Page 57 of My Heart Before You

“Good, now let go of the wall and take a few little steps forward.” As he let one hand off the wall, she gathered it strongly in hers.

Normally, he would’ve reveled in the contact, but he was focusing too hard on not making a complete fool of himself. After a few unsteady, tentative steps, his balance evened out.

“Now, push a bit more with each step and allow your toes to slightly turn out.” Her eyes were on his skates.

He did as instructed and received a coo of encouragement. “Good!”

“You’re a good teacher.” Glancing up to see her face, he nearly lost his balance. Her body steadied him as he groped desperately for the wall next to them.

“Why don’t we stick to the wall for the first round until you get the hang of it?”

He nodded, not taking his eyes off the ice in front of him as he let go of the wall again. They pushed slowly along, her stabilizing him when he wobbled slightly.

“How was your week?” he asked.

“Not bad. How was yours?”

His foot slipped, but he was able to recover quickly. “Not to be rude, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep up a conversation while doing this.”

Her joyful laugh sounded in his ears as his eyes concentrated on scratched up ice. “I’ll talk then.”

They went around slowly the first time with her talking about her week and what she’d been up to. He started to gain ground and move faster, so they moved away from the wall. She let go of his hand, saying it was easier to skate not holding onto someone. Colin would have begged to differ since he liked holding her hand, but it turned out she was right. Eventually, he joined the conversation as they continued doing lazy loops of the rink.

When the crowd started to thin out, he noticed an antsy energy radiating from her. “You want to go faster, don't you?”

“No, I’m enjoying skating with you.” It was clear she was being polite.

“Take a few laps. I think I’m doing pretty well for it being essentially my first time. I’ll be okay on my own.” He chanced losing his balance in turning his head to smile broadly at her.

“You are doing well.” Her eyes draped down to his skates and then back up. With a slight puff of air she said, “Like I’d expect anything less from you.”

She pushed off and in a flash was already turning the corner of the rink. It was amazing how fast she was. Before he knew it she was flying by with a giggle that set something bubbling inside himself.

Emilie was in her element out here.

She passed him two more times, her legs pushing strongly against the ice. The hood on her jacket flopped down and the hair loose from her knit cap flew in the breeze of her own effort.

When she passed him a fourth time, Colin sped up himself. Reasonably, he knew that he couldn’t keep up with her, she had a lifetime of experience to his forty minutes, but something inside him wanted to try. It went well on the straight away, but he misjudged his footing around the curve.

Colin fell hard against the ice, trapping one leg under the other and twisting his ankle at an unfortunate, painful angle. In seconds, Emilie was beside him.

“Hey, are you okay?” Her voice was casual and even; he assumed to protect his pride.

He pushed himself to sit. “You can’t learn something new without falling down a few times, right?”

She helped him up, and when he put weight back on his left foot, he tried not to wince. His ankle seared, and he could already tell that it was probably sprained. He pushed to skate again but ended up half skating, half limping in his attempt to keep the weight off his left side—not exactly the impression of strength you wanted to give on your second date.

He gave up trying to be macho and was honest. “I think I might have twisted my foot a bit.” Okay, mostly honest. “Do you mind if we take a quick break?”

“Not at all.” She flipped to skate backwards, watching his feet as if making an assessment.

“Now you’re just showing off.” At least his sense of humor wasn’t injured.

Emilie carefully observed his attempt at a roguish smile with a slight frown on her lips.

“It’s official. We can’t be in the park together. Somehow, you always end up injured one way or another.” She easily slid off the ice.

Grabbing the wall, he leaned into it, taking the weight off his left foot and breaking into a deep, throaty laugh. Her eyes lit up as she faced him from the other side of the wall. The shade of her cheeks were perfectly pink as she enjoyed a full laugh with him. Their gloved hands alternated on to the wall, and his fingers itched to touch her without all of the paraphernalia of winter shielding their skin.

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