Page 61 of Hearts on Ice
“Meghan.” Her reaction wasn’t unexpected, after all he’d told his family. But they had to take a first step together as a couple, right? “She’s staying with me. We’re working together and we’re—we’re trying things out.”
“God, Declan.” Meghan gave a screech of reproach. “I do not want to hear that, thank you very much.”
He sighed and braced his hand on the desk to lean back in his chair. “You know what I mean. I don’t mean that. But would she be welcome at the party?”
The silence on Meghan’s end of the line seemed to stretch on. “I don’t know, Deck. I mean, I’m glad you can forgive her but I’m having a hard time. Sure, go ahead, bring her. I’ll try to find something between now and then to talk to her about. But I’m going to send you Tristan’s list with the most expensive presents on it.”
He chuckled. “It will be worth it. She’s changed. You’ll see.”
“You bet I’ll see. I guess she never signed that contract.”
“No, we decided we didn’t need to do that.”
“Yeah. We will really see.”
Declan regretted that he had complained so much about Colby to his family. Back then, he’d had no inkling they had the possibility of a future together. Now he couldn’t erase all the information he gave them, and they all held grudges against her now. He should have kept his private life private.
“Hey, come look at this,” Colby beckoned from the doorway, cradling the laptop in the crook of her arm. Her eyes were bright with excitement. “I think I did a pretty good job.”
Instead of waiting for him to come to her, she crossed to his desk and put the laptop facing him, then hit play.
He watched the video of the two of them demonstrating a shoulder lift, first skating it, then step-by-step as Colby voiced over the directions. She had left in a clip of him grasping her by the hips and pulling her away from the camera when she was talking too long, and her laugh of delight filled the small office before they performed the manuever again. She made a cut there, then showed herself skating back toward the camera.
“It’s important to have trust in your partner before you do any lift at all. The most important element in pairs skating is trust.”
She said something else but he didn’t hear it, just watched himself on the screen as he smiled at her over her shoulder, then the screen faded to black and the name of his rink appeared.
“What do you think?”
He looked up and saw her hands clasped in front of her, expectant. He wasn’t used to seeing Colby unsure of herself, but she did seem that way now.
“I think it’s great. You did a really good job on it.”
“You think it’s ready to go out in the world?”
He could tell by her voice she was ready to send it out. He was a little less sure. What did this mean for them? Was this just a way for her to keep her name in the public’s mind?
“Colby, what is it you want from this?”
She rocked back on her heels, and her hands unclasped. Some of the light went out of her eyes.
“We talked about this,” she said. “It’s a fun way to stay relevant, and to get new students. I thought you agreed. You said you had fun making it.”
“And I did. I just—for one, I don’t want your expectations to get too high. And for another, I don’t want this to be a step toward you leaving again.” He sat back in his chair, hoping his next words didn’t push her away. “Because it seems like you’re saying two different things here. One, that you want to be relevant, and two, that you want to get new students.”
She dropped to the folding chair across from him. “I want to get new students. With you. That’s the main goal.”
“And if this leads to something else?” He gestured to the laptop. “What then?”
She didn’t quite meet his gaze. “Can we just deal with that if it comes?”
The way she brushed it off was like a sucker punch, and now he couldn’t look at her. She wasn’t declaring her love for him, wasn’t promising that she’d stay with him. They’d only been back together a short time, so he didn’t know why he expected more.
He shouldn’t expect more. Not from her.
He pushed the computer back toward her. “Yeah, go ahead. Put it out there.”
She drew in a breath, but he still couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He heard the tapping of the keys, then, “There it goes. Let’s see what happens.” She stood and picked up the computer, then set it down again. “You want to see if Sandra can help us do another one this afternoon?”
