Page 49 of One Last Run

"Not one bit," Danica said, grinning.

Pete eyed her, then smirked. "Finish your drink. I want to show you something."

CHAPTER 16

PETE

“I should have expectedyour plan would get us arrested,” Danica said, looking up and down the street. Pete’s boots crunched in the snow as she maneuvered her way down the small path to the frozen pond on the edge of the shopping square. The pond was cleared of snow, except for the light flakes that had begun to drift down from the sky. “There’s a sign that says it’s closed,” Danica added. “It closes at sunset.”

“You can’t close a pond,” Pete said, as she took a tentative step onto the ice of the pond. She’d seen ice skaters out here, so she knew technically it was okay to walk on, but maybe spending all this time with Danica was making her play it a little safer.

Pete slid her boots back and forth on the icy surface of the pond, smooth and slippery, especially with the fresh dusting of snow. Her hand stretched out toward Danica, palm up. “Come on,” she said. “Water’s fine.”

“Listen, if I fall through this surface and go into shock, I’m going to need you to take the appropriate steps to save my life,”Danica said, holding up her mittened hand as if she was about to start listing the steps on her fingers.

Pete laughed. “Stop thinking so much.”

“Do you think we’ll get kicked out?” Danica asked, glancing back and forth as she took one small step toward Pete. Even that made Pete’s heart race with a sense of thrill. It was always so fun watching Danica break a rule, like she was peeling back the layers of Danica’s carefully constructed Good Girl personality to find the interesting parts beneath.

“Kicked out?” Pete asked, trying not to laugh.

“Yeah.” Danica seemed so earnest.

“Of a pond?”

“No, out of Telluride.” Danica looked completely serious, which only made Pete want to kiss her rule-following face even more.

“You can’t kick people out of a town.” Pete chuckled, then spun in a circle with her arms flung out to either side.

Danica exhaled a huge sigh, then walked toward Pete. Danica’s woolen mitten fit right into Pete’s palm. “I seem to have forgotten my ice skates back at the bar,” Danica joked. She was wearing dressier boots that were definitely more ice-skate adjacent than snow-ready.

“We’ll just have to make do,” Pete said, twirling Danica in a circle, then letting go of her hand to race across the pond and out of the obvious lights of the nearby shops.

She could hear Danica laugh, followed by the scratch of her boots scuffing across the ice. Pete leapt and slid as far as she could, turning to see Danica do the same.

“Do you remember that time we went ice skating?” Pete asked as they twirled and slid in circles.

“I remember bruising my tailbone and needing to sit on a donut pillow for weeks,” Danica said with a shake of her head, catching Pete’s hand.

Pete chuckled. “I forgot about that.” She pulled Danica into her, brushing some of the snowflakes from Danica’s beanie and hair. Danica shivered against her, and something about her rosemary shampoo and the cold night air made this a distinctly intoxicating moment that made Pete want to hold her close forever, here, just like this.

“That’s because you always remember only the good parts,” Danica stated.

“I remember lots and lots of the good parts, it’s true.” Pete brushed a strand of Danica’s hair away from her face. “I don’t remember your broken ass, but I do remember how much you laughed that day. You said your face hurt from smiling so much.”

Danica smiled now, looking up at her. “Do you remember any of the bad parts?”

Pete ran her thumb over Danica’s cheek, over that freckle on her left side that always drew Pete’s gaze. “Nope.”

“So, you’re like an elephant wearing rose-colored glasses,” Danica said, furrowing her brow.

“Did you just call my nose big?” Pete joked, holding her fingers to her own nose.

Danica gasped. “No, because of your memory — oh, you’re messing with me.”

They both grinned like fools, holding one another on the frozen pond, snowflakes falling all around them like they were in a snow globe. Alone in their own little world, despite the occasional burst of voices from those walking past, or cars in the parking lot, or restaurant doors opening and closing to give a brief flash of bustling noise.

“I remember it all,” Pete whispered, her gaze searching Danica’s.

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