She grabs my hand and attempts to help me up, but I’m a lot bigger than her, and I end up pulling her down on top of me.
“I’m sorry!”
She laughs more.
I’m sprawled across the ice, and Charlotte is on top of me. I kiss her, as people skate all around us.
The ice may be freezing, but Charlotte stokes a fire within me, and I’m once again unaware of anything besides her. I harden against her and pull her as close to me as possible.
She pulls back and murmurs, “I’d better get off you before the kids have nightmares.”
I give her another peck. “Okay, let’s attempt this.”
She gracefully bounces up, and I fumble but finally stand.
Once I take a few glides, I lose my balance but catch it then get the hang of it.
I’m not graceful like Charlotte, but I am making progress.
“You’ve got it now,” Charlotte praises as she continues to skate around me.
“Why do I feel you’re holding back?”
She grins and shrugs.
“Show me what you would do if you weren’t babysitting me.”
“Babysitting you?”
“Yeah. Go on. Show me your skills.”
“My skills?”
“Yes. I want to see your skills. Go.”
“All right.”
She takes off and skates several dozen feet then jumps, lands, and spins around like a professional skater.
You’ve got to be shitting me.
When she stops spinning, she skates back to me.
“That was incredible! Where did you learn to do that?”
She winks at me. “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.”
“Seriously, where did you learn that?”
“I took lessons when I got my first real job.”
“You skate like a pro,” I gush at her.
She laughs. “Let’s notgo overboard.”
“I’m not! That was awesome.” I’m not just telling her that. It was impressive.
She takes my hand, and we skate together. After a few hours, we decide to turn our skates back in.
