Eva gave me a look that suggested she had known me my entire life, which unfortunately was true.
“I set a boundary,” I corrected.
“You set a wall,” she said, and her tone was light, but the truth underneath it landed anyway.
I watched Abby wobble and recover, wobble and recover, and tried to keep my attention on her instead of on Eva’s words.
“She doesn’t know,” I said quietly.
“Know what,” Eva asked.
I hesitated. “Who I was. Maybe she’s figured it out since then. People always do. But she didn’t come into the shop with that. She just came in as herself.”
Eva’s expression softened slightly. “And that scares you.”
“It shouldn’t,” I said.
“But it does,” she replied.
I sighed. “I don’t want that life again.”
Eva nodded. “You’re allowed to not want it.”
I looked at her.
“What,” she said. “I can be reasonable.”
I let out a short laugh despite myself. “She’s not asking me to tour. She’s asking how to keep a community event from turning into a disaster.”
Eva smiled. “And you thought she wanted you on a stage.”
“I heard the word talent show and I…” I trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.
“You went back there,” Eva finished for me.
“Yes,” I admitted.
Eva skated a slow circle around me, then came back close. “Caleb, you have been living like every request is a trap.”
“It’s not every request,” I said.
“It is every request that involves people watching you with your music,” she replied. “And this is Maple Ridge. People watch everyone. That’s the whole town's hobby.”
I frowned. “That’s not fair.”
Eva shrugged. “It’s accurate. Remember how they gossiped about me? It’s what they do.”
Abby skated toward us then, arms out, smiling wide. “I went all the way without holding on.”
“You did,” I said, pride surprising me with how quickly it rose.
Eva leaned down. “See. Growth.”
Abby nodded solemnly. “Growth.”
For some reason, I glanced around the outdoor rink and happened to see Kitty. I paused, watching her on the ice with Meri, gliding smoothly, confident in a way I hadn’t yet seen from her. On skates, she looked like she belonged to the rink. She cut a clean line across the ice, knees bent slightly, arms relaxed, her focus outward instead of inward.
Meri skated beside her with surprising competence, expression calm as if she was thinking about something else entirely.
