Page 66 of Romancing the Grump
Nathan looks over at me. “Want to pull up the picture?”
I reach for his phone, and he gives me his passcode like it’s no big deal. When I pull up the text, I find a picture of Allie in ice skates, her smile wide. The skates have braces that extend up Allie’s legs and hook around her knees, and she’s holding a kind of sled she can lean on as she makes her way around the ice.
“Oh my gosh. This is perfect,” I say, holding out the phone for Nathan to see.
We pull up to a stoplight, and he takes the phone, staringat the picture. “Man,” he says. “That’s…” He sniffs and shakes his head, almost like he’s willing away tears. “Two years ago, we weren’t even sure she’d be able to walk.”
“That’s amazing. And so sweet that she wanted you to see.”
“She’s a great kid,” he says.
“You must be a great uncle.” We’re quiet for a beat before I say, “You know what I think?”
He looks over and lifts his eyebrows.
“I don’t think you’re half as grumpy as people say you are. You’ve got this broody, frowny persona publicly, but deep down, you’re kind of a big softie.”
His lip ticks up to the side. “Don’t go telling the rest of the team. You’ll blow my cover.”
I think of Alec’s words before we parted ways in Chicago.I love the big idiot, so I’d like to see this work out for you.“I hate to break it to you,” I say, “but I think they already know.”
The parking lot at the community rink is mostly full. I’m still not excited about embarrassing myself in front of all these strangers, but Parker did say the larger the crowd, the better.
I wait next to the Bronco while Nathan pulls a hockey stick and a duffle bag out of the back. He holds out his free hand, and I only hesitate a moment before slipping my fingers into his. We’re back in public, after all. Here, I’m allowed to love holding his hand. I’m allowed to recognize howrightit feels to be beside him.
It doesn’t take long for people to recognize him. Or—us,really?
At first, people just watch from a distance, but once the kid behind the skate counter asks for an autograph, everyone else seems to take it as permission to do the same, and a small crowd of people forms around us.
It’s what we want—the whole point of coming to the rink at all. But it’s just as disconcerting as it was when Riley recognized me before our meeting with Flex.
Nathan is gracious, signing hockey jerseys and t-shirts and posing for at least a dozen selfies. A couple of kids who come over are in full hockey gear, and he talks to them for a few minutes about what positions they play and what team they’re on.
Finally, when the crowd starts to thin, Nathan holds up a hand. “Thanks, guys. If you don’t mind, I brought my girlfriend skating, so if we can have a little bit of space and some privacy, that would be great.”
My heart climbs into my throat when Nathan says the wordgirlfriend.It sounded so easy, so natural. Soperfect.I breathe through a sudden, sharp longing that we could just forget about the fake part of our relationship and lean into this for real. But I push the thoughts to the back of my mind. Tonight, I’m just supposed to be enjoying him. I don’t want to worry about anything else.
“So, where’s Parker?” I ask as Nathan pays for my skates, checking the blades on a few different pairs before he finds one he’s happy with. “Isn’t she supposed to be here?”
“I haven’t heard from her, so I assume she’s still coming.” He leads me over to a bench beside the rink, motioning for me to sit down before he kneels in front of me, working on the laces of my skates.
“You seem to know your way around this place pretty well,” I say as I slip off my boots.
He looks up, the light catching in his deep blue eyes. “The Appies take turns volunteering with the youth leagues, doing skills clinics, so I’m here every couple of months, at least.”
Oh, great. He’s a coffee connoisseurandhevolunteers toteach children how to play hockey. Honestly. This isn’t even fair anymore.
“All right. You ready?” Nathan holds out my skate like he’s Prince Charming holding my glass slipper.
I swallow against the lump in my throat, suddenly feeling like if I put on this skate, I won’t be able to go backward. If I keep spending time with him like this, I’mgoingto fall for him.
Nathan must read my spiraling thoughts because he puts down the skate and drops a steadying hand onto my knee. “Hey,” he says gently. “You don’t have to do this. It’s not a big deal. We can just tell Parker we want to do something else. Or…we don’t have to do anything at all. You know that, right?”
“No, I want to,” I say, and a tiny pulse of relief flits across Nathan’s face. “I want to do this with you.” I force myself to give him a reassuring smile. “Let’s do it. We’re already here. I’m just letting my fear get the best of me.”
In more ways than one.
“How about this?” Nathan says as I slip my foot into the skate. “We give it twenty minutes. After that, the second you aren’t having fun, we stop.”
