Page 65 of Wilder

“I’m sure it will.” Wilder’s expression turned serious. “Are you worried that you might make a mistake somewhere with this?”

She shrugged, her gaze dropping to the insulated mug she gripped between her hands. “I don’t want to do something that might negatively affect the fundraiser.”

“You won’t.” His words were immediate and held a confidence she didn’t share. “The whole point of this is to have fun. There are no judges handing out scores. It’ll just be people looking for a fun experience.”

Lexi wasn’t used to not being judged when performing. There hadn’t been judges at the galas following competitions, but there had still been plenty of dissecting of their performances by the spectators and online. Even their practices had been judged bytheir coaches and by commentators, who were allowed to view the practice sessions at competitions.

“Seriously, don’t let this stress you out. We’re going to have fun, I promise you.”

“I have a feeling that my idea of fun and yours are slightly different.”

“Maybe, but I think you’ll come around to my idea of fun for this.”

“Okay.” She wasn’t going to argue with him about it. Time would tell. “Are you going to have time to practice once you start work?”

“Yep. If you want, we can practice around this time.”

“What time do the slopes open each day?”

“Nine o’clock on weekdays. Eight-thirty on the weekend.”

“We don’t have to start practicing right away. I’ll need some time to sort out what I think we should do.”

“Just don’t forget to work in a hockey stick for Santa.”

Lexi gave an exasperated shake of her head. She was going to have to work it into whatever she planned, because he wasn’t going to let it go.

“I’ll make sure you have a hockey stick.”

Wilder beamed at her. “Perfect!”

His smile warmed her, making her feel things she hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Well, I need to go talk to Trev. He asked me to come in today to make up the schedule, since it looks like the ski instructors will be back at work soon.”

Lexi got to her feet when he did and followed him to the door. He pulled on his jacket, then zipped it up.

“It’s definitely gotten colder over the past couple of days, so dress warm if you go out.”

She didn’t bother to remind him that she was used to the cold. His concern made her feel like he cared, even though he probably said the same thing to everyone. She’d come to see that he was just an overall caring person, like all the members of his family that she’d met so far.

Lifting his hand, he said, “See you later.”

She nodded, then wrapped her arms around herself as she watched through the glass doors as he jogged to his car. It was only once he’d driven away that she moved away from the door.

After returning to her small office, she pulled out her phone and went to the site for the scores for the weekend competition. She hadn’t been able to break the habit of looking, but she at least she’d managed to resist following along when the competition was live.

Mikhail and his partner had finished sixth in the short, but then had withdrawn from the competition. She wished she knew what had happened, but she knew better than to go to any forums to see what people were saying.

Some of the posts on the forums were fine, with people sharing their thoughts in kind ways on programs and costumes. Others were cesspools of negativity, where skaters’ looks and performances were torn apart and made fun of.

She’d made the mistake of going to the forums after her dad was arrested and she’d been dropped. There had been no positive posts about her. Every single one had ripped her to shreds. Her looks. Her skating ability. Her costumes.

It had been horrible, and she hadn’t gone back since.

She wondered if Mik or his partner had posted on their social media about it. After a brief hesitation, she went onto her new social media accounts and checked their pages. There was nothing there about the reason for the withdrawal.

In fact, on Mik’s, the last post had been months ago, which was different from when they’d been together. Back then, he’d posted a lot of little videos and photos from their practices and performances.

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