Page 16 of Wilder

Charli glanced to where Blake was still down on one knee in front of the girls. They had their skates off and were listening to whatever he was saying.

“I’ll talk to Blake first and then the girls.”

“Competition could be good for them,” Wilder said.

“What do you mean?” Charli asked.

“I think Jay and Cole benefited from being on the basketball team in high school.”

“But they were aiming for the NBA,” Charli said with a frown. “I don’t think either of the girls plans to be in the Olympics.”

“Not everyone who competes has the Olympics as a goal,” Lexi said. “There are lower-level competitions that they can enter. Competing can help them learn to accept the good and the bad. To understand that some days they’re better able to stay on their blades than others.”

“I just don’t want them to get upset if they don’t win.”

“Let them get upset,” Wilder said with a shrug. “It will either make them buck up and work harder or they’ll decide that skating isn’t for them. Even among the best, there can be only one winner. Right, Alexandra?”

Lexi gave a nod. “And the ones who don’t win aren’t losers, especially if they’ve skated to the best of their abilities.”

Wilder grinned at her. “How many times did you lose if you skated to the best of your ability?”

“Once we reached seniors? Never. If our program was flawless, we won.”

“That’s amazing,” Charli said. “I can’t imagine the work it took to get to that level.”

“A lot. Skating was my life.”

“It still is, isn’t it?” Kayleigh asked.

Kayleigh truly had no idea how ludicrous that statement was, but Lexi couldn’t fault the woman for it. Unless someone was a high-level athlete or was involved with one, they would be unaware of how different her current life was from before. This version of skating was one she never would have wanted.

“I’m still very involved in skating,” Lexi said in lieu of letting Kayleigh know how this current chapter of her life differed from her competing chapter.

Layla and Amelia came over to the boards with Blake trailing them. When he joined them, he slid his arm around Charli.

“Thank you for the lesson,” Layla said.

Lexi gave her a smile. “You’re very welcome.”

“Will you give us more lessons?” Layla asked. “Mom said that we would see what you said after our first one.”

Lexi hadn’t thought to turn down doing the lessons. It wasn’t how she’d imagined coaching, but it was something to help fill her time, and the lesson had gone as well as she could have hoped. There was no reason not to continue with the lessons.

“Sure. I’m fine with that.”

Layla’s smile was beaming. “And I want to learn a program.”

“We can work on that too,” Lexi assured her. “But maybe not right away. Let’s get used to each other first, then we’ll start looking at putting together a program for each of you.”

Shiloh let out a wail, distracting everyone as they all turned to look at her.

“Guess that’s our cue to head for home,” Charli said. “We’ve missed her morning nap.”

“Maybe next time you don’t all have to come,” Kayleigh said.

“I know. But we enjoy watching the girls skate.”

Blake took the fussing baby from Charli and carried her to where the car seat sat on the bench. He bent to strap her in while Charli talked to Lexi about payment for the lessons.

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