I Want You Back (Want You #1)(56)

In hindsight, that’s when I should’ve kissed her. Right there in front of our kid, my brother, and the entire restaurant, so she understood how much I wanted us to rebuild that little world starting right then.

Instead, in the sudden quiet, I heard Mimi say, “Uncle Nolan, are they gonna start yelling at each other again?”

“No, short stuff. I’m thinking they’ve moved on to another more complicated way to communicate.”

Lucy looked away first.

I glanced over to see Mimi eyeballing us with suspicion.

She said, “I don’t get it.”

“Join the club, sweetheart.” Nolan slipped out of the booth. “Come on. It’s time to be assimilated into the collective.”



* * *



? ? ?

I used to dread Lund family brunches. In the years prior to my sobriety, at these gatherings I desperately tried not to drink too much so my family wouldn’t see that I had a problem. Since they were a group of problem solvers, they’d butt into my business as if they could fix me, so I’d made sure none of them could tell just how broken I’d become.

The secrets, lies, deceptions I lived with still haunted me. While my family’s love and support humbled me to my very core, I remained wary of revealing too much of myself.

But Lucy understood. I sensed her monitoring my mood from the end of the table. She knew when I’d reached the limit of my family togetherness. She worked her charm, and we bailed a full hour before I expected we could.

After we’d secured Mimi in the back seat of my car, I slipped my arm around Lucy’s waist, pulled her in for a hug and whispered, “Thank you.”

“Anytime, sport.” She patted my chest to get me to release her. “Now let’s finish the rest of today’s trials so you can get to your happy place.”

The dirty part of my mind piped up with, Between your thighs? but I ignored it and said, “Where’s that?”

“On the ice.”

I should’ve kissed her then. But I chickened out.

Again.

If I kept this up, I’d start sprouting feathers.



* * *



? ? ?

Shopping for hockey gear took half as long as I’d allowed for because Lucy kept Mimi focused.

Thankfully Lakeside had family changing rooms. I’d spent my life in locker rooms, so I thought nothing of stripping down to my underwear in front of Mimi and Lucy, so I could show Mimi the order she needed to follow to put on her protective gear. Even though she and I were working on skating basics, she needed to suit up fully, because there’d never be a time when she was on the ice without it.

Lucy sat in the observation area, wrapped in the blanket I’d stashed in my bag. Ice rinks were cold, and she’d dressed for brunch, not hockey practice. She’d seemed surprised I’d thought to bring it.

Once Mimi and I were on the ice, I crouched down to get her full attention. “Two things to remember today. First, you listen only to me. You don’t look around at the other skaters; you don’t worry what your mom is doing. Focus on me. That’s for your own safety—and mine. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Second, we’re done when I say we’re done. There’s no negotiating, no begging for more ice time. Again, this is for your safety, okay?”

“Okay.”

I handed over her new hockey stick. “First thing about hockey. If you’re on the ice, even during open skate practicing, your stick is always in your hand. Period.” I held out my stick. “We’ll start you out with the two-handed grip. One hand here”—I curled the fingers of her left hand around the top of the stick, and her right hand halfway down the stick—“and your dominant hand here. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Good. The blade is always on the ice. Your stick is always in your hand and the blade of the stick is always on the ice. Now skate forward. Keep your head up at all times.” I started to skate backward. “See the logo on my shirt? Watch it as you’re moving, that way you’ll stay with me.”

I grinned at her look of concentration.

We made it one full rotation around the rink before she fell.

As hard as it was to do, I didn’t help her up. She needed to find her balance from the start, and me picking her up and asking if she was all right every time she fell? We’d get nothing accomplished. Beginning hockey players spent more time sprawled on the ice than they did skating.

I waited until she was upright before I spoke. “Why do you think you fell?”

“Because I looked at my feet.”

“Exactly. Hockey players spend thousands of hours skating so it becomes as familiar as breathing. That’s so when you’re playing in a game, you’re not thinking about skating; you’re just doing it.”

She nodded and put both hands on her stick. “I’m ready.”

“No, you’re not. What are you forgetting?”

Mimi lowered her blade to the ice.

“Good. Let’s go.”

At the end of an hour, she’d already shown such improvement that I let her take two laps around the rink by herself, as fast as she wanted. She fell twice but she got right back up both times and implemented the three basics without me having to remind her.