Page 4 of The Love Comeback
“What’s wrong with you?” Cam asks. “You’re sweating bullets.”
“Yeah, I have that skate lesson today,” I tell my best friend, my voice coming out gruff. Everyone knows about myone that got away, but no one knows it was the pretty brunette that showed up at our game last week. I haven’t been able to get Ella out of my head, especially after everything she told me. She’s taken ona lot.
And it pairs so well with her resilience.
“You never give skating lessons.” Cam raises a brow. “Did you just feel sorry for that kid, or?”
“It’s not like that at all…” I pause, leaning against the rink’s railing, recalling the concern on Ella’s face over the cost of skating lessons. But the truth is, I’d do just about anything for the chance to spend more time with her. Even if it means giving her adorable nephew free skating lessons.
I made a huge mistake breaking up with her, and I haven’t stopped thinking about her after all these years.
“I just want to help out,” I say with a shrug, trying to play it cool. “And Colton seems like a great kid.”
Cam smirks at me knowingly. “Right. It’s all about the kid.”
He’s onto me. And he’s not wrong. The fact that Ella is now living in my town—and she’ssingle—feels like a second chance. But also, finding out that Colton lost his parentscrushedme. Skating lessons are really the least I can do.
Before I can say anything else to Cam, Ella and Colton enter the rink, and I’m left with the sight of Ella in a pair of dark wash jeans, Converse, and an olive sweater that brings out her hazel eyes.
She looks as beautiful as ever.
Though I’m not sure she’d be open to me telling her that. She wassoclosed off at the game, and my guess is that, given everything she’s been through over the past nine years, she might be that way with everyone. But that doesn’t mean I won’t shoot my shot by asking her to dinner.
“You know, you can just explain it to me later.” Cam chuckles, shaking his head and making his way to the locker room. Practice has been over for a solid hour now, but I wanted to make sure the ice was fresh for Colton when he got here.
“You ready?” I call out to Colton, who looks so giddy, he might burst at the seams.
“I’m ready!” Colton calls out, and I catch Ella smiling from behind him. She takes a seat on the bleachers and crosses one leg over the other. I meet Colton at the rink entrance. My eyes keep bouncing to Ella every chance I get, even as I teach Colton how to lace up his rental skates and make sure they’re secure.
He eats up the information like he’s starved for it, and Ella’s smile remains pleasant, though the look in her eyes is distant. I wonder if she still feels the spark between us that I do—or if my mistake of ending us put it out. I suppose it could go either way, but the way I’m feeling…
If she gives me a signal that she’s still interested, I’m not letting her get away this time.
I teach Colton the basics of skating. He’s not steady at first, and it becomes pretty clear that he hasn’t spent much time on the ice. It’ll put him at a disadvantage to the other kids that have been skating since they were toddlers.
But he’s got talent and athleticism on his side. It comes out quickly as I work with him on the basics of starting and stopping.
Ella’s face shows some surprise, and I chuckle.
Colton’s forehead is beaded with sweat as we start the slow process of skating around the rink, adjusting speeds as we go. The concentration on his face is one that mirrors a younger me.I had my mind made up at his age that I was going pro, and fortunately for me, I did.
My twin brother Nate, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky. He quit playing when we were juniors in high school due to a shoulder injury.
“You know,” I tell Colton as we come to a stop, “the whole point of this hockey thing is to have fun. It’s fine to be serious, but we can also just have fun.”
He peers up at me thoughtfully. “Yeah, I know. But I want to be really good like you guys are. My dad played hockey.”
I swallow hard at the mention of Brett. “Yeah, he was great at hockey. Almost went pro, actually. He was better than some of the guys who did.”
“Yeah, I know. But he quit because my mom got pregnant with me.” Colton laughs. “I don’t know why that meant he had to stop playing hockey though, ’cause I know he could’ve been rich.”
“Yeah, well, when you’re in college, things aren’t always easy to navigate,” I say carefully. I know that Ella’s older sister was twenty-one when she got pregnant with Colton—Katie and Brett had only been married a year, both still in college.
“Do you think I’ll be good?” Colton asks, his brow pinched with worry.
“I think you’re showing some really great promise.” I reach out and squeeze his shoulder. “You’re a natural on the ice.”
“Did you hear that?” Colton shouts out to Ella, his voice booming with pride. “Kade said I’m a natural on the ice!”
