We make another circle around the ice. An older couple I don’t know waves at us from the edge of the rink.
Christina waves to them, and we slow to a stop. Now that we’re closer, I see that the woman looks a lot like Kendall. They’re the same height and have the same long, wavy dark hair. They have the same button nose and big brown eyes too.
“Mom. Dad. What are you doing here?” Kendall asks.
“We got here a little early so we thought we’d come inside and surprise you,” Kendall’s mom says.
Kendall hugs her, then her dad. She introduces me and Micah to her parents, Elena and Jim. Aidan says hi to them. Elena mentions that they haven’t seen Aidan in years.
“Look at you! Engaged!” Elena beams at Aidan and Micah.
Aidan smiles and gazes adoringly at Micah. He scoops her hand in his. “I can’t believe it either. Somehow I managed to convince this amazing woman to spend the rest of her life with me.”
Micah smiles at him.
“I hope you two can come to the wedding,” Aidan says to Kendall’s parents.
“Oh absolutely. You’re one of Kendall’s longest and best friends. Of course we’ll be there. We would have loved to go to the engagement party, but we were in the Philippines visiting my cousins,” Elena says.
“It’s ok,” says Aiden. “We’re just glad you’ll be at the wedding.”
Jim turns to me. “Liam, I’m a huge fan. You’re my favorite player on the Wolves.”
I smile. “Thank you, sir. That’s really nice of you to say.”
We all chat for a bit before Jim and Elena say they should get going. I help move Christina off the ice.
She smiles up at me. “Liam, I had a lovely time with you. Thank you so much.”
“It was my pleasure. And hey, we should all do brunch again sometime.”
“I’d like that,” she says.
I offer to help her out to Jim and Elena’s car, but they say they’re fine on their own. Kendall hugs them all good-bye and they head out of the rink.
Micah glances down at her phone and turns to Aidan. “We should head home if we want to hit our word count today.”
“You’re right.” Aidan turns to me. “Sorry to take off so soon.”
“It’s okay. Duty calls.” I hug Micah. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Kendall hugs them bye. When they leave, I glance down at her. “Looks like it’s just you and me, firecracker.”
She grins. “Looks like it.”
“Wanna do a few more times around the rink? Just you and me?”
Her eyes are bright. “Sure.”
We skate ahead, rejoining the crowd circling the rink.
“Hey.” Kendall’s voice is soft. “Thank you for today. My aunt had a blast.”
“I had a fun time with her. I’m really glad she could come.”
She’s quiet for a long moment as she looks ahead.
“The way you went out of your way today meant a lot,” she says.
