Chapter 39
THE LOVING EDGE
Ginny
Ice is slippery.
That’s my first takeaway.
My legs slide wide, but Declan grips me by the forearms, supporting me as he skates backward in front of me, dressed in gray sweatpants and a faded black T-shirt.
“Feet closer, there you go,” he murmurs.
He’s sweaty, his hair falling over his forehead, breath making puffy little clouds on the college rink he’s borrowing for the early morning. While the very kind older gentleman who let us in helped me find ice skates that fit, Declan got in some practice time.
If he wants to get back into hockey, time on ice is important.
Keeping his skills sharp.
He’s giving up half his practice time to teach me to ice skate though.
“Think I can skate backward before we’re done today?” I ask him.
He smiles a crinkly eyed smile at me. “Absolutely.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
He laughs that rusty, delicious laugh that always makes me feel like my insides are getting a bear hug. “Maybe not today. But soon if you keep practicing.”
There’s no one else at the rink.
No one in the stands around us.
The teams that use this rink are all on away trips, and so it truly is private.
We’re alone.
Just us on the ice.
“What’s that bullshit Zander was talking about you always being second best?” I ask as he pulls me along.
He shakes his head. “I am.”
“Declan.”
“Just a fact. I’m good, but I’m not a starter.
I had friends growing up, but Zander always had more.
Got a documentary deal because a musician whose band broke up went with a different production company for his documentary.
I was second choice. Nothing wrong with that.
Still had a good hockey career and good friends and limitless opportunities because I have an awesome family that never treated me like second best. Bend your knees a little. There you go. Good girl.”
“You’re the best skating instructor I’ve ever had.”
He smiles at me, then pulls me closer on the skates for a quick kiss. “You don’t have to stroke my ego.”
“I’m no—ahh.”
My legs slide wide again, and I pitch forward into Declan as he tightens his grip on me once more, pulling me back upright.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs.
My heart glows.
He does.
He has me.
“I’m going to pull you over too,” I tell him.
“Bring it.”
“Does it hurt when you fall?”
“Not if you fall right.”
I stare into his eyes as he pulls me around the curve at the end of the rink.
I’m falling.
Not on the ice.
My heart.
My heart is falling.
“Do you always fall right?” I whisper.
His lips quirk up in a soft smile. “Very rarely.”
I swallow. “If you…fell…today, would you fall right?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I won’t let you fall wrong.”
I lick my lips. My breath is coming too fast, and despite the initial chill I felt when I stepped on the ice, I’m warm and tingly all over right now, as if I’m sipping hot cocoa in front of a fire instead of slowly making my way around an ice rink.
“Are we talking about skating?” I whisper.
“No,” he whispers back.
I bite my lip, just as helpless to stop my smile as I am to stop my own heart. I’m no longer skating on ice. I’m gliding on sunshine.
No, with sunshine.
He pulls me through the other curve, letting his legs slide wider and putting his face at my level. “You okay?”
I nod and blink quickly, then shake my head.
“What’s up?” he murmurs.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I blurt.
He crushes me to his chest, holding me tight, his heartbeat thumping against my ear. “I can stay.”
“You have—”
“Nothing important to get to.”
“Your sponsorships—”
“Two or three days here and there. Road trips.”
“Where—where’s home?”
He squeezes me tighter and presses a kiss to my hair. “Right here.”
This.
This is love.
This is the Mabel kind of love, steady and unwavering.
The Olivia and Samantha kind of love, enduring and supportive.
The Heath kind of love, patient and protective.
The Cricket kind of love, brave and optimistic.
It’s the kind of love my friends have shown me is real and true and authentic. The kind of love I always knew existed in the world but never believed I deserved.
My knees wobble and my breath isn’t steady, but my heart—my heart is glowing.
“I love you,” I say, the words catching on the lump in my throat.
“Ginny,” he murmurs, kissing my hair, my ear, my jaw, twisting us to press me against the boards and hold me safe and secure, his feet blocking mine from sliding on the ice.
His Adam’s apple bobs as he searches my eyes, his taking on a shine.
“I’ve loved you for years. And every day I get to spend with you—I fall harder and harder.
I don’t want to be anywhere else when I could be with you. ”
I sniffle. “I’m so mad at you right now.”
His eyes crease as a smile spreads over his lips, his thumb brushing away the moisture on my cheek. “Why?”
“You were a dick for years, and now you’ve made me fall in love with you in like a month.”
“I will happily spend the next many years of my life atoning for my sins.”
“I don’t want you to make it up to me. I want—I want us to be on even ground.”
He slides a glance at the ice, then quirks a brow at me. “Seems pretty even to me right here.”
I poke him in the gut. “Don’t be an ass.”
“Your feet sliding. My heart sliding. It’s even.”
“My heart’s sliding too, you jerk.”
He kisses my cheek, my jaw, my ear, fingers curling into my hair. “I love you, Ginny. Exactly who you are. Who you’ve always been. You don’t have to pick up after me or cook me dinner or make yourself learn to skate to earn or deserve my love. It’s just yours. It will always be yours.”
I bury my head in the crook of his neck, holding on to him, letting his words wash over me.
He sees me.
And he loves me.
But— “What about Alex?”
His chest rises with a big inhale. “I’ll talk to him.”
I shiver. “What if I—”
“Ginny.”
My heart settles at my name on his lips.
“I know you’re brave. I know you’re strong. And I know you bend over backward for the people you love,” he murmurs into my hair. “But this? This one’s on me.”
“What if…” But I’m unable to finish the question.
I don’t have to though.
Declan knows.
“A real friend won’t tell me it’s him or you.” He pulls back just enough to look down at me. “And I won’t ask you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable either.”
“I can do hard things.”
He kisses my forehead. “I know you can. But you don’t have to do them alone.”
“I know. Mabel will be there.”
He barks out a laugh. “Exactly.”
I pull him back into a hug, and he tightens his arms around me, secure and warm and perfect.
I’m safe.
Safe with the best found family, and loved by the greatest man in the universe.