One Day Soon (One Day Soon, #1)(101)

“I can do that,” I remarked, my face flaming hot.

“So can I,” Yoss retorted, his hand wrapping around my other ankle as he put the second skate on my foot.

“Are we going to skate around the living room?” I laughed a little breathlessly when he was finished tying the skates.

“Your driveway is pretty level. It’s as good a place as any to get our skate on,” Yoss suggested, holding my hand as I got to my feet.

“If I break something, it’s your fault,” I warned, echoing words I said long ago.

He leaned in close. So close his lips almost touched my cheek. “Just hold on. I won’t let you go.”



We fell into a heap on the ground.

“Ouch,” I ground, rubbing my hip, which had collided with the concrete. Yoss was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

“The way you were whirling your arms, I thought you were going to take off!”

I gave him a playful shove. “I wasn’t the one who ricocheted off the garage door.” I stuck out my tongue.

Yoss leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the mouth, startling us both. I sat with my mouth slightly agape and he looked away shyly.

“Shit. I forgot how much fun I could have with you,” Yoss said, his cheeks flushed, his eyes sparkling.

“Yeah, I forgot how much fun I could be,” I grinned, still relishing the sensation of his lips on mine.

Yoss leaned back on his hands and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankle. “Tell me about a time you smiled,” he said suddenly.

I propped my elbow on my knee and cupped my chin. “What?” I asked with an amused grin.

“I know you can’t be super serious Imi all the time. I seem to remember a girl who would jump into the river with all her clothes on. So come on, tell me something fun.” He poked me in the side and I squirmed.

I swatted his hand as he tried to poke me again. “Sorry, can’t say I have any good stories to share. I’m pretty boring actually.”

Yoss raised an eyebrow. “I know that’s not true. You’re the furthest thing from boring.” He slowly got back to his feet and started skating backwards ever so slowly. “A road trip? A cool place you’ve visited?”

I chewed on my bottom lip and thought hard, wanting to give him something.

“One time I snuck backstage at a concert to meet the band. This was before I graduated from high school. A friend of mine, Amanda, dragged me to see some really bad rock group. She was crazy about them. They were horrible.” I made a face.

“This sounds promising.” Yoss rubbed his hands together.

“Yeah, well Amanda was always a little crazier than I was. Though I think I surprised her with my level of nuttiness the day I left home and ended up down by the bridge,” I chuckled. “Anyway, we pretended we were the lead singer’s cousins. Had the security guard convinced we had flown in from Topeka to see him. Amanda put on the water works and made a show of ‘calling her mom’ saying she couldn’t get back to see him. He let us through just to stop us from making a scene.”

Yoss clapped his hands together. “See! That’s what I’m talking about!” He reached out and pulled me back to my feet. My skates slid out underneath me and I had to grab ahold of him so I wouldn’t fall again. “What’s your favorite place you’ve visited?” he asked me. We were so close that his breath fanned across my face.

“I went skiing,” I told him.

His eyes crinkled as he smiled. “You finally got to go huh?”

“Yeah. Chris and I went for our honeymoon.” Yoss’s smile dimmed slightly at the mention of my ex. “Never mind,” I mumbled.

Yoss squeezed my hands. “No. Tell me. I want to hear about your first skiing trip.”

“It was a disaster. Chris was an excellent skier. I spent the entire trip on the bunny slope.” I grimaced. “But it was really fun.” I had a thought. “We could go skiing! Rent a place and spend the weekend. It would be great!”

Yoss held his arms out as I tried to skate on my own. “That sounds like a plan,” he agreed.

“There are so many things I’d like us to do together. Promises we need to keep,” I said, finally able to stand upright in my skates.

“I’d like that, Imi. I really would. One day soon we’ll do all the things we talked about when we were just silly kids dreaming away our time.” Yoss stopped and watched me wobble around, slowly gaining confidence.

“One day soon,” I echoed.

I carefully slid along in my skates, even doing a little turn with a hand flourish when I was finished.

“Tada!” I laughed.

“I think you’ve got this. I knew you would.” Yoss grinned.

I grinned.

I was pretty sure our one day soon had already begun.



“Do you want a cup of tea?” I asked after we had finished skating. Yoss closed the kitchen door and lined his skates up against the wall.

“Sure, tea sounds good.” He was in a good mood. It was nice to see.

I brewed the kettle and got two teacups from the cabinet.

“This is exactly what I always imagined home to feel like,” Yoss said, taking the cookie tin I handed him and sitting down at the table.

“Me too,” I agreed. I poured the tea and put milk and sugar in each mug. Then I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top before joining him.