Page 38 of Class Act

“Yeah,” I replied.

“She’s hugging her wrist,” Hillary volunteered, and I smothered a groan. “I think she hurt it.”

“She hit her head pretty hard,” Henry added as he joined the fray. “I thought maybe the ice would crack.”

Freaking fantastic. The entire Whittaker clan was here to witness this debacle. I closed my eyes against a wave of emotion and pushed it down, knowing I could cry in my bathtub later. For now I wanted off this ice and to go home with what little dignity and class I still had.

“Let’s get you up,” Shane said, and my eyes opened as I felt him reach for my arm.

“Careful,” Ford inserted. “She hit her head pretty hard, and she’s not saying much.”

“She hasn’t had anything to say all night.” Shane shrugged, dropping his hand to his side.

The jab was annoying, considering I’d been feeling pretty good about how well I’d held up my end of the conversation. But the sting was gone when I saw Ford’s face split into a grin as our eyes met.

“Really?” he said, and I immediately knew he was thinking about all the things I’d had to say to him.

Hillary sat next to me and patted my shoulder. “I’ll sit here with you until you feel good enough to get up.”

I smiled at her in thanks. I simply needed my head to settle down, and I’d be good to go. After a few minutes of silence, I used my good hand to push to sitting. When that didn’t cause any dizziness, I reached up my right hand for a little assistance. Shane got to it before Ford could, and he hauled me up. Unlike Ford he didn’t wait to see if I was balanced but stepped back a hair. I wobbled, but Hillary’s little arm wrapped around me from the side, and she steadied me. It was so incredibly sweet that I wanted to hug her.

“I guess we’re done here, then?” Shane asked. I knew he meant more than just the skating.

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks for dinner and everything.” I gave him the kindest look I could through the pounding in my head . . . oh, and the fact I wanted to deck him for the entire stupid idea of kissing me like that. “I’ll tell Aryn.”

“Can I help you get home? Are you okay to drive?” he asked.

I took a deep breath, analyzed, and then lied. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you’re sure?” He asked once more, and I softened again.

The poor oaf hadn’t meant for it to end this way, but he was as anxious to ditch this awkwardness as I was. It couldn’t have felt great on his end to have so severely misread a situation and then injured your date.

“Yeah.” I replied.

“You should probably get your head and wrist looked at.”

“I will.”

He nodded once and skated away quickly, leaving me standing with my aching wrist held against my chest. I looked to Ford and Henry, who were watching with identical expressions of reproach as Shane skated away. It was enough to break the cloud that had formed in my mind and make me genuinely grin at the sight of little Henry shooting daggers.

“We’ll take you home, won’t we Daddy?” Hillary, who was still hugging me, said to Ford.

“No, thanks. My car is here,” I argued when he looked to me.

“I’m not sure you should drive,” he replied. “Are you okay leaving it here for now?”

“Please, Miss Hailey,” Henry joined in, surprising me. “We can help you.”

Any fight I had was gone with his plea, so I nodded, and Ford skated closer. He reached his hand through my right elbow, allowing me to still support my hurt wrist and giving me some stability as we made our way out of the rink. I’d come with one man, and I was leaving with another. My life was definitely in unfamiliar territory.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ford kept one arm threaded through mine as we made our way into the darkened parking lot. Night had fully fallen, and I shivered even though it was no chillier out here than it had been inside the rink. He led the way to a large white SUV and helped me into the passenger side. The big seat formed comfortably to me as he laid it slightly back and leaned across me to turn on the seat warmer before buckling me in. These were all things I was totally capable of doing, but I silently let him perform the little tasks, loving any chance to be close to him.

I was quiet on the ride, worried about my wrist, worried about how to get my car to my house, worried about the way Ford kept glancing my way without trying to get me to talk. I sat with my head leaned back against the headrest, watching our progress through slitted eyes while Hillary and Henry chatted about who knows what in the back seat. They spoke fast, occasionally giggling, and I didn’t try to keep up with their words. I was still bundled up in my coat, my floral print scarf and pink woven mittens sitting on my lap. Hillary had gotten my purse, and she was holding it safely in the back seat.

I insisted that Ford take me to my condo rather than the doctor’s office. There had been a moment there where I could feel the argument coming from him and knew that he could probably convince me to go to Urgent Care if he used his strong personality and natural talent for persuading, but he had backed off and done as I asked. As we neared my condo, I gave Ford directions in a soft voice. I was in more pain than I wanted to admit.

---