Page 70 of Wilder

“Are you telling me that your mom didn’t have any thoughts about you being flung into the air for jumps and twists? Or hanging upside down for a lift?”

“She didn’t have a problem once we had them perfected,” Lexi said. “But when we were learning a new high-flying skill, she was nowhere to be found.”

“I think my mom would have been the same.”

The door to the rink opened, and the guy that worked in the skate rental walked in.

“Hey, Alexandra,” George said with a lift of his hand. “Wilder.”

The middle-aged man handled several parts of the rink. From taking care of the ice, to sharpening skates, to renting them out, he was a bit of a jack of all trades.

“How’s the ice?” he asked as he joined them at the boards.

“I have no complaints,” Wilder said with a grin. “But then, I’m not the pro.”

“I think it’s still fine,” Lexi said. “These are the slow days of the week, so it’ll probably be okay until Thursday.”

George looked out over the ice, then nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”

He headed back to the rental area, flipping on the lights of the room behind the pass-through. His arrival meant it wasn’t long until the rink opened, so they needed to wrap up their practice.

“I guess our practice time is over,” Wilder said. “I need to get going anyway. I promised my dad I was going to help him out with some stuff around their house. Today and tomorrow are probably the last days for a little while that I can help him.”

“Do you want to practice again tomorrow?”

Wilder nodded. “I’ll be here. Same time.”

“I’ll be here too. And then maybe on Saturday, I’ll do a little work with the girls on their part in the program.”

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to come for their practices anymore,” Wilder said with a frown. “If we’re all going to practice together, I might have to see if Charli would be willing to get the girls up early on Saturday so we can do it before I have to go to work.”

“I have to say it’s taken a little to get used to working weekends and having my days off during the week.”

“Did you take weekends off when you trained?” Wilder asked as he slipped his guards on, then walked across the carpet to the bench to take his skates off.

Lexi sat down next to him and bent over to untie her skates. “Nope. We trained pretty much every day, though Sundays were less intense, just to give our bodies a bit of a break. It probably wasn’t what would be recommended, but it worked for us.”

“So all you had to juggle was your training?”

“Yes. Here, I’m also coaching, along with working, and now I have the fundraiser program. There’s a lot of different things on my plate.”

“If you need to offload anything, just let me know. We’ll work around what you need.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve never had a problem with a busy schedule.”

“I’ll chat with you later,” Wilder said once he’d gathered up his things. “I’m going to head over to the slopes now and take a test run to see how things are before going to my folks’ place.”

“Try not to get hurt,” Lexi said as she walked with him to the door.

Wilder flashed her a grin. “That’s always the goal, but sometimes things happen.”

“Well, try not to let it.”

“For you, I’ll try harder than normal.”

Wrapping her arms across her waist, Lexi smiled at him. Though it was small, it reached her eyes, and Wilder knew it was genuine, as most smiles she gave him these days seemed to be. Things between them had progressed enough that Lexi appeared willing to let down some of her walls, and Wilder couldn’t be happier.

It also warmed him that she was concerned for his safety. Each time they were together, his emotional reaction to her got more and more tangled. He found himself wondering if she felt anything like he did.

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