Page 28 of Wilder

“Good, right?” Wilder said, making Lexi realize that she’d made an audible sound of appreciation, much like he had.

“Very good.”

Wilder cut the remaining cinnamon roll into four sections, then took another piece. When Lexi finished her piece, she picked up her coffee and took a sip. She thought Wilder might encourage her to eat more, but he didn’t. And he didn’t say anything when she caved and indulged in another piece.

“So I hear we’re planning a Christmas skating program,” he said after he’d finished his third piece. “Is it all Kayleigh’s idea?”

“I don’t think so. Apparently Alexander told her they were coming for Christmas, and he wanted to see a skating program. Maybe we could blame him.”

Wilder chuckled. “I’m on board with that. So, how are we going to make that happen without you losing your mind?”

“What makes you think I’ll lose my mind?”

“The Christmas programs at the school usually do that to Charli, so I thought this would probably be comparable.”

Lexi gave a small nod. “I’m not sure how to pull it off with so little time to practice. And if I have to judge every person’s skating level beforehand…”

“You could just say that it’s impossible and refuse to do it.”

That would be the ideal response, but there was a part of her that didn’t want to let Alexander or Kayleigh down. They’d givenher a chance when she’d been floundering for a new direction in her life.

This direction, however, seemed fraught with rough ice. She really had no idea how she was going to make it work.

“I can’t refuse to do it,” she said, which felt like admitting a weakness. If he forced an explanation from her about that, she’d have to admit that she needed this job. To help her out financially, but also to help her mentally. She needed to move past her competitive skating career, and this job was the first step to doing that.

Wilder regarded her for a moment as he took another sip of coffee, then he said, “Okay. Refusal is off the table. What are we left with?”

We?

A knot she hadn’t even known existed loosened inside Lexi. She’d missed being part of a team. Because she was a pairs skater, she hadn’t even gone on the ice alone like single skaters had. She’d taken her best friend—the man she loved—out there with her.

When everyone had abandoned her, she’d felt very adrift and alone. Even her mom had moved on with her life, leaving Lexi behind.

It wasn’t until that moment, when she realized she wouldn’t have to deal with this program on her own, that Lexi felt like maybe she had found a place where she could plug in again.

“I guess we’re left with checking the feasibility of where to have the program and planning the program itself.”

“I can definitely help with the former,” Wilder said. “Not too sure about the latter.”

For the next little while, Lexi laid out for him everything that she and Kayleigh had discussed. After she was done, he turned in his seat to survey the rink.

When he got to his feet, she stood up as well, curious what was going through his mind.

“I don’t know about doing an outdoor rink,” he said. “My biggest concern is weather. We have no way of knowing how cold it might be, or if we get a lot of snow, creating and keeping the ice in good skating condition might be an issue.”

“Yeah. I didn’t think about that.”

Wilder flashed her a grin. “You’re used to doing your winter sport indoors. Because I’m outdoors for a good chunk of time, I’m more aware of how the weather can impact things.”

“So, what other options do we have?”

“If we moved all the furniture that’s currently in here out, I think we could bring in small sets of bleachers to put around the entire rink.”

“You think so?” Lexi tried to picture that but had a difficult time.

“Depending on the dimensions of the bleachers and how portable they are, I’d say that’s our best option. Unless Alexander wants to buildanotherrink more suited to performances.”

That got a huff of laughter from Lexi. Given how rich the man was, he could probably do it if he had the time. Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure that evenhecould get it together in the time they had until Christmas.

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