Page 80 of Fake Out Hearts

Theo laughs. “When you’re a professional hockey player, you never know when you might need them.”

I don’t know how true that is, but the image of his Aces buddies calling him up randomly for an impromptu game like a bunch of little boys pops into my head. As goofy as it is, I could see them doing it.

When we hit the road a few minutes later, Theo immediately puts his hand on my leg. “This is really sweet of you.”

I shrug. “You’ve done so much for me, so I figure this is the least I can do to repay you.”

He turns his intense emerald gaze on me. “You don’t owe me anything, Becca. Like I said, I’m doing this—”

“Because you want to,” I finish for him. “I know. But Iwant to do something nice for you in return, even if I don’t owe it to you.”

Theo beams at me and pats my leg. “Alright. Thank you.”

I hesitate with my hand hovering above his for a second before I give in and wind our fingers together. “You’re welcome.”

We drive the rest of the way to the park in silence, enjoying each other’s company and the beautiful winter scenery of frozen trees and freshly fallen snow covering the hilly landscape. The park itself is busy with families and young people enjoying the rare sunny day in winter, so finding a decent parking spot is difficult, but Theo manages.

“I think the pond is toward the back of the park judging by the map,” I say as I zoom in on the screenshot I took earlier on my phone.

“Sure is. I know exactly the place. Come on,” Theo says and kills the engine to walk around back and fish our skates out of the trunk. I throw my pair over my shoulder like he does, then he offers his hand again, so I take it and follow him to the back of the park.

The “pond” is so big that it covers three-fourths of the area and might be more accurate to call a lake. But the surface seemsto be at least six inches thick with ice, and there are at least two dozen people already zooming around across it, so it feels pretty safe. I sit down on a nearby bench to change into my skates, and Theo sits next to me.

“So,” he starts as he kicks off his shoes. “Can I ask why we’re here?”

I peel off my left shoe and shove my foot into a skate. “When I was traveling around with my mom, I couldn’t always train in a dance studio. But I could always find an empty space to practice in, even if it was something makeshift.”

“Like a frozen pond,” Theo says with a laugh, and I nod.

“Exactly. It didn’t really matter where I danced. Ultimately, all I needed was todance. And I think it might be sort of the same thing for you with hockey.”

Theo pauses lacing his skate to look me in the eye. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you’ve been having a hard time this season. There’s probably a lot of reasons for that, but I think the biggest one is that the passion’s gone, you know? We don’t become professionals in something just because. We do it because we love it. But when you don’t love it anymore—”

“It just starts to feel like work,” he finishes for me, and I nod.

“Right. This might be a frozen pond in a public park, but it’s about as far away from the rigidity and stuffiness of a hockey arena as you can get. But we’ve still got ice and skates, so I’m hoping this can help you reignite that love. No expectations or pressure, just the fun of doing something you love.”

“With someone you love spending time with,” he adds, and I can’t stop myself from blushing, which makes him grin. “I think this is a great idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely,” he says and finishes lacing up before standing and extending his hand to me. I take it and he helps me to myfeet. Walking with skates on is always difficult, but we penguin-waddle our way to the ice and Theo drifts out first. He glides without any effort at all, which isn’t a surprise for someone who spends so much time on the ice, but it still impresses me how naturally it comes to him.

Meanwhile, it’s been several years since I last went ice skating, so I’m a little less graceful when my skates meet the surface. My right foot shoots ahead of me, nearly taking me down, but I get my footing and after a few desperate flails of my arms, I right myself and drift over to him. He’s doing his best to bite back a laugh, but it only makes me want to laugh too.

“Shut up,” I say teasingly, and he motions like he’s zipping his lips but laughs. “I know I probably look like Bambi right now, but it’s been a while. I’ll find my footing, just give me a second.”

Theo extends a hand, so I reach out for it and hold on for dear life while I steady myself. I really am a better ice skater than I’m probably leading him to believe right now, but I wasn’t lying when I told him it’d been a while since the last time I did it—so long that I actually can’t remember the last time.

But once I have my feet underneath me again, it all starts to slowly come back. It’s not all that different from dancing, just a bit more slippery. Theo skates backward slowly, still holding my hand, and I follow him gingerly out onto the ice. Every time I put one foot in front of the other and manage not to fall on my face, I feel a little more confident.

“See? I told you I wasn’t a total disaster at this,” I say, but Theo only smiles at me. I appreciate that he isn’t rushing me, but I also don’t want him to think I need to keep the training wheels on all day, so I let go of his hand and confidently skate around his side. “Would a beginner be able to do something like that?”

Theo shrugs. “I don’t know, that was still a pretty beginner move in my book.”

“Okay, fine. Then let’s push things a little farther,” I say and charge away across the ice, zipping past other skaters and leaving Theo standing with his jaw hanging open. After the way I stumbled at the start, he probably can’t believe how fast I can move.

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