Rowan looked up again, clearing his throat. “Inside edges?”
“Your skates. They’ve got two sharp edges each, inside and outside. You’ll feel more stable if you’re bending your ankles inward like, uh—what’s the opposite of bow-legged?”
“Are you telling me toclose my legs?” Rowan asked incredulously before he could help himself, and Jordy threw back his head and laughed.
“Come on. Move your feet. Just push out to the side. There, see? You can do it.”
It turned out Rowancoulddo it, if not particularly well. Jordy skated him around the ice three times—Jordy moving backward while Rowan went forward, never letting go of his hand—before he pronounced Rowan ready to try it one-handed.
“You’re a little late for tryouts,” Ryan commented as he went by, tugging an entire chain of children with Kaira at the rear. “But maybe next year.”
Rowan didn’t waste any energy flipping him off. Hedidwatch in fascination as Ryan sped up, the kiddie train behind him along for the ride, and then stopped and used their momentum to fling them across the ice. “Oh my God, he’s a maniac.”
At the end of the chain, Kaira was laughing gleefully, even as the grip she had on the next child broke and she rocketed off toward the boards.
“Crack the whip,” Jordy explained. “It’s fun.”
“I’m not doing it,” Rowan said firmly.
He might not be brave enough to look over—he needed to keep his eyes on his feet—but he could hear Jordy’s smile. “Maybe next time.”
Two laps later, Kaira wanted a turn with her dad, so Rowan gratefully begged off and wobbled off the ice. Even after such a short time, the insides of his thighs ached. No wonder Jordy had legs like he did.
And no wonder he ate like he did too—Rowan had worked up an appetite. He pried himself out of his skates and slipped back into his regular shoes, which suddenly felt too big and too cold the way his hands felt too empty without Jordy’s in them. To compensate, he grabbed a mug of hot chocolate and a donut from one of the tables and made small talk with a few of the other nonskaters, one of whom was an expectant mom.
Everyone accepted his presence without question, which meant they definitely all thought he and Jordy were dating, but that was fine. It was better than them wondering what Rowan was doing there.
Finally his bladder demanded his attention and he begged off to find a restroom.
But when he pushed open the door, he forgot about his need to relieve himself and found himself standing stock-still without quite knowing why.
“—stay out of it,” came a familiar voice. “It’s none of our business.”
“Okay, but Jordy’s my friend,” and that was Ryan. “And he’s been heartbroken, and not just because of his kid, you know? But did you see how Rowan was looking at him? There’s no way that’s unrequited—”
“You’re so cute when you try to save other people from your own mistakes.”
“Excuse you, I’malwayscute.”
At this point Rowan realized he was standing in the door eavesdropping and about to get caught. It startled him into action, and he accidentally opened the door the rest of the way until it banged into the wall.
Smooth.
Ryan Wright looked up at him from his place by the sink, where he was drying his hands on a paper towel. “Woah there, killer. What did the door ever do to you?”
Beside him, Nico rolled his eyes fondly and shoved Ryan toward the door. “Come on. Don’t you have kids your own size to pick on?”
They exited the restroom, leaving Rowan alone with a full bladder and an even fuller brain.
There’s no way that’s unrequited.
Okay, first things first. He focused on the task at hand. Then he wandered back out and found a spot where he could watch Kaira chase Jordy around the ice.
There’s no way that’s unrequited.
Ryan had been talking about Jordy’s feelings for Rowan, but that couldn’t be right. Jordy had said being with Rowan made him realize he wanted a partner. Why would he have phrased it that way if he meant he wantedRowan to be his partner?
Well, that was a stupid question. It wasn’t like either one of them had a stellar communication track record.
