Chapter 15 #2
Unfortunately, he’s not wrong. I tend to take control when I can—it’s a byproduct of being swept up in a family like mine.
However, when I do relinquish the reins, Hudson and I finally fall into sync, gliding easily across the ice.
There’s no escaping his northern evergreen scent, the slight pink in his cheeks, or the proximity of his lips.
I look down, away, anywhere but at him until I abruptly let go as I’d planned to do all along.
Catching him off guard, I say, “Get to the goal. The opposing team is coming down the ice with the puck.” Pushing off, I come at him as the puck and he gets into position, traditional goalie stance acquired.
Fully embracing my role as the puck, I don’t stop until Hudson’s arms are around me.
“Whoa there.” Our faces are inches apart again and he boosts me into the air in the traditional pairs lift. I’m reluctant to admit that the whole sequence is a perfect marriage of figure skating grace and hockey power.
Once back down, catching my breath, I say, “If I were the size of a regulation hockey puck and made of vulcanized rubber, I’d have slid into the net.”
“So the solution is …?” he asks.
“To make the puck your pairs partner. When you see it, embrace it, but don’t let it slam into the net.”
His eyes brighten and his nod tells me he gets it now, but he still hasn’t let me go.
Resounding clapping and cheering comes from the stands unlike I’ve heard in a long time. It’s almost as if it’s filled with spectators filling the arena when really it’s just a small portion of my family. But my, oh my, did it feel good.
I skate toward the boards, eyes liquid and wearing a smile. Before I glide into my mother’s embrace as I did at every competition, I glance over my shoulder at Hudson. He winks, but in his gaze is a kind of sadness that hits me in the chest with emotion.
I’m stuck there as everyone tells me how amazing I looked, as if I hadn’t retired several years ago. Well, it was a slow retirement as I slid backward away from my dream of figure skating stardom.
Apparently, one slice of cake wasn’t going to cut it. Mami and my tias brought enough food to feed a packed arena and the cousins go bonkers on sweets before hitting the ice in their sneakers. Hudson hangs back for a while, skating with the kids and showing them some skills.
Seeing him out there, wild, free, and having fun makes me want to play along like when we were kids. It’s as if little Leah has been buried under burdens, responsibilities, and heartbreak, just dying to feel the chill on her cheeks and the breeze in her hair again.
“So, we have to talk about location,” Mami says around a bite of what my aunt calls chocolate, peanut butter, and apple dream hand pies.
I pump my hands, “I’m sorry to destroy your delusion, but Hudson and I are not getting married.”
“I found this amazing dressmaker.” My aunt elaborates in great detail.
“I already have a line on cigars,” Uncle Anthony hollers from nearby.
Joaquin jumps up and down. “Can I please, pretty please, be the ring bearer?”
“No, it’s my turn,” Lincoln argues.
“If you guys are going to bicker, Logan automatically gets to do it.” I press my hand to my forehead. “I mean. No. Sorry. There’s not going to be a ring bearer. Talk to Uncle Chuck. He’s getting married soon.”
“Speaking of that, Marisol wants to discuss some things with you. She thought maybe you’d just be a bridesmaid instead of the maid of honor since you’ll be planning your wedding too.
” Chuck winces like I’m going to slap him for suggesting a demotion when in reality it’s because there is no such wedding between Robo and me.
Cara calls from her perch by the folding dessert table my dad and uncles set up as if we’re now permanently occupying the Ice Palace, “Margo would be happy to help you plan things if she has an opening in her schedule, and by that I mean, I’ll make sure she does.”
I close my eyes, hoping that when I open them, the room will be empty and this will have been a weird dream.
Mami says, “With everything going on, I think you should move back to Cobbiton so you don’t have to commute so much.”
“My apartment is only twenty minutes away.”
“You can’t stay in that place. You’re going to get shot,” Valentina says.
Hudson is suddenly by my side and gives me a sharp look.
But my lips are pursed and I’m going to throw words if this doesn’t stop.
He clears his throat. “Yeah. Um, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I’m not in a position to get married right now. I have my career and—”
My mother waves her hand dismissively. “Nonsense. It’ll incentivize you to work on your stats.”
I frown. “What do you know about his hockey stats?”
Wearing a subtle smile, she eyes the guys on the Knights nearby, talking amongst themselves.
I grunt. Are they in on this too? But why?
Abuela says, “You two aren’t getting any younger.”
My jaw lowers.
Jess interprets for Grandma Dolly. “Plus you were meant to be.”
I say the only thing that makes sense right now. “I knocked out Hudson’s tooth.”
The dessert table is abandoned, and we suddenly have an audience.
My aunt literally clutches her pearls. “You did what? But he has such a handsome smile.”
“To be fair, we were playing a mean game of street hockey,” Hudson says.
Valentina explains, “If you recall, when we were kids, Leah was a tomboy. She played next door with Hunter, Hudson’s twin.”
My other aunt snaps her fingers. “I knew there were two of them. I thought my memory was getting spotty, but I was right! Twins!”
“We didn’t have dental insurance at the time, so I spent the next three months missing my front tooth,” Hudson says.
“We were twelve, did you really need a front tooth?” I counter.
“You remember the song everyone sang to me in Mrs. Gardner’s class?”
I distinctly do and how they’d whistle and lisp, making fun of him. Feeling a midge of renewed guilt, I glance at Hudson because he does have a nice smile. “Hunter told me to take the shot.”
“Did you always listen to Hunter?” he asks.
My voice is small when I answer, “Yes.”
Pouting, I march over to the dessert table and pick up a sugar cookie as big as my head. Before I even bring it to my mouth, a warm shadow casts over my shoulder.
Hudson says, “You can’t solve your problems with baked goods.”
“Then what are they for?”
Jess nods once. “That’s what I say.”
Not her too.
Lips pinched together, I shake my head slowly. “I beg to differ.”
Hudson leans into my ear, tickling the hair on my neck with his breath. “Even if they want us to go ahead with this, we don’t have to.”
“Obviously. It’s insane. They’ve gone off the ranch.”
“It’s fine. Don’t even worry about it. We’ll let them think … and then in the summer or fall or whenever we’ll just flee the country,” he says.
I almost laugh, but instead, I say, “We’d have to do it in October since my brother and Marisol are getting married in July.”
“Or we could do things our way. Have a winter wedding. The reception can be right here.”
“That’s not a bad idea. The dessert table would work over there where my uncles and dad set up.” I slap my forehead. “Wait. What am I saying? We’re not getting married.”
Hudson just laughs. “Your parents invited me to Chuck and Marisol’s wedding. So I can, and I quote, ‘See how it’s done.’”
“They’ll see me leaving you at the altar.”
He winces.
I barrel on, “You do realize this is beyond crazy. We hardly know each other. I have a history with your brother. Sorta. You have your career, like you said. It’s obvious you hate Cobbiton and will leave the first chance you get. We’re simply not right for each other.”
He nods and, as if dismissed, starts toward the door. Lifting his hand with a wave, he adds, “Thanks, everyone, for the fun evening and desserts. See ya.”
“We’ll see you at Bingo Night!” Abuela calls in Spanish.
She and Grandma Dolly sit there like a pair of cackling brujas.
Hudson winks at me. “Later, Skater.”
I wave, but for some reason, I don’t want to see him go.