The Possibility of Somewhere by Julia Day

Author:Julia Day
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250097361
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

19

Marginally Perpendicular

Saturday morning, Dad dropped me off at the Fremonts on his way to work. Once his car had disappeared around the corner, I jogged the half mile to the gazebo. Ash was waiting for me. Hello there kissing ensued under the domed platform.

He spoke nonstop on the drive to Jacksonville. I didn’t mind. I basked in the warmth of his voice, didn’t pay much attention to what he said, and focused instead on the touch of his fingers curled around mine.

A light drizzle was falling when we parked at the mall. Ash clasped my hand and ran with me through a back entrance. He took us straight to center court, stopped, and smiled expectantly, his body humming with excitement.

“What?” I scanned the scene. Shoppers milled around, dragging cranky kids. Marines from Camp Lejeune clogged the food court.

“The rink?”

The mall had a small ice-skating rink with a half-dozen people looping around. “What about it?”

“Let’s go.”

“Uh…” I eyed it warily. “I’ve never tried.”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll be beside you.”

Ten minutes later, we were on the ice, both standing, him because he was crazy-good, me because he was holding me up.

“What do you think?” he asked after we completed our first lap without mishap.

“Still not sure.”

“Let’s see how you do on your own.” He gave a little push and released me.

I slid forward a few yards, arms outstretched. Slowing to a stop, I concentrated on his instructions to move again. Push left. Push right.

Yay. My head was still five feet above the ice. I wanted to tuck my freezing hands into the pockets of my jacket, but I was afraid to move my upper body in any way.

“Keep going,” he yelled.

I nodded over my shoulder at him. Catastrophe struck so fast, I had no chance to react. My skates went up. My ass and head went down. Bang.

Déjà vu. I lay flat on my back with Ash bent over me, offering to help—except this time, the “floor” was frozen.

He lifted me onto my skates. “Are you all right?”

“Maybe.” I clutched his hoodie, sorry that I was too sore to enjoy the excuse for exploring his chest.

“I won’t let go again, not until you’re positive you’re ready.” He brushed icy slush from my butt. I was too sore to enjoy that either.

A grunt was the only reply he got from me. It took all of my concentration to keep myself above the ice.

We pushed off again, arms intertwined. There was, I soon figured out, feminine-wiles value in clinging to him with helpless abandon. But my natural competitiveness eventually took over. I wanted to be good.

After three laps around the rink, I graduated to holding hands with Ash as he skated backwards in front of me. Since I now felt secure, this was fun. Skating was oddly isolating for us. Even with dozens of other people on the ice, we were alone in our own little world.

I had reached enough of a comfort level to risk looking at him instead of my feet. “Where did you learn to skate so well?”

“Boston.

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