Opening Her Heart by Deb Kastner

Author:Deb Kastner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-10-09T13:58:44+00:00

* * *

Jake ignored his mother and dug the black skates from the box. If he hadn’t been totally unsure about this before, he was completely unsure of it now. The man at the sporting-goods store had insisted he purchase a pair of skates that was a size smaller than his usual size and suggested he wear thick wool socks with them.

That seemed backward to Jake and made no sense whatsoever. If anything, he ought to have got a larger size if he was going to be wearing thick wool socks. But Mr. Johnson had insisted, so here he was.

And now Avery was reminding him about not having worked the leather, which he should have known about even if Mr. Johnson hadn’t mentioned it when he was making the sale. Of course new leather would be stiff and unpliable.

Almost as stiff as he would be out on the ice.

“No walls?” he said, not even realizing he’d spoken aloud until he caught Avery’s dumbfounded stare.

“It’s a lake,” she said, sounding as if she was speaking to a first grader.

Well, duh. Of course they wouldn’t have a wall around a lake. It was just that he’d been picturing Lottie’s indoor rink, which was also used by local hockey teams for practice and games. He’d been assuming he could hold on to the wall and slowly but surely make his way around the rink one small step at a time.

And now he was deeply regretting having invited Avery to join them. Why was he only now realizing that even had there been a wall, he was going to look like an uncoordinated dweeb on the ice. His sport was baseball, and he was quite good at it.

Hockey? Not so much.

He suspected he was going to spend most of his evening on his hands and knees. There wasn’t even a fence surrounding Winslow’s lake. Just open ice for him to repeatedly fall down on and make a total fool of himself.

“Of course,” Jake answered belatedly, attempting to shove his feet into his very tight, unforgiving skates. “I knew there wouldn’t be a wall. I was just kidding when I said that.”

“Lace your boots up tight but not too tight,” Avery offered. “You want the skates to feel secure around your feet but not pinch your toes.”

It was far too late for that. They were already pinching, and he hadn’t even stood up yet. Once he put his weight on them, they were going to downright hurt.

Avery had her skates on well before Jake managed to get both of his on and laced up, and when he glanced over at his mom and Lottie, he realized they, too, were waiting for him.

“Maybe you guys should—” he started, intending to suggest they go on without him. But when Avery raised her eyebrows, he let his sentence drop.

“Elaine and Lottie, go ahead and get out on the ice. I’ll help Daddy make his way out there.”

“Okay, I’ll admit I may need a little help.” He stood and wavered as he attempted to find his balance, but it wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped.

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