The rink is quiet. During practice earlier, I asked Coach Andrews if I could get a few extra hours on the ice. Being outhere with Quinn is the perfect way to spend the afternoon. She is able to calm all the voices around me. The fans that never seem to shut their mouths—yelling that I’m too old and washed up to play.
None of that matters when I’m with her. Breathing in the cold air, it settles in my lungs.
“Next thing you know, you’re going to be taking my job.”
“March, march, glide,” she repeats. “I don’t know if I’ll be playing hockey if I have to tell myself how to skate.”
“We can come back if you want. Let you get your legs under you. Then you can skate circles around me."
“Definitely around Noah.”
I burst out laughing, skating around her. “Fuck, that’s my girl.”
I start giving her more space on the ice, and soon Quinn is gliding more than marching. I don’t say anything because I don’t want to startle her, but she looks great out here.
I never thought it’d be such a turn-on to get to do the thing you love with the woman you love, but it is.
I fucking love it.
“Jasper! I’m doing it!”
She turns to look at me, but does it too quickly. Before she can fall, I’m catching her under her arms.
“Easy there, tiger.”
“Got a little too cocky,” she says.
“You looked great. We should come back and do this again.”
“Only if we can go to karaoke again.”
“At least you’re a better skater than I am a singer.”
“I happen to like your singing very much.”
She smiles up at me. A knit Knights hat covers her head. Pink creeps up her cheeks from the cold. She looks fucking adorable.
Leaning down, I cover her mouth with mine.
“Now I know you’re lying.” I shake my head. “Want to go longer, or are you done?”
“My legs are burning, so I say we call it.”
“Your choice.”
“Besides, we should get back so we can start dinner.”
I pull her back toward the bench. Kneeling before her, I start to untie her skates.
“Yes, I’d hate for us not to be able to make Brussels sprouts for everyone.”
She grasps my chin and pulls my gaze to hers. “One of these days, Hayes, you’ll learn to love them.”
“Only for you, Quinn. Only for you.”
Because if someone could make me love those wretched things, it’s Quinn.
She makes loving anything easy. Because it’s so easy to love her.
