Page 50 of A Loser by Christmas
“Get back here.”
My shoes slide on ice, and I ignore the printing on his jersey for a second time. This time, I don’t let go.
“Surprisingly strong.” He laughs once I’ve yanked him closer. “Bossy too. I like it.”
I can’t let his grin distract me. “Be serious for a minute, oui? I’m not suggesting you actually hurt any of the kids, but shoving over that one in particular would be perfect.”
“Perfect for what?”
I hiss, “What do you fucking think?” I can’t believe I just wanted to kiss him. The urge to shake him until he listens is almost overwhelming. “To make you look like the worst person on the planet! And you would if you shoved her over.” My candidate is tiny and padded up more than any of the other children. “Go do it. She won’t feel a thing.”
“Who won’t feel a thing?”
I give Penny a run for her exclamation money. “Her! That little girl behind you! Use your eyes!”
He turns around to see for himself.
Calum turns back even faster.
“Absolutely not.”
“But look at all that padding. It would take a head-on collision with that machine to do her any real damage.”
“With the Zamboni? You want me to push her in front of it?”
“No.” My exasperation echoes. “I want you to look as if you could. I thought?—”
He shakes his head, and I grind to a halt. Then I persevere because someone has to.
For him.
“Listen. If I got down on the ice and videoed you from a low angle, you’d look like a giant rushing up behind her. A monster your club might volunteer to cut ties with, because who does that, right? Who bullies children? You wouldn’t even need to push her over for real. I could manipulate the footage during edits so?—”
“No. I’m not using a kid. Especially not that one.”
He skates off for real. Calum leaves the ice completely, and I’ve been slapped in the face by cold water plenty of times while filming Reece. Hearing myself is another icy wake up.
Fuck. I sound as bad as Lito.
That gets me moving. I follow Calum to tell him sorry and that I got carried away because...
I want to keep him.
He heads back my way before I get a chance to, and he isn’t empty-handed. “Put these on.” He thrusts a pair of skates at me. “You need to feel how she does on the ice. But to do that for real, you’d need a blindfold.”
Understanding dawns after he asks for the ice to be cleared. I wobble over to join the two other people still left on it—a child and parent who I guess he must have delivered Christmas meals to, given the patch covering one of this little girl’s eyes and how warmly her mother greets him.
“It’s so good to see you again, Calum.”
Curiosity kicks in, but I don’t need to ask a single question. Once Calum skates off with her daughter, this mother tells me plenty.
“He’s all Violet talks about. It was so lucky our paths crossed.” She wobbles on her own skates, clutching at me for balance. That’s a mistake. We end up on our arses, both of our derrieres getting cold and wet as she laughs. I can’t help noticing how her eyes glisten, and I hear why once we’re back on our feet. “This might be her only chance to do this. To skate while she can still see where she’s going. Look at her go.”
More emotion spills each time Calum passes by with her daughter.
Fear comes first, stark on the face of the woman beside me.
I guess we both see the joy on her daughter’s.
