“No. You needed a lesson.” I spin around in front of him and take his hands.
He scoffs. “In breaking something?”
“Preconceived notions, maybe.”
He stills even more, if that’s possible, considering he’s moved a grand total of four feet in twenty minutes. I pull gently. “You need to learn to trust me more.”
With that, his whole body relaxes. The minute it does, I push back and pull him along with me. Charlie’s face lights up as the wind whips past his face while I backskate. There’s times I have to let his hand go—once around a newbie with a skate trainer and a second time as we’re on a collision course with teenagers unwilling to part from the next stage in their emotional courtship.
But I don’t let Charlie fall.
Nor, will I.
* * *
After a short break for some hot chocolate, he wants to try it on his own. I warn him it’s going to be different than if I’m holding on.
“Make sure your knees are bent and your hips are steady.”
He smirks. “You of all people know how steady my hips are.”
Now, I’m the one who almost trips when I recall the steady thrust of his hips into me. I bite my lip. “I remember.”
His eyes sparkle. I could get lost in that twinkle that lights up the arena more than any spotlight. “I hoped you wouldn’t forget.”
I blush and it causes Charlie to laugh. After he’s done teasing me, he announces, “Okay. I’m ready.”
I glide. He stomps and wobbles.
Glide. Stomp and wobble.
It’s bad. Truly awful. But the effort he’s putting in makes me beam. He catches the edge of my smile and it causes him to stumble. “Are you laughing at me?”
“Never,” I vow.
Something in him relaxes at that proclamation. A few more rotations and he finally—finally!—gets the hang of it. It’s like a toddler, but he’s motoring along on his own.
Then, he panics. “No! Rhoswen, I need you to?—”
“You’ve got this. Trust yourself.”
“I trust you.”
Hearing him say that out loud wrecks something in me. So much that I immediately skate forward and slip my hand in his again. “Better?”
“With you? Always.”
The DJ announces the final song of the night—an 80s ballad that was played at every one of my school dances. I probe gently. “So, how much did you hate this?”
“I didn’t.”
“What do you mean…wait. Really?”
He smiles down at me. “I actually enjoyed it.” He aims us toward a wall to stop. I slow our speed down a bit more gracefully.
I open my lips to tease him, but he pulls me gently toward him, hands sliding around my waist. His voice vibrates through me when he murmurs my name. “Rhoswen.”
I lean forward cautiously to capture his lips in a soft kiss.
