Page 84 of Anything for You
“It’s a super-secret mission,” she says, eyes wide and earnest.
Emma walks up next to me, and I wrap an arm around her waist, bending to kiss her forehead. I want to do more than that, but I don’t know what the rules are about kissing in front of Maddy. I don’t know whether we need to tell her about us first, or what we would even tell her if we did. It’s possible I’m overthinking.
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Hi.” She grins up at me, and as I look into her sparkling green eyes, with Maddy on my hip, I’m once again steeped in the unfamiliar feeling that everything I need is right here in my arms.
“It’s definitely a super-secret mission.” Asher holds up his hand for a high five.
“Do you know about it too?” she asks Asher.
“Sure do, Mads. Will you tell me how it goes?”
“Can I come tell you at your house so I can look in your candy drawers and use your soda machine?”
Maddy gives Emma a sly side eye like she’s daring her to say something about the candy and soda. I smother a laugh at herkid doing something they’re not supposed to dolook.
“Definitely. It’s a date. I bet Julie will even share her peppermint Hershey Kisses with you, and she’ll barely even share them with me.”
Maddy wrinkles her nose. “I don’t like those. I want your gummy worms. The red ones.”
Asher chuckles and runs a hand over Maddy’s hair. “All the girls want to steal my red gummy worms.”
“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I’m feeling antsy being in the arena for too long.
“I’ll leave that to your two lovely ladies here and head home to wait for mine to finish working. Jer, lock up when you leave.”He tosses me the keys then winks at Maddy and kisses Emma on the cheek before he heads out, leaving me with the girls.
Emma hands Maddy the bag she’s carrying.
“Hey Maddy, can you go over to the benches and unpack the bag while I talk to Jeremy for a minute? There are more snacks in there too.”
“Yes!”
She takes the bag from Emma, struggling for just a second under its weight before she runs off towards the benches. Then Emma puts her hands on my arms, turning me slightly so my back is to whatever Maddy is doing. I glance over my shoulder, and when I see Maddy occupied, I put a hand on Emma’s cheek, tipping her face up to kiss her. It’s soft and warm, and despite its brevity, it has electricity fizzing in my veins.
“So, what’s this all about, Ems?”
She studies me for a second and nods, seeming to decide something. “I was going to make this whole speech, but I think getting right out with it is better. Maddy and I are taking you skating.”
My breath hitches and I stare at her. “I don’t skate. I can’t.”
It’s a knee-jerk reaction. The anxious part of my brain telling me I can’t skate even while my heart yearns to be out on the ice. It’s been fifteen years, and I miss it like a limb. But the thought of stepping on the ice without my hockey gear on and my team surrounding me makes me want to run out of the arena and not look back.
Emma’s eyes are soft and sympathetic but filled with the kind of determination that makes me entirely sure this day ends with me in skates. My stomach churns, but I don’t lapse into a full-blown panic attack. Thank god for small miracles I guess.
“I know you don’t skate, but it doesn’t mean you can’t. You had a terrible thing happen to you. You lost your sport and the family it gave you, and that’s something you’ll never forget. I’vebeen doing some thinking, and I think it’s time to make you some new memories. I told you I wanted to help you with this, and I do. I know we haven’t defined whatever it is that’s between us, and I don’t know how long Maddy will be with me, but right now, this feels like family. Let us be your family today, Jer. Skate with us.”
My brain is yelling at me to slap a label on this and claim both Emma and Maddy as mine. Emma is it. There is no one else for me. And Maddy is Emma’s, but I can’t help but think that maybe she’s mine too, for as long as she’s here. It’s that thought that has me hesitating. Another person who comes and goes from my life. What if Emma does too? I shake the thought away and concentrate on the more pressing matters. Like whether I can get myself on the ice without passing out or throwing up. And the hope I feel when I think about lacing up my skates. I try and hold on to that. For my girls, but also for me.
Emma lays a hand on my forearm.
“Tell me something true, Jeremy.”
I glance over at the empty rink, the ice clear and smooth, and feel it calling to me. I take a deep breath and gather my courage.
“I want to try. With you and Maddy. Only with you.”
Emma gives me a knowing smile and wraps an arm around my waist.
