She raises her hand in silent greeting, then steps onto the ice.
She’s borrowed skates, too. But she’s family. She’s allowed.
“I thought you went up to the house,” I manage to say as I slow down.
She spins and starts skating backward so she’s looking at me. “I got halfway there when I heard you through the trees. I might not get a chance to skate tomorrow, so… Can I join you?”
I grunt. “You already did.”
“Do you want to race?” She twists around, her little legs powering up.
Rory’s a good skater, and she’s built for speed, with thick thighs for her little build, and a nice low centre of gravity.
But my legs are twice as long as hers, and I’m already warmed up.
Also, I’m not feeling charitable at the moment.
No, I don’t want to race. I want to chase her deep intothe forest and then fuck her against a tree.
Since I can’t do that, I shoot past her and take off, letting her chase me for once.
She keeps up pretty well. I stretch out the lead only to lose it on the twists and turns. As we shoot past the skate hut on the next pass, I can hear that she’s still with me.
Can’t shake her, so I slow down.
She comes alongside me but doesn’t try to initiate a conversation again. We skate three more laps together, until she’s breathing hard. When she pulls off, I follow, even though I could have kept going for a while.
Silently, we take care of the skates.
Then we put our coats back on and walk back to the house together.
Just before we get to the porch, she grabs my arm.
“Hey, um…” She rolls her head and puffs a long breath up into the night sky.
But before she can finish her thought, the door swings open and Cassie waves a bottle of wine at us. “What took you guys so long? I’m getting Mom drunk, get in here.”
“Oh, brother,” Rory mutters under her breath.
“We’ll talk later,” I promise her, anxiety twisting low in my gut. I don’t really want to talk. It never goes well. But there are things left unsaid between us, and tonight might be the last time we ever get to be truly alone.
I’m not going to waste that opportunity.
“Come on,” Cassie wheedles as Rory firmly sets an empty bottle of wine—the second one we’ve put away—in therecycling bin. “You make the best shots, just do one special Christmas one for us.”
“Nope. Not doing shots tonight. We have an early morning.”
Carmen wraps her arms around Cassie from behind and gives Rory a pouting face. I think she may have had more wine than either of her daughters.
I glance at Dante, who has been nursing the same glass of whiskey all night. He shakes his head.
“I know better than to get involved,” he mutters. “I’m off to bed.”
He kisses Carmen, reminds his daughters that they have a big day tomorrow, and then he escapes.
I should do the same.
But I also need to hang around in case Rory needs to be rescued.
