Page 20 of Wilder

She greeted them with a smile. But even from a distance, Wilder could tell that it was a polite, cursory thing. This woman might be confident, but she was also aloof and somewhat prickly.

“Good morning, Alexandra,” Charli said as she joined them. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Alexandra’s smile briefly reappeared for Charli. “How are you?”

“We’re good. The girls are very excited about the lesson today. They’ve been practicing through the week.”

“Uncle Wilder took us to the rink four times so we could practice the stuff you showed us,” Amelia informed her.

Alexandra’s gaze landed on Wilder briefly before she addressed the girls. “That was nice of him.”

Wilder had figured that with Blake and Charli both working, it would be a help for them. Plus, it wasn’t like he had a ton of stuff to do. He was just biding his time until the slopes were ready for skiers.

When the girls went to the bench, Wilder and Blake helped them lace up their skates. Once done, the girls walked over to the ice, where they removed their guards and joined Alexandra on the ice.

They’d only been skating for a couple of minutes when the door to the rink opened again. Wilder glanced over to see Lee and Rori walking toward them.

Since arriving home, Wilder had enjoyed getting to know his brother’s girlfriend. Rori was sweet and had a sense of humor that he really appreciated. He could see that Lee absolutely doted on her, and he was more protective of her than Wilder ever remembered Lee being of previous girlfriends.

“Oh, I’m glad we’re not too late,” Rori said as she came to stand beside Wilder at the boards.

“Yep. They just went out on the ice.”

“I wish I could have taken skating lessons when I was a kid,” she said.

“It’s never too late,” Wilder told her. “I’m sure you could learn enough to enjoy skating.”

“She looks so at ease on such a thin blade,” Rori stated after watching the girls and Alexandra for a few minutes. “It’s like she’s walking on the ground.”

“I’m sure she spends a lot of time in her skates.” Lee slipped his arm around Rori’s shoulders. “Skating is probably like walking for her.”

Wilder hadn’t attended the girls’ lessons with their previous teacher, so he wasn’t sure how she’d been with them. Alexandra looked to be a firm, but also demanding, coach.

“Try it again,” Alexandra said when Layla landed her jump on two feet. “You want to flow out of the jump with your foot and leg leading the way.”

Layla headed off to circle around and try it again. While she was doing that, Amelia was working on a spin. Alexandraswitched effortlessly between the two, never making it seem like she was ignoring one while working with the other.

The next jump was much better, but it didn’t appear to be good enough for Alexandra.

“You did a good job of keeping your foot off the ice, but we need more flow.” Alexandra did the jump herself, not needing nearly as much ice coverage to pop up and spin into the air before landing, her leg positioned higher and straighter than Layla’s had been. “You need more leg extension. Both of you come here.”

Once Layla was in front of her, Alexandra had her get into the position she should aim for at the end of her jumps. “Hold that and make a note of how it feels.”

She had them both get into the position, then hold it for several seconds before lowering their leg and doing it again. After having them do that a few times, she sent Layla off to do her jump again. Then she had Amelia try the jump she’d been working on that week.

Wilder wondered if this coaching thing was a good fit for the girls. He knew from talking to Layla that she had no desire to go to the Olympics or anything like that. She just wanted to be able to do a few programs in pretty costumes and to be better than her friends.

Amelia, for all that she was the shyer of the two, seemed more interested in pursuing competitions. But even there, Alexandra seemed better suited as a coach to skaters who definitely wanted to compete at elite levels.

He wasn’t going to share his thoughts with anyone, however.

“She’s so beautiful and elegant,” Rori said as they continued to watch Alexandra show the girls jumps and spins.

Wilder had done some research on Alexandra over the past week. While Layla had known a lot about her skating record with her pairs partner, what Wilder found was more gossipy.

From what he’d read, Alexandra might have been a favorite of some because of her skill, but she wasn’t a favorite among fellow skaters and even some skating fans. She’d been nicknamed the Ice Queen, and it hadn’t seemed to have anything to do with her mastery of skating.

He’d watched some videos of her and her partner competing, and even with his limited knowledge of the sport, Wilder had been able to see how talented the pair were. They were beautiful on the ice, athletically skilled but yet also dramatic artistically.

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