“Hey! No laughing at Daddy,” Cole groaned.
“Are you okay?” I asked, offering him my hand.
He glanced at it for a moment before he grabbed it, and I pulled him up, almost losing my balance in the process.
As soon as he was on his feet, he grabbed onto the barrier again and caught his breath.
“What?” he asked. He looked flustered.
“Nothing.” I chuckled. “Why don’t we leave you to get reacquainted with the ice, and I’ll show Ella how to do this?”
Cole raised an eyebrow and gave a barely noticeable nod, and we set off.
“Come on, Ella, let’s show Daddy how it’s done,” I told the little one and grabbed both her hands, placing her in front of me and instructed her to move her legs.
She started walking on the skates, but after a couple of tries with me demonstrating for her, she began gliding instead. She was a little unbalanced to begin with, but by the time we made a full round, she was a lot more confident.
Confident enough to wave at her dad as we passed him by on our way to another lap.
Even when she lost her balance and fell, she didn’t cry or complain. She laughed, brushed it off, and had another go.
Cole had stopped trying to catch up with us. Instead, he stood to the side and watched us with a smile on his face.
There. That’s it,I told myself.
It was moments like these that made remembering I wasn’t supposed to get too attached hard.
Because I wanted to get attached. I wanted my days to be full of him and Ella, building memories like these. But I was sure Cole didn’t want that. He was doing this, dating me, because he felt like he had to, surely.
So the best I could do was swallow my feelings and resist the temptation he was. It shouldn’t be too hard. I’d resisted temptation for years now. Resisted experimenting, dating, hooking up, the whole shebang because I wasn’t a victim to my emotions and my desires.
“What do you think, Ella? Should we go help your dad?” I pointed to Cole, and Ella bit her lip, shaking her head.
“Wanna ring-ring more,” she replied.
I had to admit. Her calling ice-skating ring-ring was freaking adorable. Though I couldn’t imagine anything coming out of her mouth not being adorable. Which was a strange thing to think about if I considered the fact I’d never had any strong feelings about kids. About having them or being around them. Not that I was bad with kids. I was just happier amongst cats.
But Ella?
She was too sweet for words. I didn’t know if it was how Cole looked at her, how much she clearly loved him, how cheeky she could be, or smart, considering she’d taken to ice-skating like a house on fire, but I liked her. Just looking at her smiling little face made my heart feel warmer.
I shook my head with a sigh and focused on the skating. I wasn’t supposed to get attached to either of them. Not that there would be anything wrong with becoming attached. I mean, attachment didn’t mean a romantic relationship with Cole. Friends got attached. He could be my friend.
I swallowed a knot on my throat.
Yeah. Friends could be good.
“I need to catch my breath,” I said and came to a stop in front of Cole.
It wasn’t a lie either. I was out of breath. Not Ella though. She pulled at my hand, begging to keep going.
“Come on, Ella. I’ll take you,” Cole offered, but Ella grimaced.
“You can’t ring-ring, Daddy,” she grumbled, and I burst out laughing.
Cole stared back at his daughter, looking stunned.
“Um, excuse me, daughter, but I can so ring-ring,” he finally said and started moving his legs until he all but face-planted the ice, making Ella giggle.
