Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
I sit here looking at the kids skate onto the ice. A couple of them know how to skate while a couple of them fall as soon as they get on the ice. Then the kid in back also ends up either tripping one of them or falls into one of them. It’s like a chain reaction. Then I see Christopher with the girls right next to him. Luna looks like she’s going to fall over with all the padding, and she says something to him, and he just laughs at her. But my eyes then go to Rain, who smirks at Christopher before she gets on the ice. I hold my breath, thinking she might fall since she’s never skated with padding. But she moves side to side like Christopher taught her the last time. On the other hand, Luna skates and ends up on her bottom two seconds later. I’m about to get up and go to her when I see Christopher tell her something, and she nods and gets up. He looks over the crowd and spots me.
He comes over and sits next to me. “Fuck, it’s cold in here.” He chuckles, rubbing his hands together. “I don’t think I’ve ever sat on this side before.”
I shake my head. “How are they?”
“Excited AF.” He looks at me, and his smile is contagious. He looks back on the ice and rubs his hands together, then blows on them.
“Are you nervous?” I ask, seeing his eyes on the girls making sure that he can have them in his sight the whole time.
“No.” He pffts at me, then leans into me and looks around before he says, “But if one of those fuckers push them down.”
I can’t help the way his tone hits me; my head goes back, and I laugh out loud. The sound echoes in the arena, and a couple of the parents look my way. I push him with my shoulder. “What if the girls push them?”
“They probably deserved it,” he states, and I roll my eyes. “What?” He shrugs.
“A couple of things,” I start when I take my phone out and snap a couple of pictures of the girls, prompting Christopher to do the same thing. “One, how much does this cost?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he says without even looking at me.
“What do you mean don’t worry about it?” I make sure my voice is low.
“It means I took care of it.” He finally looks over at me. “So what’s next?”
“What?” I’m now confused.
“Well, you said a couple of things.” He turns back to look at the ice. “What is the next thing?” Then he turns back to me.
I don’t know if it’s his blue eyes or the way his voice goes low, or the way he always turns back to make sure the girls are okay that literally takes all the words out of my vocabulary. “Um.” I quickly turn away. “How many times a week is this thing?”
“It’s either Saturday or Sunday, depending on what team they get put on. But I was talking to Guy, and he said I can rent out the ice a couple of times a week if I want to.”
“That’s a lot of hockey.” I watch the ice, seeing Luna struggling, but Rain is being put in one group after another.
“I can take them.” He puts his hands on the bench beside my leg. “You can, I don’t know, go to Target.”
I close my eyes, laughing. “What’s wrong with Target?”
“Nothing, I just know when a woman goes in there, they are gone for a while.” His eyes never leave the girls. They go back and forth from one group to the next.
“You are not wrong,” I agree with him. The kids stay on the ice for fifty minutes until the bell rings, and then one of the men blows the whistle for the kids to get off the ice.
Christopher is already on his feet, walking down the bleachers to the door, leaving me by myself with the rest of the other moms. I get up and walk toward the door and the waiting area.
A couple of the kids come out with their fathers, their hair wet, and then I see them. Luna walks out first, with Rain holding Christopher’s hand.
“Mommy.” Luna runs to me, and I bend to pick her up. “I fell,” she reports happily, “but then I got up. I’m a superstar.”
“Are you?” I ask, and she nods, her hair wet and stuck to her forehead.
“That’s what Uncle Chrissy said.” She plays with the collar of my sweater. I swallow down the lump that has suddenly risen from my stomach. “He said Rain was a superstar too.”
“Mom, did you see?” Rain asks when she comes to me. “I went from group to group because I was too good.”