“This happened when I started remembering other things.”
“What do you mean?”
“Pieces of medical school, surgeries I was in, different things I had done with the guys over the years. It just would hit me, and, one day, I just seemed to have the entire picture. Well, not the entire picture,” I say the last part full of guilt and wish I didn’t have to. I’m worried she’ll get upset.
“This is a good thing, then.” She pats my hand, eyes full of hope, and I pray I don’t let her down.
“I think so.” Then, I put my arm around her waist and lead her out of the building. “Is it close enough to walk, or do we need a ride?”
“We can walk.”
The snow is coming down in thick, sticky flakes, and it doesn’t take long before it covers our hats. We are trudging into the storm, and, when I turn to Charlotte, she has snow-filled lashes.
I stop and pull her into me, bend down, and kiss her. We’re in the middle of the sidewalk, snow is coming down hard, people are bustling around us, but at that moment, she consumes me.
Our noses and cheeks are cold, but her lips are warm and soft, her tongue teases against mine, and she’s once again in my arms.
She laces her hands together behind my head, and I once again have this sense of the past, but I can’t place it and don’t even try hard. Desire to be hers forever races through me, and nothing feels more right than Charlotte.
“I love you,” I murmur against her lips, and she stops kissing me and looks at me like she doesn’t trust my words.
“I do. I only love you. But we’ll talk about this later.” Before she can say anything, I spin away from her but keep my one arm around her waist, and we tread through the snow.
I faintly see the ice rink up ahead, but the snow is thick, so I’m not positive. I point. “Is that it?”
“Yes,” she says.
“Are you a good skater?”
She laughs. “Decent. I wouldn’t say good. Probably better than you, based on what you told me.”
“That I will fall and may end up having Dr. Sear operating on me?”
Her laughter rings through the air, and my heart swells. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. I think brain surgery should be enough for one year.”
“And I even have the scar to prove it.”
“Okay. Well, I’m anxious to see your skating skills.”
We get to the area where you rent skates, and I pay for two pairs. Charlotte and I sit down on a bench to put our skates on. She laces hers and gracefully stands. I put mine on, stand, and almost fall. I grab her, and she laughs. “I told you I suck at this, right?”
She bites her lip. “You going to be able to do this?”
I will probably fall on my ass fifty times and break every bone in my body, but if you want to skate, then I’ll break all my bones for you.
“Yep. Let’s go.” I grab her hand, and after a few steps, I seem to get the hang of balancing on the blade.
But then we hit the ice. As soon as I step onto the slippery rink, I go flying on my belly.
“Shit,” I say.
Charlotte skates around me and crouches down. “Xander, you okay?”
“Yep. Good thing I don’t have any ego around my skating skills, or I’d be crushed right now.”
Charlotte throws her head back and laughs.
I’ll fall all night if I get to see that.
