Page 46 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

“Ouch. What a bitch.”

I waved my hand. “Nah. Worked out for everyone. I married you and she got knocked up by the guy she was trying to impress.”

“Good times. No wonder this place means so much to you,” Charlie joked.

“I know, right? Only the best times at Roll ’N’ Rock.”

After checking in, someone led us to the party room. We decided that this year’s party would be mostly family again since the triplets were at the age that if you invited a few kids from the class you needed to invite the whole class, and unfortunatelysince they each had a different teacher, that was way too many kids. We did allow each of them to invite one friend, and while they weren’t happy about it, they at least hadn’t put up too much of a fight (except Olivia who thought she deserved to invite two friends since she couldn’t choose).

Before long, everyone started to arrive. Ronan and his friend went right to the arcade with Finn, while Olivia and her friend didn’t waste any time before putting on their skates and hitting the rink. Of course, the friend Carter invited had bought her a book and the two of them insisted on skimming through the pages together before they put their skates on.

Once I was finally able to convince them that they should actually skate at this skating party, I went out onto the rink with them.

“Hey, pretty lady,” I said when I skated past Charlie. “Can I have this skate?”

“Excuse me?” Charlie asked with a laugh.

“You’ve never done a couple’s skate before? One person skates forward, the other backward. That way we can make googly eyes at each other while we go around.”

Charlie laughed once again. “I really hope this is you volunteering to be the one to skate backward, because there is no way in hell I am.”

“Of course I am.” I held my hand out toward her. “Please? It’ll be super romantic.”

“Well, in that case…” Charlie reached for my hand and I spun around so I was now skating backward.

When I smiled at her, she smiled back and my stomach flipped as if it was the first time I was seeing her. I held her hands tighter and picked up my pace slightly.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at me. “Why do I feel like you’re just showing off now?”

“Maybe I am.” I winked at Charlie. “Is it working?”

Charlie dropped one of my hands to bring her thumb and forefinger closer together. “Maybe a little bit.”

I felt like I was a teenager again while I led her around that skating rink. Everything else melted away, and for that moment, it was just the two of us. I took in Charlie’s long blonde hair that I had run my fingers through countless times and those blue eyes that I still got lost in. I stared at the mouth that constantly brought me pleasure in more ways than one. I was about to lean in and kiss that mouth, when I realized it was moving.

Charlie was saying something. I shook my head to pop the bubble I was in so I could actually comprehend what she was saying.

“Kid.”

Huh? Oh!My smile grew even bigger. “I know. This makes me feel like a kid again too.”

Charlie removed her hand from mine and pointed at something behind me. “No. Kid. Right behind you. You’re going to hit them.”

I looked back just in time to see a little girl sitting right in my path about two feet in front of me. I quickly swerved to miss her, but that caused me to lose my own footing and soon enough I found myself falling to the ground. In that last moment of desperation, I tried to reach for anything that would keep me from ending up on my butt. Unfortunately, the closest thing to grab was my wife, so instead of staying up, I took both of us down.

Charlie landed on top of me with a thud and it took me a second to catch my breath after having the wind knocked out of me. When I focused on Charlie, she was laughing hysterically. “So romantic, babe.”

“Mommy. Mama. Are you okay?” Carter asked as she skated up beside us.

Before either of us could answer, Olivia was standing over us as well with her arms crossed in front of her chest. “You two are so embarrassing,” she said before rolling her eyes and skating away.

Once we assured Carter we were fine, she skated away as well. I stared up at Charlie and pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear.Absolutely breathtaking. “I knew I’d get you on top of me in one way or another today.”

Charlie laughed even harder now. “I hate you.” She leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “But I also love you so much.”

As much as I loved the current position we were in, I knew we couldn’t stay like this forever, so I gently pushed her off of me. “Sorry. I think parents might start complaining if we stay here too long. Especially because if you stay on top of me much longer, I won’t be able to control myself. I don’t think anyone would appreciate that show.”

Charlie grabbed onto the wall and pulled herself up, then held her hand down to help me up. I was so wobbly that I almost pulled her back down, but luckily, she had a firm hold on the wall so she was able to keep me upright.

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