Page 38 of Cross-Check

She laughs. “I’ve never heard of them, but maybe we can watch them together sometime?”

“Sure.”

We fall back into silence. I try to come up with something else to say but come up with nothing. It’s never been this hard between us before, so I don’t know why it is now.

“You know what we should do one day?” she asks.

“What?”

“We should go skating.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You know how to skate?”

She looks over at me, her face full of confusion. “My brother is Clayton James, captain of the Walker Wolves, of course I do.”

“I just never pictured you on skates is all.”

“I’m not very good. Grace surpassed me skill-wise this summer while she was visiting, but I don’t fall on my ass.”

Grace knows how to skate? Since when?

Another slice of guilt hits me. Not once did I ever ask her if she wanted to learn to skate. She never hinted at being curious. Or was I so self-absorbed that I missed the signs?

“Hey, none of that,” Cora says as she pulls on my hand.

“None of what?” I ask as I feel like a piece of shit.

Cora comes to a stop and makes me look at her. “Okay, we need to figure this out now. I don’t want Grace and Clay to come between us.”

“I don’t want that either.”

She nods. “Okay, good. I don’t want to censor myself when it comes to them. They are a big part of my life, and I don’t want to worry that if I bring them up it will throw you off.”

“It won’t,” I say quickly, Cora raises a brow, and I correct myself. “Or I’ll try not to let it. It’s just weird. I started thinking about Grace skating, and I hated that I wasn’t there to watch her learn. I’m happy for her, really, I am. I just have a lot of guilt where she’s concerned. Besides, Clay told me that we would have to hang out with them if I dated you, and I accepted it. It’s not going to be an overnight thing to get over, though.”

“Then it sounds like you should probably talk to her about that and settle everything between you,” she tells me. “As for Clay, we will hang out with them, but I will give you time.”

“Thank you. You’re probably right about Grace. I’m afraid to talk to her, though.”

“Well, you should do it soon, so that way we can work on us. I want to be with you.”

“And I want to be with you too.”

“Good.”

“Good,” I repeat, making her smile. “You know, I really want to kiss you right now, but I won’t. Not until we are in the right place.”

The corners of her lips twitch. “I want you to kiss me too, but I can wait.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I know it will be worth it. Now come on, let’s enjoy this date before it becomes any more awkward than it currently is,” she teases, making me laugh.

I make a mental note right then and there to give this girl anything she wants. Especially skating lessons. I’m going to do things right with Cora.

I might not be worth it, but she definitely is.

ten

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