“It makes me feel like we’re a family.” Her whispered echo of my feelings from earlier burrows right into my chest and I feel Emma’s hand tighten on my shoulder. I pick Maddy up and put her in my lap, wrapping my arms around her, breathing in the scent of her kid shampoo.
“Me too, Little Red.”
I glance up at Emma and see she’s barely holding herself together. There’s time later for us to process all of this, but right now, there’s something pressing I need to do. With Emma’s eyes locked on mine, it suddenly feels like exactly the right time. All my fears and insecurities quiet.
“What do you say, Pretty Girl? Want to be my girlfriend?”
Maddy’s head shoots up so she can look at Emma. “Say yes!” she exclaims, and Emma and I both laugh.
“I think I would really like that,” she says, grinning at me.
“Why did you call her pretty girl?” Maddy asks.
I hold Emma’s eyes as I answer. “Because she’s the prettiest girl in the whole world. When I look at her, she makes my heart really happy.”
“Me too,” Maddy says. “Can you kiss her now?”
“You bet I can.”
I pull Emma down to sit on my other leg, tangling my free hand in her hair and bringing her mouth to mine. The kiss islight and sweet, but it holds all the promise of this moment, and everything we can be together and to each other, if I put my trust in her.
When we break apart, Emma’s eyes are shining. “It’s a really good day,” she whispers. “We are going to have so many good days together.”
The way she knows I need that quiet reassurance has my heart pounding. My chest expands with both love and gratitude, and for a second I rest my forehead on hers.
“Okay that’s enough! Can we go skating now?”
I huff out a laugh at Maddy’s interruption, and we both turn our attention back to her.
“We definitely can,” Emma says. “Take off your shoes and I’ll put your skates on for you.” She reaches for Maddy’s skates, but I beat her to it, grabbing both pairs.
“Let me.”
I slide Emma off my lap and onto the bench then kneel on the floor. I slip Maddy’s shoes off and help her into her skates, lacing them up and tying them. Then I turn to do the same for Emma.
She smirks down at me. “I can put on my own skates, you know.”
“I know, but I want to.”
I take off Emma’s shoes and slide my hands just under the legs of her jeans, grazing my fingers over her ankles. It shouldn’t be sexy but goddamn, it is. She sucks in a quiet breath, and I can tell she feels the same. Setting her shoes aside, I slide Emma’s skates on and lace them up, my fingers lingering on her skin for a couple seconds longer than is absolutely necessary, tracing the freckles on her ankles, listening for that hitch in her breath again.
Emma slides her eyes to Maddy and then back to me, giving me a look that says, very clearly,hands off. And the thought thatshe’s so affected by my hands on her ankles that she has to warn me away has everything inside me lighting up.
I make quick work of my own skates, lacing them up quickly. The motions are as familiar to me as breathing despite not having laced up skates on my own feet in a decade and a half. It’s only when we stand up and start heading to the rink that my heart knocks against my ribs and my stomach twists with anxiety.
Maddy races ahead and flies onto the ice, already an expert after a few lessons. But I freeze.
I don’t know if I can do this. If I have the courage to step out onto the ice and reclaim this part of my life. I want to. God, I want to. But it’s been so long, and my brain won’t let my feet move another inch.
My mind is racing, and I can’t grab a feeling to put into words. But I don’t have to. Emma grabs the courage I can’t seem to find and hands it back to me.
She wraps an arm around my waist and takes one of my hands in her free one. She connects us in as many places as she can, helping chase away the anxiety that threatens to take me under.
“It’s just us. Just me and you and Maddy. New memories, remember?”
I nod, swallowing thickly, my gaze pinned to the ice.
“If you get on the ice and it’s too much, you’ll get off and we’ll try again another time. There’s no pressure here, Jeremy. It’s just us, and I’m not going anywhere.”
