I walked into the rink and saw Auburn sitting with another blonde. She spotted me immediately and waved me over. I smiled and smoothed out my shirt before heading in their direction.
“Charlie,” Auburn said cheerfully while holding up her beer. “It’s moms’ night out for us.”
The girl sitting next to Auburn turned toward me. She was stunning. Her hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail, and she had delicate yet sharp features and stunningly blue eyes.
Auburn stood, making room so I could sit next to her. “This is my friend Stassi.”
“Hi.” I smiled and held out my hand.
“It’s nice to meet you, Charlie. Auburn was telling me the big news.”
I looked over at Auburn.
“She’s my friend, so I may have slipped and told the truth about the marriage.” She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into a hug, making me stumble on the uneven steps.
“Oh...” I trailed off as she squeezed me.
“Don’t hate me.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head and pulling away. “It’s fine, really.”
I needed to change the subject, so I quickly took a seat and leaned in to talk to Stassi. “Are you married to someone who plays?”
“Yes. Alexsey retired a couple years ago, but he used to play with Ledger. They’re best friends.”
“Oh, how fun,” I said, looking as Auburn stood up again and started waving.
For someone so short, I wondered if she realized how tall she really made herself.
“Emma,” Auburn shouted and jumped off the benches.
Stassi slid in closer to me. “I often wonder how someone with so much personality can be contained in that small body.”
I looked over at Stassi and laughed. “I just had the same thought.”
“That’s why we love her. She means well.”
I nodded along because I wasn’t sure I knew Austin’s mom well enough to make that assumption. In fact, from what I knew of her, she left her son feeling like he was always second best.
“You come from somewhere in the South?”
“Yeah, from Georgia.”
“Do you miss home? When I first moved out here, I missed the idea of home a lot...” Stassi trailed off like there was more to the story, but I wasn’t going to pry.
“Where did you move here from?”
“Originally, Alex and I are from Russia, but he moved out here to play hockey, and a couple years later, I moved out here to skate.”
“You’re a figure skater?”
She shrugged and gave me a soft smile. “I used to be.”
I wanted to say sorry for whatever happened to make her stop, but she giggled. “I have two kids at home now, and one is a toddler, so it makes doing anything difficult.”
I smiled, thinking that if I ever had kids, I’d want it to be with a partner who supported me and my career dreams. I didn’t want to be the sole caregiver, which is why I’d never seriously considered having children. The kind of partner my mom would choose for me would likely expect me to stay at home and fit into a role that wasn’t my dream. It’s not that being a stay-at-home parent is wrong or bad—it’s just not the life I envisioned for myself.
“I can imagine. I don’t miss home much, if I’m being honest, but when I moved out here, I met a group of friends and Austin pretty quickly.”
