My feet slip right out from under me and I land on my back, my head bouncing off the ice. I lay there, stunned.
“Bailey!” Logan’s voice breaks through the ringing in my ears. He lands on his knees several feet away and slides to my side. “Are you okay?” He starts checking me over, his hands testing my arms and legs for broken bones as his training kicks in. He leans in close and holds both sides of my face with his bare hands. “Bailey? Please tell me I didn’t hurt you.”
I suddenly cough, like my body’s engine is trying to restart.
“Let me through, I’m her guardian angel,” Gladys elbows her way to the front of the crowd. “Bailey, you were amazing on the sled.” She drops to the other side of me.
“Thanks,” I reply feebly.
“Can you move?” asks Logan.
“I’m fine. I think.” I wince as I try to sit up. Other firefighters have gathered around us and they block out the sun. Which is nice because I was squinting before.
“Don’t get up too fast,” admonishes Axel.
“You’re better looking up close,” I tell Axel. I’m still fuzzy and I don’t feel at all embarrassed for saying so because I’m with it enough to know it’s my head injury talking.
“She obviously hit her head,” says Logan. Which makes all the guys laugh.
Gladys grins. “Maybe it knocked some sense into her.” She winks at Axel who throws his head back and lets out a hearty laugh.
I can’t be that bad off if everyone is making jokes.
Logan cups my face again and makes me look at him. His eyes dart back and forth between mine, looking for signs of a concussion. My head clears even more as I stare into his green eyes. “You have beautiful eyes,” I tell him. This time, I just want to say it because it’s true.
Gladys beams at me.
The guys all laugh harder. Logan’s ears turn red, and I don’t think it’s because we are outside in December. He grins. “I should have shoved you across the ice a while back. How are you feeling?”
I draw in a breath and assess myself. I may have a bruise on my hip and a bump on my head but I don’t think it’ll stop me from continuing with the games. “I’m good.”
He smiles at me as he tucks my head against his shoulder with one hand and wraps the other around my back. “Yeah you are,” he says low as he stands up, taking me with him. I lean into his tall, strong body and let him hold me up.
The crowd breaks into applause now that I’m on my feet and I realize the games were on hold as the whole fire department checked me over for injuries. I lift a hand to wave at the onlookers and let them know I’m okay.
“Let’s get you over to the bench.” Logan directs me to where several camp chairs are set up on the edge of the rink.
“Alright everyone—we’re glad she’s okay. Let’s give her one more round of applause.” The crowd cheers as Logan settles me in a chair. He squats in front of me and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. I barely resist the urge to lean into his touch.
“Take the next event off and then we’ll get you back out there for the relay skate, okay?”
“Aye-aye captain,” I tease him.
Gladys plops into the chair next to me. “I’ll sit with her. You get out there and win the relay race. That Axle is talking big, but you can beat him.”
“Darn right I can.” He winks at me and swaggers away, his shoulders all broad and such.
I lean back in the chair and let out a sigh. Gladys fans my face. “You look like you’re overheating there.”
I swat her hands away and laugh. Before I can formulate a response, she says, “You know, Bailey, sometimes the things that scare us the most are exactly what we need to grow.”
I open my mouth to argue, but the words die on my lips. The human curling scared me and yet if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have gotten that close to Logan. I also wouldn’t have hit my head, but that feels more like an aside. It’s only a dull thudding that should fade soon. The realization that I am a person who likes taking risks is bigger than the small inconvenience and pain.
The rest of the afternoon passes in a blur of events. I find myself drawn into more activities than I’d planned, cheering for Logan and getting way more into a game of Snowball Dodgeball than is probably healthy. When Axel gets me out, I charge at him like a batter charging the plate. Logan hooks his arm around my middle and picks me up off the ground. “Easy there, Vixen. I’m all for taking Axel out, but he’s on duty tonight, so you can’t knock him out.”
I wiggle against his hold but it’s pointless. He spins us behind one of the blockades and out of range. He sets me down and I stomp my foot. The heat of the moment has passed and I’m ready to be civil again. “I’m going. I’m going.” I tug on my jacket and stalk away.
Logan chuckles behind me. I smile to myself. Today has been a day of reawakening, and I’m so glad I came.
