Page 30 of It Started With a Scarf

We parked in one of the regular parking spots and walked toward the main door.

"Ice skating?" I said, looking at him after I saw a smaller temporary sign on the side of the walkway advertising it.

"We have a rink that we use for hockey, but we have it open for ice skating during certain hours. We don't do skate rental or anything, but people bring their skates."

He owned an ice skating rink for goodness sake. I knew that kind of thing was popular here, but I had never been.

"I used to go roller skating when I was a kid, and I liked that, so I feel like I'd be okay at ice skating even though it seems harder. The problem is that I think I might be too cold the whole time."

"It's cold, but it's not that bad. Have you never been? You need to go. Lila and my mom have some skates in the office, and so do some of the other girls who work here. I'm sure someone would be your size and let you borrow a pair. You won't be too cold. You should try it."

"Yeah it must be bearable, I think about those figure skaters with just a leotard on. There's probably a ton of stuff at your gym I've never tried," I said, seeing someone walk inside with tennis rackets in a bag slung over his shoulder.

Someone yelled "Go Cats," from their truck as they passed by, and Dominic gave them a wave.

He opened the main door, and I walked ahead of him, going inside.

"This is a ten-acre facility, but the one in Milwaukee is twice the size at twenty acres with quite a bit more indoor square footage as well. We've got a full indoor track and football field over there. We have a nice half-size track and field here in our main building, though. Come on. I'll show you around."

I followed Dominic through the giant lobby.

"Does everyone use this door?"

"Yeah, you have to come in this way for security reasons," he said.

Everyone else was stopping at the counter to have their card scanned, but I followed Dominic who walked around the edge of the gigantic open room. We passed the front desk which had two people standing behind it with uniforms on. He spoke to one of them, a lady named Gina, asking her about how things were going at the gym today.

I could see how people treated Dominic, and I felt important walking in next to him. I smiled when people looked at me, but I didn't glance at anyone long enough to judge what they thought of me.

"Hey, is EJ here?" he asked Gina as we were walking off. He stopped to wait for her answer before we rounded the corner.

"Is who here?" I heard a man's deep voice. It sounded exactly like Dominic, and I knew it was his brother. I vaguely heard the woman behind the counter make a comment about EJ being 'right behind you' but I was so caught off-guard that it was hard to make sense of things for a second.

I smiled as I turned, knowing I would come face to face with—"Whoa, you really are twins," I said gawking at EJ. "I saw a picture, but this is so cool, seeing an alternate version of Dominic right here, next to him."

EJ laughed. "Hey, I think he's an alternate version of me! I am the eldest, after all."

I was intrigued by the similarities, but I had no time to stand there and stare or make comparisons.

EJ motioned for us to follow him, and we did. "I'll head back this way with you for a minute," he said.

"This is Marley. I'm going to give her a little tour—take her to the café to get a smoothie. She's never been ice skating, so we might hit the ice."

EJ stared at me with newfound curiosity that turned into a look of confusion. "Never been skating?"

I laughed.

"I'm from Texas," I said, putting on a thick southern drawl, but only for a second as I stuck my hand out.

They both knew I was putting on an accent and they laughed. "Nice to meet you, Marley from Texas," EJ said, still smiling at me as I made comfortable eye contact with him—his were dark, same as Dominic.

"It's nice to meet you, too," I said.

We walked slowly down the hallway. I could see different corridors and doors that led to different rooms—weight rooms, training rooms. Music was coming from some of them. I could tell we were hesitating so that EJ didn't walk too far in the wrong direction.

"Are you eating at Mom's tonight?" EJ asked his brother. "They've got food. Thad's coming by with me."

"Yeah, I'll be over there later tonight," Dominic agreed.

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