Page 26 of As You Ice It

“Oh, look,” I say. “They’re done.”

Liam is no sooner on his feet than he’s bursting through the door connecting the two rooms. Naomi, looking torn, is caught talking to the medic but keeps her eyes on her son through the window.

He bounds over to me and holds out his arm, grinning. “Check it out! Wicked, yeah?”

I have no idea what the right response is. The sight of the long, neatly stitched wound on his forearm doesn’t make me feel woozy, but it turns my stomach a little. Because I care about Liam. And though this was a relatively shallow injury, it could have been worse. Had the kid’s skate sliced through the other side of his arm or gone deeper, it would have been a hospital situation like Felix mentioned had happened before.

I’m far too emotionally invested in the relationship—or lack thereof—I have now with Liam and his mom. Part of me wants to roll him up in bubble wrap and return him to Naomi. The other part wants to give him a high five and tell him he handled it like a champ.

I do neither. I just stand here, nodding.

Van steps up and gently takes Liam’s hand, giving the wound a good look. “That’s a beaut,” he says. “You’ll have a really good scar, but nothing too gruesome. Ladies love scars.”

“He’s a little young for the ladies, don’t you think?” Naomi asks, walking into the room and going straight to Liam. She puts an arm around his shoulders and pulls him back a little from Van.

“You’re never too young,” Van says, holding up a hand to high five Liam.

Parker steps between Van and Naomi, who looks about ready to explode, this time at Van, not me. Logan drags Van away, putting a hand over his still-running mouth.

“Hi! I’m Parker.” She thrusts a hand toward Naomi, who shakes it quickly, looking wary. Parker shakes Liam’s hand next. He looks thrilled, but that may have more to do with the other players in the room. They’re all helping with the class, but I’m sure he hasn’t gotten a chance to meet most of them aside from Eli, his original group leader.

“I’m Naomi. This is Liam.”

“Great to meet you both! I handle the team’s social media,” Parker says. “I heard we had a little bit of an issue at the class, and I just wanted to check up on things.”

“You could say that,” Naomi mutters. But she looks a little less murdery than she did a moment ago. Parker has that effect on people.

“I got twenty-seven stitches,” Liam tells her proudly. “But I need to go back in there and let them put a bandage on it so Mom doesn’t pass out again.”

Parker’s eyebrows shoot up, and Naomi rolls her eyes. “Way to throw your mom under the bus, kid.”

“Do you want to meet all the guys first?” I ask Liam, and his eyes go wide.

“Um, yes?”

I make introductions, Liam’s smile growing wider and wider while Naomi seems to shrink back more and more. Parker notices, too, and steps forward, linking an arm through Naomi’s and whispering something to her. After a moment, Naomi nods, her eyes skating briefly over me before landing once again on Liam.

“Go get your bandage so we can get out of here,” she tells him. “Remember, we’ve got big plans today.”

“Right. Big plans.” Liam laughs. “Mom’s buying a winter coat,” he announces to the whole room, though he’s looking at me. “We didn’t need them where we lived before.”

He heads back into the medical suite, and I turn to Naomi, remembering how she was shivering out in the parking lot in just a hoodie earlier.

“So, youdon’thave a coat?” I shouldn’t have spoken the words out loud. I know this even without the searing look Naomi gives me.

“I don’t have a coatyet, not that it’s any of your business. Also, speaking of things that aren’t your business, it didn’t escape my notice that the gear Liam has in there isn’t what I bought him. Know anything about that?”

I cross my arms. “I bought it.”

“I can buy gear for my kid,” she seethes, and I can see the self-reliance I respect so much bubbling up and boiling over.

I bite the inside of my cheek so I don’t say,Says the woman who hasn’t bought herself a coat.

“I saw a need. I met it. Not a big deal.”

Naomi’s eyebrows shoot up. “Not a big deal to you, maybe. But all of this is a big deal. Liam signing up for this, you coaching him without either of you thinking I might need to know, him getting hurt. Big deal.”

I belatedly realize I probably should have messaged Naomi last week when I started working with Liam. Just to give her a heads-up. The same way I should have told her that Liam came by to see me after our breakup.

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