Yeah. They were a lot alike and not a lot of people bothered to see what good, kind, generous people they were.
“No plans,” I said, remembering what we’d been talking about. “Got something in mind?”
Dad licked his lips, nervous. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet. Thought we might all go ice skating?”
Aiden’s eyes lit up. My stomach dropped.
My ice skating skills hadn’t improved any since we were teenagers. I hadn’t put on a pair of skates in eleven years.
But both Aiden and Dad were looking at me hopefully, and I was pretty sure I knew who the someone Dad wanted me to meet was. I’d noticed an extra car outside his cabin last night.
“Sure,” I said, draining the last of my coffee. “But neither of you are allowed to laugh at me.”
* * *
Aiden was laughing at me.
“Okay, okay,” he said, offering me a hand up.
I was sotiredof falling on the ice, but he was glowing, nose and cheeks pink from the cold, and I couldn’t bring myself to give up on this yet.
He helped me back to my feet, holding both of my forearms as I stood, taking most of my weight while I got my balance back.
“Look, what we’ve established is that I need to hold your hand the whole time or you’ll fall over,” Aiden said as if it was the best thing that’d ever happened to him.
Yeah. That was pretty much what we’d established, that I couldn’t ice skate without someone to lean on, and even then it was dicey.
“Lucky for you, I like holding your hand,” Aiden said, sliding his fingers down past my wrists and clasping both hands around my forearms for stability.
He was sopatient.
“You must think I’m an idiot.”
I would never have done this in front of any of my previous girlfriends, terrified they’d leave me for having no sense of balance or coordination. Forembarrassingthem.
But Aiden wasn’t embarrassed. He was still looking at me like I was incredible.
Couldn’t figure outwhy, but I didn’t hate it.
A wolf-whistle from a dozen feet away startled me, knocking me off-balance again.
Trent skated a circle around my dad, more confident than all of the rest of us combined.
I could see why we were going ice skating. He’d been nervous to meet me, and Dad wanted it to be on terms where he was comfortable.
“He seems nice.” Aiden grinned as Trent skated a circle aroundus, too.
“He loves Dad,” I said. I didn’t care about anything else, really. Just that this time, my dad had someone who loved him exactly the way he was, and didn’t treat him like a project. Dad wasn’t a fixer-upper, he didn’t havegood bones, he was great just the way he was and he needed someone to come along and appreciate that.
No one was perfect, and no one should have expected anyone else to be, either.
“He so does.” Aiden squeezed my fingers. “It’s good to see him happy.”
My stomach swooped as Aiden guided me forward, dragging me along the ice gently, so confident he could do this backwardandstill take most of my weight, all while keeping us both upright.
“I’m not gonna let go,” Aiden murmured, low and reassuring. “Don’t be afraid to lean on me.”
That was the thing, though. Iwasleaning on him. Heavily. In all kinds of ways.
