Page 92 of Side By Side

“I love your voice,” Chandler said quickly. “I meant… that I didn’t like how tired you sounded. And you listed off all the things you had to do today, and you have to take care of your dad, too. I don’t know… I didn’t like the idea of you having to do all this yourself, so I’m here.”

“You’re here to do what, exactly?”

“Help,” she said.

“With what?”

“Whatever you need. I didn’t expect to find you skating, given everything you said you had to do, so maybe you don’t need help, after all, and I came here–”

“I just got out here. I needed a break,” she interjected. “Sheryl was able to check on my dad today.”

“Who’s Sheryl?”

“A nurse who bowls with him. She’s liked him for a while now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yup.”

“And are you okay with that? Her liking your dad?”

“He lost my mom over ten years ago. I don’t want him to be alone forever. And Sheryl’s nice. She gave up her day off to take care of him for me today.”

“How is he?”

“Let me get out of my skates, and we can talk in the back.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to sleep on that cot in your office tonight,” Chandler said as Belle got off the ice.

“What? No.” Belle laughed. “I was going to stay on his couch again. Wait. Where are you staying?”

“The same hotel I was staying in when I was here before. I checked in before I came here.”

“How long can you stay?” Belle asked as she sat down on the bleachers and put her shoes back on.

“I didn’t book a flight home.” Chandler sat down next to her. “I figured, if you’re able to come back, we’d fly together, and if not, I’d just go home when you got sick of me.”

Belle looked over at her, smiled, and said, “Chandler, I’m glad you’re here. I appreciate you coming all this way. But I don’t want to be responsible for you not making the Olympic Team because you took time off for me.”

Chandler pointed to the ice and said, “I have my skates with me. I can come in before everyone else and get in rink time. My hotel has a gym. I don’t need my personal trainer to know how to work out. I’ll be fine.”

“What about a partner?”

“You let me worry about that. You have enough to worry about right now. What can I do?”

“Nothing right now,” Belle replied. “We’re about to close up. I’ll do the end-of-the-night paperwork and then go check on Dad.”

“I can’t help close up?”

“You really want me to put you to work?”

“Why not?”

“Well, the arcade probably needs to be restocked. When we have birthday parties, there tends to be a run on prizes.”

“I can restock prizes,” Chandler said.

“I’ll show you where everything is,” Belle replied and stood up.

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