What about Henry?” he asks in a feeble attempt to stop this train.
“He’s fine,” Jeremy assures. “He’ll be out for at least another hour.”
“All you need to do is hold my hands,” Jeremy instructs once he has Sergio up and standing in a pair of Holden’s skates on the ice. His cheeks are lifted, causing the corners of his eyes, sparkling more than the smooth ice, to crinkle.
Sergio, despite his earlier want to hold Jeremy’s hands, hesitates and keeps himself braced with his back against the rink's wall. “Oh no,” he says. “What if I knock you over? Rose will kill me.”
“You’re not going to knock me over and, if you do, it’ll be our little secret.” Jeremy glides forward to be even closer to Sergio. He extends his palms. “Now quit being a wimp and grab my hands.”
Sergio eyes him warily, but eventually gives in and grabs hold. After all his longing, he’d be damned stupid to turn down this opportunity for more physical contact with Jeremy.
“Good,” Jeremy says, giving Sergio’s hands a little squeeze as he begins to skate backward, tugging Sergio along with him. As Jeremy moves, Sergio can feel the way he pulls at him in a rocking motion, steady and comforting. “Now all you have to do is shift your weight with me from side to side. Don’t even worry about picking up your feet.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Jeremy says, continuing to sway side to side, setting the rhythm they use for gliding across the ice. Sergio is sure Jeremy’s feet are doing more than simply shifting side to side as he instructed Sergio to do, but he’s not about to look. He’s convinced that any second not spent staring at Jeremy’s lovely, smiling face will throw him off-kilter and land both of them on the hard ice below their blades.
“Nice and slow,” Jeremy encourages. “Get used to the way your feet feel on the ice. Feel the grip of the blades as they carve and find your balance.”
Sergio lets out a tentative laugh. “I’m pretty sure the only reason I’m balanced is because of you.”
“Nah, I could let go and you’d be fine.”
Sergio grips Jeremy’s hands tighter. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
