We stood to the side at first, my big hand clutching his little one and I watched him take in his surroundings, feel the ice beneath the thin blades holding him up. He wobbled at first, and I tightened my grip while peeling his other hand off the handlebar, balancing him. I was so focused on the kid, I nearly forgot where I was. On the ice.
I breathed in the fresh crisp icy air. Waiting for the ache in my chest. When it didn’t come, I refocused my attention. “Ready to go further, Jax?” He looked at me and I gave him a reassuring smile. “I won't let go until you tell me to.
His shoulders relaxed and he nodded, gripping my hand tighter. “Let’s do it.”
I took small strides across the ice, keeping him at my side, until he got the hang of it. “I remember now.” Then his eyes went wide. “But don't let go, okay?”
“Didn’t plan on it.” He needed practice but it was definitely not his first time on the ice.
He drew closer as we sped up and his eyes traveled up my arm.
“Those drawings are really cool. I didn’t see them before.”
I almost forgot the sleeve of tattoos up my right arm. It was rare that people brought them up since I wore long sleeved shirts or the store logo sweatshirts in my store three seasons out of the year.
“I used to draw on my mom’s arm too, sometimes she’d get upset because it would take hours to erase.”
“Yeah, these are actually pretty permanent.” I nearly chucked at the memory of an angry Rayne in my store picturing her scrubbing relentlessly at her arm.
“Alright, I want to see what you can do before we start.”
He let me release his hand tentatively, keeping my arm stretched in case he’d need it. He took a few strides and looked back at me, swinging his arms for balance.
I skated over to him. “Okay, that was pretty good. You want to make sure you position your skates parallel in the direction you’re trying to go with your knees slightly bent. Then this right foot, you’ll want to bend it at this angle and leaning so the blade is slightly on its side.” I skated closer to him when he seemed confused and patted his left foot. “You’ll want the majority of the weight on this leg.” Moving around to his other leg, I tilted it a little more, assuring him he wouldn't fall. “Just keep enough weight on this leg to push off.” I stepped back to check out his take off position. “Perfect.” I gave a wide grin and nod.
“Now before, you took off with most of the weight here,” I slapped my leg to show him, “But to get speed and balance, you need to shift almost all the weight on this leg.” I skated backwards to give him room and watch him. “Try it again.”
He’d lost the position I’d put him in and tried to find it again. “Little more,” I called over the music and then nodded him forward.
He pushed off as directed, with the confidence of a beginner, and glided holding the position for a few seconds before starting to wobble.
I caught his arm and repositioned him to glide back in the other direction. I left him practicing the glide to build speed while I ran to grab some cones from the side to section us off from some figure skating high school girls. After a few laps, he’d gotten the hang of it.
7
It amazedme how fast an hour and a half had gone. How long was this lesson supposed to be? Logan never said. I felt like if I didn’t get up to say something soon, they’d stay there forever.
Sure seemed like they were having a great time. And not just Jax.
I swear I mostly watched my kid out there. Right?
But Logan…
Perfectly toned and tight muscles shaped his arms. One of which was enveloped in a jungle of tattoos. I’d personally never been a fan, but they were so attractive on him. So fitting. So pulling.
I peeked my head in the entrance of their sectioned-off aisle. “It’s been over an hour. Maybe enough for today?”
But neither seemed the least breathless. In fact, Jax was pretty much glowing.
Logan skated over to me. His eyes flashed around my shoulders where his sweater hung snugly. I took another whiff of it. A clean bamboo pine smell, with a mix of something. Something that was a…Logan smell.
“He’s a natural. Could’ve warned me, you know.” He said when he reached me.
I tried not to linger on his bare arm to make out the art and looked over his shoulder to Jax. “I am… just as shocked as you are.” I shook my head. “It’s like he belongs on the ice.” I felt my voice drop.
Jax skated over and asked if he could skate with the figure skaters who were showing him some moves over in their section.
“Few minutes. Then we’ll go grab some lunch, I’m sure you worked up an appetite.” I told him before leaving him with the skater girls who were old enough to be babysitters, I supposed.
