CHAPTER EIGHT
Wilder climbed from his car and headed for the entrance to the rink. He was running a bit late, but he hadn’t let that stop him from coming.
The first two times he’d come for the girls’ skating lesson had been mainly curiosity. This time, however… it was something more.
The times he’d spent with Alexandra so far had intrigued him, drawing him to want to learn even more about her, because every detail felt important.
And now they’d broken bread—quite literally—which felt like a milestone. He hadn’t thought through bringing cinnamon rolls and coffee to someone who had been an elite athlete. Which was why he hadn’t pressured her to accept any of what he offered.
He’d given a tiny internal dance of victory when she’d chosen to indulge of her own accord. Though he understood why she wouldn’t want to eat like that on a consistent basis, surely, once in a while would be okay. When it came to food, Wilder tended to have the everything in moderation mindset.
Reaching out, Wilder grabbed the wooden handle and pulled the heavy door open. While it was definitely warmer inside the rink, the temperature shift between inside and out wasn’t as great as it might be in another building. He knew they kept the rink cool for the sake of the ice.
It was too bad the café wasn’t open. A coffee wouldn’t go amiss. He could have stopped for one, but since he was already running late, he hadn’t wanted to delay further.
This time around, Janessa and Will had come along. Will was currently helping Layla with her skates, while Blake did Amelia’s. Janessa was standing with Charli, peering at Shiloh in her car seat.
Wilder spotted Alexandra on the ice near the boards, so he went to her. “Hey.”
“Hi.” Her smile lingered a bit longer than it previously had, which Wilder hoped meant she was warming up to him. “Come to watch the lessons again, huh?”
“Yep. It helps me know how to help the girls when we go to the rink during the week.”
“That’s good that you’re doing that for them.”
Her gaze flicked past him just as he felt an arm go around his waist. Shifting, he spotted Janessa next to him. He lifted his arm, then put it around her shoulders.
“Did Charli introduce you?”
“Nope,” Janessa said with a shake of her head.
“I forgot to introduce Lee and Rori when they were here, so I don’t want to do that again.” He looked back at Alexandra. “This is Janessa, another of my sisters. And that’s her husband, Will, helping Blake with the skates. Nessa, this is Alexandra.”
He could see the curiosity in Alexandra’s gaze as she skated closer to the boards and held out her hand. However, she didn’t remark on the fact that Wilder and Janessa looked nothing alike.
“Nice to meet you,” she said with what he’d come to think of as her performance smile.
After having watched a bunch of videos of her competing, Wilder had realized that the smile she wore when acknowledging the crowd was the same every single time. It was the same after a perfect performance as it was after a flawed one.
It seemed like she kept herself tightly controlled, and that smile didn’t offer any glimpses into the depth of her emotions.
“Nice to meet you too,” Janessa said. “I’ve heard a lot about you from the girls. They think you’re amazing.”
Alexandra’s eyes widened briefly, then she said, “That’s sweet of them. I think they’re pretty amazing, too.”
Wilder had no idea if she was being sincere in her response, but he hoped that if she wasn’t, that at some point in the future, she’d realize that the girls really were, in fact, amazing.
“And yes, I’m adopted,” Janessa said, a grin spreading across her face. “People are always a bit confused when we first introduce ourselves.”
“I suspected that was the case,” Alexandra said. “But I thought it might be rude to remark on it.”
“Nope. Not rude. Our family is very open about the fact that four of us are adopted.”
Before the conversation could continue, the girls approached them, now wearing their skates.
“Ready to go?” Alexandra asked, shifting her attention to Layla and Amelia.
“Yep.” Layla stepped out on the ice and took a couple of strokes before turning back around to wait for Amelia.
“We’re going to warm up first, so follow me.”
When Will joined them at the boards, Wilder dropped his arm from Janessa’s shoulders, and she moved closer to her husband.
As he watched Alexandra with the girls, Wilder wondered if she would be able to handle more kids at a time. Because if this Christmas program really came together, she’d be dealing with more than just two kids.
“Why are you here?” Janessa asked.
“Why are you?” Wilder shot back.
“We’ve gone to a lot of the girls’ lessons,” Janessa told him. “So this is normal for us.”
“Since I take them to the rink during the week, I figured it was a good idea to see what she was working on with them. Plus, I’m working with Alexandra on a project.”
He told them about the program, not surprised when Janessa expressed some skepticism.
“You don’t have much time.”
“I know.” Sighing, Wilder leaned more heavily against the boards, resting his arms on the top of them. “It’s going to be a minor miracle if we can pull it off. I feel like Alexander and Kayleigh are asking a lot of Alexandra when she’s barely got her feet wet in this job.”
“It does seem like a lot. If we can help in any way, let us know.”
“Hopefully you mean that, because I may have to prevail upon a few of you to give us a hand.”
“As long as I don’t have to get on skates, I’m there for you,” Will said. “And I won’t dress up as Santa or an elf.”
Janessa grinned at her husband. “Ah. Come on! I would pay big bucks to see you in an elf costume.”
Will just rolled his eyes, then pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Sorry to disappoint you, my love, but that’s not happening.”
“You’re not going to get Jay on skates either,” Janessa said. “He definitely does not like the ice.”
“Well, we need more than skaters. Once we’ve had a chance to sit down and really flesh it out, I’ll have a better idea of where you guys can help us.”
Janessa smirked at him. “I’m sure you’re not objecting to spending more time with the beautiful figure skater.”
Wilder couldn’t deny that there was a part of him that was drawn to Alexandra. Why, he wasn’t sure. It wasn’t that he had a certain type of woman that he was attracted to. But usually, he found himself drawn to women who shared a similar outlook on life as him. Easy going, laid back, willing to take risks and explore the world.
Alexandra didn’t seem to have any of those qualities. But still, he wanted to spend more time with her. Perhaps it was the “duck out of water” vibe he got from her that made him want to help her out.
“Wow. I can already see that the girls have improved,” Janessa said as she watched them on the ice. “That’s incredible.”
“She’s spent a lot of time teaching them correct positioning,” Wilder told her. “And that seems to have helped them perform their spins and jumps better.”
“I guess that’s what happens when you have a coach who is a gold medal Olympian. She’s probably undergone some pretty rigorous training.”
“I wasn’t sure it would make that much of a difference,” Charli said, having joined them at the boards with Blake and Shiloh. “But I can see I was wrong.”
Wilder was glad that they saw the value in Alexandra’s skill and talent. And though he wasn’t sure either of the girls would make the Olympics one day, they’d definitely be better skaters for having been under the coaching of Alexandra.
When the hour drew to a close, Alexandra once again performed a bunch of jumps and spins that Layla and Amelia requested of her.
“One day I’m gonna know how to do that,” Amelia announced after Alexandra did what looked to be a particularly difficult jump.
“You keep practicing, and I’m sure you will,” Charli told her as she reached out to smooth back a wisp of hair that had come free from her ponytail. Amelia glanced up at Charli, her eyes wide.
Wilder knew that Amelia was still finding her way in her new family with a new maternal figure, just as Layla was doing the same with Blake.
When she was done, Alexandra skated toward them, coming to a stop not far from the boards.
“They’re doing really well,” she told Charli. “I can see that they’re practicing in between lessons.”
“Yep. Wilder has been helping us out with that by taking the girls to the rink in town throughout the week.”
Alexandra gave Wilder a quick smile. “It’s paying off, for sure.” She turned her attention back to the girls. “I know you want to do programs right away, but I’m afraid it’s going to have to wait.”
“Why?” Layla asked, her brow furrowed.
“I have to work on a Christmas program here at the rink, and that’s going to take up a lot of my time. Come January, we’ll focus on your programs, and hopefully by the fall, when the next season starts, you’ll be ready to tackle some competitions.”
“I’m sure you can wait until after Christmas,” Charli told Layla, who looked the most disappointed by the news. “And in the meantime, you can be part of the Christmas program.”
Layla looked at Alexandra. “I can?”
“Yep. We’re going to need a bunch of skaters. I haven’t got it all figured out yet, but we’ll start doing some practices for it soon. We might have to reschedule your lessons for a few weeks to fit in those practices.” She turned to Charli. “Will that be okay?”
“I’m sure it will be fine. We can figure it out once you know the schedule better.”
Shiloh let out a squawk and then started crying. She was generally a pretty chill baby, but when she got upset about something, it took a bit to settle her down.
“Let me help you get your skates off,” Will said as he held out his hand to Amelia.
The girls followed him and Blake to the bench, while Charli tried to settle the baby.
“I think she might be teething,” Charli said. “All she wants to do is chew on her fingers.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun,” Janessa cooed at Shiloh, reaching out to tickle her belly. “Our little sunshine has turned into a thundercloud. It’s a good thing we all like storms.”
Wilder glanced at Alexandra and saw that she was focused on Janessa and Shiloh. Had she ever contemplated having a family? He imagined that it wasn’t easy for professional athletes—especially women—to fit having children into their lives. A woman couldn’t exactly compete while heavily pregnant.
When the girls were done with their skates, Charli and Blake packed everything up, said goodbye to Alexandra, and left the rink with Will and Janessa.
“You’re a great coach,” Wilder said once it was just the two of them. “We’re all seeing that despite you not having many lessons with them, the girls are much improved.”
Alexandra skated close to the boards, then rested her arm on the top of them but kept her gaze out on the ice. “I had always planned to coach one day. I just hadn’t thought it would be this soon.”
“And I imagine you planned to work with highly skilled skaters.”
She glanced at him, her lips tightening before she nodded. “I did, but I guess that… God had other plans for me.”
“Do you really think you can’t go back to your career?”
Her gaze hardened, making her blue eyes even more icy. “My dad didn’t just screw over strangers, he stole money from my partner, his parents, my coaches, and other parents of skaters. He took their cash and told them he was going to invest it, but instead, he pocketed it. That was just one of the awful things he did. So no, I’m not sure how I can go back to competing when I don’t have money to pay for coaches, even if they were interested in working with me.”
“Could you compete without a coach?”
“I don’t know. Some have tried, but it’s hard not having a support team with you.”
“Coaching might not be out of the question, though, right? I mean, there’s no questioning the skill and experience you have.”
“Maybe.” Alexandra shrugged. “But for now, this is where I’m at.”
“It’s not such a bad place to be,” Wilder said.
“So why do you only spend the winter season here?”
Well, wasn’t that a good question? “It’s not because I don’t like it here. It’s just that there wasn’t anything here I wanted to do in the off-season. Unlike this ice rink that can run in the summer, if there’s no snow on the slopes, I have no one to instruct.”
“What exactly do you do for the rest of the year?”
It had been a while since he’d talked about his time away from Serenity with anyone outside his family. “I have a travel channel on YouTube where I upload videos of places I’ve been, giving people tips on traveling to those places. Right before I came here, I went to Reykjavik, Iceland. I was collaborating with a travel company there to highlight what they had to offer people wanting to visit Iceland. So, once I have that video edited, I’ll upload it onto my channel.”
“I’ve traveled to lots of places, but I haven’t really played tourist while I’ve been there.”
“So, what do you do for fun?”
Alexandra once again looked away from him to focus on the ice. “I don’t know. Something I’ve always enjoyed doing was designing costumes. I used to work with a designer to create our costumes.”
“But you don’t do anything else?”
“Like what?” Alexandra asked, her brow furrowed.
“Rock wall climbing? Baking? Cooking? Reading? Doing crossword puzzles? Needlepoint? Pouring candles?”
Alexandra’s eyes widened as he recited his list. “No. None of that.”
“So when you’re not at work, what do you do?”
“I practice. I work out. Honestly, I spend most of my time here, even when the rink is closed. It’s what I know. It’s where I feel most at home.”
Wilder felt a pang of sympathy for her. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be so focused on one thing that everything else in one’s life just faded away. Even Kayleigh, who was the most focused and determined of all of them, had found a hobby in cooking.
“Have you thought of developing a hobby?”
“I would have no idea what that might be.” She skated a little ways away, then came back. “What are your hobbies?”
“Well, skiing, but I also enjoy traveling, videography, and I do some digital design as well. That’s kind of part of my job, but I still really enjoy it. I also read a lot, which is a good hobby to have when I’m traveling.”
It was too bad that Alexandra worked on Friday evenings to give her a break from the rink. If she didn’t, Wilder would have invited her to the pizza nights at Charli and Janessa’s. They had apparently been having outdoor pizza dinners during the summer, when the weather was nicer. But now they were back inside. The night before, they’d ended up playing games after they ate, and it had been a lot of fun.
Once he started work, he’d be on the same schedule as Alexandra as far as days off went, but his day on the slopes would end with the sunset, which came fairly early in winter.
When her watch chimed, Wilder smiled. “Guess that’s my cue. I’ll let you get on with your day.”
“Do you think you’d be available tomorrow morning to go over some things?”
“Not tomorrow,” he told her. “I attend church in the morning, but I could do Monday morning.”
She hesitated a moment before nodding. “That would work.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
As he neared the door, Wilder glanced back to see that Alexandra was still watching him. She lifted a hand, and after returning her wave, he stepped out into the crisp autumn day.
It had snowed the day before, but with temperatures hovering just above freezing, the snow had melted almost as soon as it had hit the ground. That wouldn’t be the case for much longer, however.
Soon, he’d be back to work on the slopes, and he was really looking forward to it.
The following Tuesday, Wilder drove to the address Alexandra had given him the previous day. They’d decided that it was time to invite others into the planning to see how they could pull the program together.
Kayleigh had offered to spring for supper for everyone since it was a meeting pertaining to something at the resort. Alexandra hadn’t been entirely sold on having the meeting at Charli and Janessa’s, but since they wanted Charli’s help, it was the best place. She had responsibilities at home, so it made sense for them to go to her, instead of her having to leave everything to Blake to come to them.
The apartment building he pulled up in front of was familiar, since it was where Jay had lived prior to marrying Misha and moving into the home they’d bought together. It was one of the nicer buildings in Serenity, and it had great security, which was good since Alexandra was on her own.
Once he’d parked at the curb in front of the building, Wilder sent a text to Alexandra to let her know he was there. It was only a couple of minutes later when she appeared, and for a moment, Wilder just stared.
He was so used to seeing her in her workout clothes with her hair up. That evening, she had on a black cropped jacket over a purple shirt and slim-fitting jeans tucked into a pair of knee-high boots. Her hair lay in loose waves over her shoulders, glossy in the fading daylight.
Wilder got out and went around the car to open the door for her. “Ready for some chaos?”
Alexandra lifted her brows. “Chaos?”
“Well, there will be quite a few of us there, besides the girls and the baby.” He smiled as she slid into the seat. “You’ll see.”
Sure enough, the minute they walked into the house, they were greeted by loud conversation and a crying baby, along with aroma of rich spicy food.
“I hope you like Indian food,” Wilder said. “I didn’t think to ask you ahead of time. I’m sorry.”
“I can’t say I’ve had it very often, but I’m sure it will be fine.”
Wilder hoped so. Since he knew how restrictive her diet was, he should have checked with her first.
“Hey there, Alexandra,” Kayleigh said as they walked into the kitchen. She stood at the counter with several bags in front of her, and she and Janessa were pulling containers of food out of them and putting them on the counter. “Hope you’re hungry.”
Wilder guided Alexandra over to his sisters, then searched out Charli. She was by the pantry, taking paper plates out of a large plastic bag.
“What can I do?” he asked as Kayleigh engaged Alexandra in conversation.
“Do you think these are sturdy enough to use buffet style?” she asked as she handed him one of the paper plates. “They usually work for pizza, but I’m not sure about this. We don’t need a repeat of the bean incident.”
Wilder grinned, remembering the time his mom had used paper plates for a barbecue that weren’t quite sturdy enough. More than one of them had ended up with the plates bending and spilling baked beans, potato salad, and burgers on the ground. Jay had been standing behind their dad when his plate had folded, dumping beans all down the back of the man.
It had been hilarious for everyone but Jay and their parents.
“These will be fine,” he said.
“I hope so. We don’t need Alexandra thinking we’re complete idiots for serving food on weak plates.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
He had no idea what Alexandra thought about their family, and he was fairly certain she wouldn’t tell him the truth if he asked. Especially if that truth was that they were too noisy and overwhelming for her.
He wouldn’t want his family to change, however. Their gatherings were always lively and fun, and he hoped Alexandra would come to appreciate that, since they were probably going to be spending a bunch of time together over the next few weeks.