Leo gripped the handles of Joey’s wheelchair and leaned forward, whispering in his ear, “You got this.”
He wouldn’t go easy on him, but he’d never stop encouraging him.
Leo pushed his skates against the ice and propelled forward, hustling the wheelchair, gliding around the rink, this way and that while Joey slapped the puck back and forth with the hockey stick. About midway from the cans, Leo stopped and lined up the wheelchair, then Joey took a swing. The puck struck the can in a loud thrash and their friends cheered from the sidelines. Leo did this with each puck until Joey had taken out and smashed all six cans.
Leo spun Joey’s wheelchair in circles while he held his stick above his head cheering. Isabella and Norah cheered and whistled from the bleachers.
“Show-off,” Leo said.
Ricky high-fived Joey. “Both of you are show-offs.”
“Let’s agree to disagree, you’re all show-offs,” Kelsey said. “Now, can we please get Joey ready so you can take me home? This baby and I are freezing.”
“Sure thing,” Ricky took her by the cheeks and gave her a sloppy kiss before sitting and unlacing his skates.
At the edge of the rink, sitting in the bleachers, Leo caught the sight of Isabella. His heart rate picked up. For a moment, he was taken back to a different time, an easier time. When Isabella used to sit in the bleachers and cheer for him. A time when they loved one another more than stupid hockey, photography, or articles.
“Hey, Landon?” Leo said. “You mind helping them get Joey back to Vanessa? I’ll stay and clean up the pucks and cans.”
“Sure thing.” He smacked Leo’s arm. “C’mon, Norah, you ready?”
Norah gave Isabella a side hug before climbing down the bleachers and meeting up with the rest of them.
“You better get him back safely. I promised his wife,” Leo called to his friends.
“No promises, man,” Ricky teased.
“Don’t worry, I got you,” Kelsey said, winking at Leo.
Leo watched his friends and his brother go before he picked up the demolished cans and searched for the pucks. After he finished, he skated to the bleachers and sat next to Isabella, unlacing his skates with freezing, hurried fingers.
“I can’t believe you all still come out here and do this every year,” she said.
Leo shrugged. “If something ain’t broke, why fix it?”
“I guess.”
Maybe that motto of his didn’t work for Isabella and her city life. But it had been something that had helped him get by all these years. The one time he’d gone against it, he made the biggest mistake by thinking his single, simple life needed to be shaken up. He married Talia.
“It’s sweet. You guys including Joey the way that you do. Really sweet.”
He raised his chin to look at her, finding her eyes glossy and her cheeks pink. “Like I said, if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
“I heard about his accident. I wish I could’ve been here.”
“Yeah, well,” he let his words taper off because he didn’t know what to say to that. He wished she could’ve been there too. Isabella leaving had seemed to leave a giant hole in everything around this town.
“I wish I could’ve been here for a lot of things,” she said wistfully.
“Me too,” he admitted, caressing her thigh. “But we figured out a new rhythm. We all just missed you.”
“I missed everyone too. So much.”
Leo wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close against him. “I can honestly admit, Pineridge feels more like home since you’ve been back.”
Isabella reached her arm around his waist, burrowing her face into his neck. “Being here feels right. In Pineridge, and with you.”
Her affirmation of what he’d been hoping for rejuvenated his tattered heart. It was like a kick drum in his chest, and all he could do was hold onto her words and to her for as long as she would allow him to.
