Page 49 of ICED
I swipe at them with the back of my hand. “You’re infuriating, you know that?”
He grins. “So I’ve heard.”
“She already loves you,” I whisper. “She called youBear like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like you were ours.”
He shifts a little closer. “I’m not trying to take anything, Maya. I’m just hoping I can be part of what you’ve already built. If you’ll let me.”
His words settle into the cracks I pretend don’t exist. The hollow places I’ve kept empty on purpose.
“Okay,” I say finally. “You can teach her.”
His smile is quiet. Earnest. “Thank you.”
“She’ll need tiny skates. She’s got tiny everything.”
“I’ll sort it,” he says. “I’ve got connections.”
“Oh yeah? With the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus?”
He leans back, smug. “Exactly. And the Easter Bunny owes me a favour.”
I laugh, the tension slipping from my shoulders.
He doesn’t reach for me. Doesn’t press. Just sits with me, close enough that I feel his warmth, but not so close that I feel cornered.
It’s the safest I’ve felt in a long time.
After a while, I speak again, surprising myself with the honesty in my voice.
“Do you ever get scared?” I ask.
He looks over. “All the time.”
“Of what?”
“Letting people down,” he says immediately. “Of not being enough.”
I study him. “You’re a literal tank on the ice. People move when you so much as glance their way.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t worry I’ll mess things up. Especially this. You.”
My breath catches. “You won’t.”
His gaze sharpens, but his voice stays low. “Yeah?”
“I’ve been through things,” I say, the words sticking in my throat. “Things I don’t know how to talk about yet. But I seethe way you are with her. With me. You’re not forcing your way in.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know. That’s why I’m still here. Letting you in. Slowly.”
The emotion that flickers in his eyes is so unguarded it knocks the air out of me.
“You can take all the time you need,” he says.
“You might regret saying that when Lila decides she wants a full glitter skate outfit and a unicorn helmet.”
He grins. “Sounds like a challenge.”
