Page 21 of Chasing The Goal
After a few laps, we drifted toward the boards and leaned our elbows on the top rail, our breath fogging in the cold.
“So,” Logan said, tilting his head. “How’s the leg?”
“Better,” I said, flexing and unflexing my skate in the ice. “Mallory gave me the green light to skate earlier this week.No sprints. No turns. Just enough to remember I don’t suck.”
Logan nodded. “Mallory, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t start.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’rethinkingit.”
“I’m always thinking it,” he said with a smirk.
I hesitated, then sighed, the kind of sigh you didn’t mean to let out when your chest was still tight from disappointment.
“I saw her,” I said. “A few nights ago.”
Logan turned toward me, his brows raised slightly. “Yeah?”
“Lobby of the building. She was with someone.”
His face twisted. “A guy?”
“Jackson.”
“Yikes. That sounds like a guy who owns loafers and uses ‘networking’ as a verb.”
“You nailed it in one.”
He gave a sympathetic wince. “That sucks, man.”
“Yeah. He introduced himself like I was the janitor. Didn’t even know who I was.”
“What a dick,” clearly humoring my ego.
I chuckled dryly. “Right? Mallory looked like she’d rather melt into the elevator floor.”
“And yet...?”
“Shechose him.”
Logan studied me for a long beat. “You asked her out, didn’t you?”
“Last week. Right after a session.”
“And she said…”
“That she just started seeing someone and it would be weird since we work together.” I glanced down at the ice, watching a nick in the surface reflect the overhead light. “Told me I was sweet. That we should be friends.”
“Sweet,” Logan echoed. “That’s... brutal.”
“Tell me about it.”
He nudged my side with his stick. “You ever think maybe she’s just scared?”
“Of what?”
