Page 36 of Wild Hearts

A boy stood next to Dakota. "The battle's over. The next group will be coming through."

"Addison, this is Christopher. He works here. Christopher, this is my friend, Addison."

I noticed he'd called me a friend, but I guess it made more sense than ex-girlfriend or Dakota's social worker. "It's nice to meet you."

"We can get going so the next group can go through," Walker offered.

As we made our way through the maze of ice forts and walls, Walker asked, "Did you have fun?"

Dakota grinned. "Yes."

Xander stood at the entrance to the maze, his gaze on Christopher. "Get back to work."

"Sorry, boss." Christopher gathered the next groups together into teams.

Xander nodded toward Christopher. "He's a good kid."

Walker tipped his head to the side. "Would you let him hang out with your teenage daughter?"

I had a feeling he was worried about his daughter dating.

"Dad—" Dakota whined.

Xander chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand. "I think you're going to have to get used to your father being overprotective, Dakota. At least until he gets used to the idea of you dating."

Dakota shook her head and looked away from us. "Whatever."

"What are you doing next?" Xander asked us.

"Dakota wanted to go ice-skating," Walker offered.

"Maybe I'll send Christopher on break," Xander teased.

"See that you don't," Walker grumbled as we headed toward the rink. We got skates and sat on the bench to lace them.

A girl paused by us. "Dakota? You want to come out with me?"

"Dad, do you mind? This is Allie. She's a girl from school."

Walker lifted his head to get a look at Allie, and then said, "Sure."

The girls walked toward the entrance and paused at the gate.

"She's making friends?" I asked him.

"She said she hadn't yet. Hopefully, seeing one of the kids outside of school will speed it along."

"It's tough being the new kid in school." Some kids are popular because of it, and others are ignored. It can be tough to break through when you're a teenager and everyone already hassettled friend groups. But I hoped that Dakota would make friends soon.

"You were the one who made it easier on me."

"Yeah, but you weren't interested in making friends. You had a chip on your shoulder."

"We were partners in that shop class, and you were afraid to use the machines."

I laughed. "I almost forgot about that. I kept thinking we met for the first time at ski lessons. But I was so scared I'd cut off a finger in that class. I latched onto you, hoping you'd operate the machine for me. But you were very patient and showed me how to do it safely."

"You woke me up. I was so buried in grief and anger. You gave me a reason to feel something else."

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