Page 56 of Wilder

“I appreciate that.” She really did.

“Oh, and one other bit of good news for you,” Wilder said. “80s night is cancelled.”

Lexi’s eyes widened. “Really? Seriously?” She frowned at him. “You’re not joking, are you?”

She wouldn’t put some teasing past him, but she didn’t think he would lie.

“Nope.” He lifted his hand. “Absolutely one hundred percent true.”

“Oh, that’s great news.”

“I thought you might feel that way.”

“You were just the bringer of all the good news today.”

His grin took over his entire face, and Lexi’s heart skipped a beat. The joy with which he lived his life was so appealing to her. Why did that way of life have to take him far from Serenity?

The door to the rink opened, and a group of six filed in, four of them children.

“Time to get back to work.”

Wilder glanced over at her. “Good luck.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

Lexi would have liked to watch him leave, but the group immediately demanded her attention. After getting them sorted with skates and skating aids for the younger two, she took to the ice once again.

These moments were a far cry from any other time she’d spent on the ice, but they were also fairly low-key stress times. So, for the time being, she’d embrace this new part of her life until she had a better idea of how to proceed.

When Layla and Amelia showed up for their skating lesson the next day, they came without their parents. Instead, Wilder, Janessa, and her husband accompanied them with Shiloh in tow.

“We decided to give Charli and Blake a break,” Janessa said as the men helped the girls tie their skates. “It’s been a rough week for Charli especially, so hopefully this will help her regroup.”

“I’m sure she appreciates you doing this for her.”

“She’d better,” Janessa said with a frown that then relaxed into a grin as she laughed. “I know she will. Blake planned totake her out for breakfast, and then I think he said they were going shopping.”

That didn’t sound like a break to Lexi, but what did she know? Her idea of a break was going for a mani-pedi or a massage.

Once the girls had their skates on, they came over to where Lexi stood. All three of them removed their guards, then pushed away from the boards.

“Did you get a chance to practice this week?” Lexi asked as she led them through some stretches on the ice, limbering up their muscles.

“Yes. Uncle Wilder took us,” Layla said. “I was able to land my single toe three times in a row.”

“That’s great. You’ll have to show me.” She turned to Amelia. “How about you? How did your skating go this week?”

“I got more rotations on my spin.”

“Good job! Keep up the hard work.”

As she had them show her what they’d been working on, Amelia’s natural ability to move on the ice once again impressed her. She had a gracefulness that went beyond her years.

Lexi didn’t know if Amelia was Olympic quality, but with some hard work, she would definitely be a solid competitive skater.

She enjoyed that day’s skating lesson the most of all she’d had so far. The girls paid attention and tried their best to do as she asked. Overall, it was more relaxing than her skating lessons as a young girl had ever been.

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