Page 38 of A Very Titan Christmas
“Don’t pick them up. Almost.” He waited as she tried and failed. “Back and forth. Back and forth, sorta—just like that. There, perfect.”
“I’m going to fall.”
“You won’t, babe. Now, remember, you don’t need to pick your feet up. You’re just going to move side to side. Slide, slide.” He glided backward effortlessly. “Keep trying.”
“I’m trying.” She caught herself from falling and attempted to move her feet side to side again. She distinctly remembered this being far easier twenty years ago. She did it. “I’m moving.”
His golden smile lit up. “There you go.”
She glided on her right foot and then her left. Rachel wasn’t making significant improvements in speed, but she had forward momentum. Sorta. That was something. “Look at me glide.”
Bryce circled her, casually crossing one foot over the other. He turned and went in the other direction. “Looking good.”
Her arms went out for balance. “Shit.”
“Don’t look at your feet.”
She looked at her feet and saw them slide in a different direction than she wanted. “Eek.”
He grabbed her elbow and forced her upright again. “Do you know how they asked if we wanted helmets, or wrist guards, or knee pads?”
“Yeah.” She wobbled. “I don’t remember that being an option when we were kids.”
“Yeah, you probably should have said yes to all of the above.”
She laughed—and he caught her again.
“Next time, Rach. You need it all.”
Her belly flipped. Next time? That was probably rhetorical.
Bryce linked his arm with hers. She wasn’t sure if that made it easier to skate or not, but she liked it and decided to stay upright on his arm for as long as possible.
“Let’s make a short-term goal,” he suggested.
“An entire loop?”
“That’s a high bar, babe.”
She laughed again and almost took them both down. He caught her around the waist and forced her to get her legs underneath herself again.
“Remind me,” she said, a little out of breath, “to make a note for the article. Ice skating is not as easy as remembering how to ride a bike.”
“Hey, look at you go.”
She was skating. Something clicked. All it took was near wipeouts and a little self-deprecating snark. He did the heavylifting of directing them in a straight line as they traversed across the ice without mowing down anyone. She focused on keeping her skating smooth and her skates underneath her, pushing and gliding and not trying to walk on the ice.
“What are you thinking of for a cookie theme?” he asked as he rounded them through the corners.
Perhaps coming up with a theme while relearning how to skate wasn’t her best course of action. She could barely string together two sentences. “I can’t think right now.”
“What about very simple? Like red and green? Or Christmas trees?”
They approached the spot where skaters got on and off the ice. A fresh sprig of alarm sprouted in her chest. They were going faster than she had realized, and there were lots and lots of skaters. “I’m about to accidentally kill someone.”
Bryce’s grip on her arm remained steadfast as they avoided other skaters. Her heart was beating as though she were alpine skiing. They had only a few more strides before they reached another corner. “Red and green isn’t a theme.”
He pulled her through the corner with ease. “What about an ugly sweater theme?”
