CHAPTER 1 #2
“Lulu?” His groggy little voice warmed my heart.
“Yeah, buddy? Did you have a good nap?”
“Where are we? Is that–” He practically jumped out of his seat when he saw the lights from Jersey. “Is that New York City?”
The sun had just started to go down and New York City lit up.
Like stars in the night sky the tall buildings stretched in wonderment, making me gasp.
I had been there a million times before, living so close to the city my entire life.
My parents would drive us in on the weekends to go see a Broadway show, to dinner, hell even just go for a drive.
New York City was a gem. The greatest city on earth. Except for the traffic.
“Yes, Sir. How about we do a little ice skating on The Rink at Rockefeller Plaza?”
“Really, really?” His voice squeaked.
“Of course, you think I drove all this way to stare at it?” A long, long way. So long even just the thought of driving back made me want to spend my year's salary to get a hotel.
“This is the best birthday ever!” Paulie screeched.
Oh, kids. How tiny hearts can be so broken, yet so easily fixed.
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“Hurry up, Lulu! I want to get in a good skate before they close!”
“Paulie, hold on! I can't even remember how to lace these things properly. I need help.” My nephew lacing my skates was going to be a sight.
A part of me thinks it really wasn't the laces, but the fact that I couldn't get my leg up with my jeans so tight to even reach the skate.
I wasn't dressed for function. I was dressed for style.
I thought I would be handing out hot chocolates and watching 10-year-olds skate around without actually having to move my body.
“Ugh.” He bent in front of me out of frustration and laced my skates for me like a little gentleman.
“When did you become so responsible?” I giggled at his expressions that made him look like a 70-year-old man. The way the lights hit his features almost turned him distinguished.
“The twins threatened to beat me up if I don't tie their shoes.”
“Those two are something.” I can only shake my head when thinking of my nieces. I don't know if it's a twin thing or just a mischievous thing, but I fear for when they're older and anyone who dare piss them off.
“Yeah, a real pain in the ass.”
“Paulie.” I cocked my head to the right.
His fingers were nimble with the laces, but his little knuckles reminded me of my father. How his hands would tie my shoes. How they would sand rough wood or brush my hair.
“Lulu, come on!” Paulie's voice stole me away from the memory of my father and struck me with the harsh reality of what I got myself into.
Round wrought iron tables were filled with couples and families and the occasional gorgeous specimen of a man, sipping steaming chocolate and nursing bruised bottoms after one too many slips on the ice.
My knees shivered in the wind and with the regretful anticipation as to how many times my own ass would be laid out flat.
There was a time I was a wonderful skater, but I thought memories of the ice were in my past.
“Paulie, wait for me.”
I wobbled and held onto a wooden railing that led to the ice, feeling like a newborn deer.
But it wasn't my lack of strength that made me unsteady on the ice, it was the memory of my father.
My stomach clenched, my brow sweat and I had to steel myself against my fear for my nephew's sake.
I couldn't ruin his birthday any more than it already was.
“You're taking too long.” He huffed.
“Oh, just go already, but I'll blame you if I break my neck.” I waved him away.
He rolled his eyes and skated away, just like his mother.
Snickers to my left and right flamed my cheeks. A group of young girls could tell I was going to eat it as well as I did. My thighs already burned in anticipation of keeping my legs bent to keep the risk of falling towards my knees.
I hated skating, no matter how much I obsessed about hockey with my dad when I was younger. Anything that reminded me of the sport now left a sour taste in my mouth. When he died, the joy of the ice skated right away with him.
I stopped before I put one inch of a blade on the sinister and slick surface.
I dug my phone from my pocket and took a thirty second video of Paulie, utter jubilation plastered on his face as he skated like a pro in large circles, weaving in and out of the bodies in the same predicament I was in, like he was born with skates on his feet.
I sent it to his mother, to let her know all was well and she can open a bottle of wine in celebration.
“Okay Lucy, get your ass on the ice.” I mumbled under my breath. I needed to give myself a freaking pep talk just to get through this night.
Riotous laughter of teenagers stole my attention as they passed a couple, freshly knocked over. They had bad news written all over them and I knew I was an easy target. Tall, top-heavy, wobbling and pathetic.
Paulie skated through the teenagers and held out his hand to me.
“Are you going to laugh at me when I fall?” He pulled me into dangerous territory.
I started skating, clutched tightly to his hand. No matter how many times I was told to glide the skates on the ice, it still felt like grit in grease. The experience was an equal mix of frustration and fear.
“Probably.” He laughed.
The rink was bright and crisp. Bodies glided along the ice and flirted in corners. Hot chocolate steamed in faces and kept mittens warm. And the tree, oh, the tree was the definition of magic. The lights of New York City seemed hopeful. All seemed to be right again.
We were behind the gang of troublemakers.
Their tight ripped jeans and unkempt hair was like their calling card to mischief.
My legs bent low to the ice and my hands splayed out like a bird.
I felt awkward and uncoordinated and prayed Paulie would get tired before I broke any bones.
The colder the ice felt, the more I wanted to be home.
Another unified cackle came from the tight pants gang. Just as I saw them intentionally skate too close to another family to make them lose their balance.
“Jerks.” Paulie pulled my hand closer, more so to protect me over being scared.
“Yeah.” I smiled. “So, are you having a good time?” Our hands were clutched.
“Yeah, Lulu. The best.”
“Oh, that makes me so hap–” I squealed the last letter like a pig. “EEEEE” echoed off the ice and ended with a resonating thud. My legs flew out from under me and my head bounced like a basketball off the ice.
A collective sigh silenced the rink.
Stars glittered my view and Paulie's swearing voice was muffled for a moment before my wits came back to me. The teenagers from hell were proud of their sneak attack. Luckily, I only lost my balance.
“Here let me help you.” A large hand obstructed my view of where the voice came from. But the hand was impossibly warm when I held it, allowing it to raise me to my feet.
I let out a whimper as a sharp pain rocketed up my leg as I tried to put pressure on my ankle.
“Lulu are you okay? I told those guys to fuck off.”
“Paulie, what have I told you about your mouth. Shit! That hurts!” My anger turned me vicious when I tried to place my foot down.
“Do you want me to carry you?”
“What?” I had forgotten the warmth that supported me until he spoke again. My head turned to my right. My first reaction was to snap at anyone in the moment, until I saw his blue eyes, and any strike I had left in me quickly fizzled.
He was gorgeous. Sandy blond hair turned gold in the bright lighting, shoulders wide and stretching out in a sweater, and this concerned look on his soft face that could of melted the ice I stood on.
Fuck.