Page 46 of A Winter's Wedding

“Aim your toes inward toward each other.” America demonstrated. “I really don’t think he’s a bad guy. I just think they misjudged one another and made poor choices with their behavior. We all do that sometimes.”

Poppy came to a stop like America explained to her and raised her right brow. “You’re saying I should take him off my hit list?” Poppy grinned and took off across the rink. “And what about turning?” she yelled from the far side of the ice.

“All you need to do is lean the way you want to go and turn your toes slightly in that same direction,” America cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled back. “Try it.”

While trying it, she turned right into John’s arms. Even from where America balanced across the rink, a visible blush warmed Poppy’s cheeks and John looked like he had never held a beautiful woman in his arms before. In the light from the van’s headlamps and the bonfire, his face looked ghostly. He bumbled through asking her if she was alright. Poppy shoved him, though he didn’t budge, and as a result, pushed herself backwards into the snowbank.

He stood over her, hands on his hips, and laughed. “Do you want my help now?”

“Haven’t you done enough around here?” she said. “I will never want you to do anything for me, Mister Mayor Thorpe.” As if her words weren’t message enough, she threw a snowball at his chest, and it broke into a cloud of tiny crystals.

“What do you think about that?” Leo said as he came up behind America.

“I didn’t know you were there.” She leaned into him for a kiss, and he dodged her advance nearly causing her to pitch forward over her toe pick.

“Enemies, remember.”

“I recall,” America said with disappointment dripping off her pouting lips. “As for John? He angered the wrong woman last year. It’s a surprise she hasn’t socked him sooner.” America chuckled as the two rivals carried on their snowball fight at the other end like they were the only ones there.

“I’m exhausted,” Leo said and pulled America to where the drinks were cooling in the snow. Taking the spout, he poured Pa’s beer into two disposable red cups. “Try it. Pa said it’s one of his best.”

“You know I don’t like beer,” America said and sniffed the liquid.

“You’ll like this one.”

America brought the rim of the cup up to her mouth and tilted the cup just enough to let the beer hit her lips. It tasted nothing like the other beers she had tried, but Pa had a way of never giving up on a lost cause. In this case the lost cause was getting America to like a beer. Tomorrow, she hoped Pa wouldn’t give up on his other lost cause, Carol.

“It tastes like apples. Or is that…” she swished some around her tongue, “Figs?”

“So, do you like it?” Leo said with smiling eyes in hopes that this new flavor might be the one to crack the code.

“It’s the best one I’ve tried,” she said generously, but his face deflated. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like the way beer tastes like swamp water, even if it is fig-flavored swamp water.”

“And how much swamp water have you tried?” Leo said with a tone smacking of incredulity.

America skated away. “I’ll never tell.” She realized her response left the door open for him to assume she had tried a lot of swamp water over the years, which came with a certain ick-factor, but this was war, and she had already entertained the man long enough.

On one side of the rink, Carol and America’s mom had patted down and created a makeshift bench area where the women amassed like soldiers ready for battle. America placed her cup in the snow and sat to retighten her laces. “That’s Pa’s beer if any of you want to try it.”

Carol reached across in front of America and took the red cup. “I’ll take it. After all, I might need to get used to being his permanent taste-tester,” she said under her breath where only America could hear.

Or so she likely thought.

“Why?” Thandie asked and appeared from behind Carol’s shoulder. “Why are you going to his permanent taste tester?”

“I don’t know what I’m saying. Silly old brain,” Carol said and sipped the beer.

“Is there something going on between the two of you?” Thandie egged her on.

“Something,” Carol said while America played dumb, adding only a shrug.

Jenny skated towards the group and did a pretty spin with her arms over her head like a ballerina and her foot cocked out to one side. She spun faster and faster, eventually coming to a stop and doubling over with her hands resting on her knees. “I haven’t done that in years.”

“If this was a figure skating competition and not a hockey game, I’d say we would win,” Vivian said and put her arm around Jenny. “But we had better get this game going. Someone’s going to have to clean out Bingo’s stall in the morning, and it’s not going to be me.”

“Come on girls,” Thandie said. “Huddle up.” They gathered in a circle. “I have a plan. It’s a bad one, but it might just work.”

“I don’t want to clean Bingo’s stall, either. Whatever your plan is, I’m in,” Carol said, and the others nodded along.

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