Page 42 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
I put them on, and even with them not being broken in or even touching the ice, I knew. I was ruined.
“Let’s go.” I skated out on the ice. Oooh, I was going to want these always.
We did our usual workout.
As we finished, Tenzin wiped sweat off his forehead. “Do they live up to the hype?”
“I love them. Once they’re broken in and sharpened the way I like they’ll be perfect. You’re creating a monster. Thank you so much. It was so nice of you that I have no words.” I took them off and put them in my bag.
For a moment, he looked a little sad. “You deserve the tools you need. I’m happy to get them for you.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Anytime. Should we go up and get some breakfast?” he asked.
Since I had dining room privileges, we’d been grabbing a breakfast sandwich before camp. Also, Chef would make me a sack lunch to eat with my campers. Which was nice, since I no longer had a kitchen to make myself one. Sure, I could run up and grab whatever they were serving, but my campers might be sad to see me with a tasty hot lunch while they had brought-from-home sandwiches.
“Think about what I said about the videos?” he added as we headed toward the elevator.
“Yeah, I will.” Put videos of me figure skating online? I didn’t know about that. Maybe I’d just stick to pictures of muffins.
Itwassomething different. Not to mention it opened up other silliness. Like doing Maimers dances while holding a hockey stick. Taking dances from social media and doing them on skates.
Hmm. I’d have to think about it. Skating like that felt good. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to share it with the world.
Chapter Thirteen
Tenzin
My phone rang. Morgan’s name flashed across the screen. Again. I ignored it again as I sat at the table, working on editing another video for Gwen. There were no texts, just calls. A chill swept through me. What if something was wrong?
Against my better judgment, I answered it. “Morgan?”
“Tenzie. There you are.” Her voice turned scolding.
“Is everything okay? You had a scan today?” Even though I shouldn’t, I did read the inane update texts she and Jacen sent me.
“I did. It’s a girl.” Her voice softened.
My heart broke. A girl.
“Anything else?” I now knew a little more than I had the night that Jacen had told me he was the father.
It had been too early to do a paternity test; he was guessing. The two of ushadbeen having unprotected sex the entire time she’d removed her birth control implant and was taking fertility enhancers in hopes she would get pregnant during one of Imogen’s heats, so they could be pregnant together, and I hadn’t been on birth control.
“I don’t want to do a paternity test. It’s all our baby.”Her voice grew hard.
“I didn’t ask.” Not now, not ever.
She sighed. “If I did, and it’s yours, will you come home? We miss you. I get it. We messed up. We weren’t trying to hurt you, but we did and we’re sorry.”
Wow. That was ahugeadmission. Had she done that earlier, it would have changed everything.
Too late.
“You did. All four of you.” I missed them, too. But I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“Tenzie, we’re sorry. What we did was wrong. We should have communicated and it won’t happen again. What else do you want?” she pleaded.
