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Holly
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“ARE YOU AN EXPERT AT skating, too?” I asked cheekily as I took his hand and curled up on his arm.
We were walking out of the door for the second time in the day, and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Even if the snow was cold and the temperature was down in the twenties, the fact that I had Lawson to cuddle up beside was more than enough to keep me warm for a little while.
“Most certainly not,” he said. “I tried hockey when I was eight, if that counts.”
“How long did you play?”
“About a week,” he laughed. “Decided football was more my speed.”
Lawson took my hand, and I noticed how warm to the touch he was. I had gone in to change clothes and shed myself of the icy, wet stuff that had seemingly hardened into their own cloth cold packs while he stayed downstairs by the fire. I wasn’t sure which one of us was drier as we headed out, but I knew that I didn’t feel nearly as warm and cozy as Lawson seemed to be.
The ice-skating rink was a little ways out into the town, meaning that it was probably best if we drove. There was almost no traffic out, other than pedestrians, but I did enjoy the idea that when we were done we could warm up in the car before we got to the house. Lawson started the engine, and I hopped in the passenger’s side, eager to keep our day of fun going.
It was strange in a way, how much I was enjoying myself. Usually, the thought of being outside in the snow brought a cadre of curse words and the occasional thought of buying a flamethrower to clear the driveway. But with Lawson, it was different. I enjoyed the silliness and childishness of romping around with him. He was so lively and fun, the energy of being around him was intoxicating.
When I got back to the bed-and-breakfast, I decided that if I was going to do this, I was going to go all out. I changed into a pair of leggings that had lining on the inside to keep me warm and candy canes and wreaths printed on the outside. It may not have been the most fashionable thing in the world, but it was cute, and Lawson seemed to like it.
Now, I was kind of regretting wearing layers over my legs as I stamped my feet a little to keep warm. It would take a few minutes for the heat to come on and actually be warm in the car, and by the time it did, we would probably be at the parking lot for the park. The price of beauty, I figured. At least I wasn’t freezing from the wet snow anymore.
We got to the parking lot and found a spot close to the front. Most of the people in the park had walked, and the few that drove decided to park close to the exit to make it easier to get out. Lawson went for parking close to the rink, which was on the left side of the lot and made it easier to get to it. I laughed as I stepped out of the car and nearly fell, my boots having trouble catching a grip on the already icing-over parking lot.
Lawson caught me, though, holding me up as I gained my footing again. I pecked him on the cheek as a thank-you and took his hand, walking side by side to the skating rink.
The skating rink was one of the few sporting entertainment options Snowflake Hollow had in town. Mostly, the town was known for being a little getaway from everything, but the tiny golf course, skating rink, and baseball field were tied together in the central park area of town. Guests had been talking about it since I opened up, mostly excited by the indoor and outdoor options the rink provided, having a rink inside with heat available and an outdoor rink that was well maintained and icy even when the weather wasn’t as cold.
It was apparently the outdoor one Lawson was interested in. We made a beeline over that way and stopped off at the little hut where the skate rentals were. I sidled up beside him and told the girl behind the counter my shoe size while he paid for them. It was a tiny gesture, but the whole paying for my skates part of the transaction made it feel like a date, and I found myself feeling giddy about it.
As soon as we had skates on, Lawson was up and holding his hand out to me, beckoning me to join him on the ice. I took his hand, almost going down once or twice on the way to the ice and doing the weird waddle walk one has to do in ice skates until they get off pavement, and then slid onto the rink. Lawson jumped on after me and promptly went down to his ass.
A booming laugh came from where he fell, and I grabbed the railing to pull myself back toward him. I couldn’t help but laugh, too, hearing his musical voice. At least he was a good sport about it.
“So, not the world’s greatest skater, then?” I asked.
“Not even in the top ten,” he laughed, getting back to his feet. “You seem to do fine, though.”
“I remembered that getting on the ice was all about confidence. I can’t remember how to turn, though, so there’s that.”
“Take my hand,” he said. “We’ll do this together.”
“What if I fall?” I asked.
“Then we fall.” He grinned.
It didn’t take long for that to happen. Both of us ended up going down a couple of times over the next hour or so as we tried to remember how to skate. Lawson was visibly trying to keep himself from getting frustrated, and I wondered how his competitive nature was handling the catastrophic failure of skating. But the more he fell, the more he joked about it, and we were both seemingly having a good time.
“Sure am glad you got us doing something gentler than sledding,” I joked.
“Har, har,” he said, getting to his feet yet again.
We leaned against the wall of the rink for a moment, letting people go by us and angling to let the children who used the wall the entire way around to do so. I laughed as Lawson tried to slide away and nearly went down again, flipping around to push his back against the wall and lean his elbows on it like he was trying to play it off.
“Smooth,” I said.
“Lawson?” a voice said from behind me.
A woman, tall, blonde, and pretty, skated effortlessly around me, stopping between the two of us. She looked me up and down briefly and then turned her attention to Lawson, smiling that wide, innocent smile of someone who has an ego the size of Texas.
“Amy?” Lawson said. “Hey, long time no see.”
“Oh my goodness, it is you,” she said, reaching out her arms to hug him. Lawson did the polite three-tap hug, glancing over to me and widening his eyes as she seemed to take a little more liberty with her hug than he was comfortable with.
“How are you?” he asked.
“I’m good, good. Came into town for the holidays since I didn’t have anything else to do,” she said. “We should totally catch up. What are you doing tonight?”
My jaw fell a little at the absolute gall of this woman. She had her back almost completely turned to me and was asking Lawson out in front of me. Like I didn’t even exist. Lawson’s face fell a little, and then he rallied, still trying to be polite.
“I’m actually on a date right now,” he said. “This is Holly. We’re going out to dinner tonight.”
“Oh,” she said, turning briefly back to me and doing the old look up and down thing.
I smiled through the building hatred and held out my hand to shake.
“Nice to m—” I began.
“Well, good for you, playing the field,” she said to Lawson again, turning away from me. “Maybe tomorrow, then. Or sometime this weekend.”
“No,” Lawson said. “I don’t think so. Holly and I have a bunch of plans. We have some more wintery fun ahead. Thanks, though.”
The Amy woman stood there, her smile fixed on her face despite the clear look of disbelief in her eyes. She looked back at me and then him and nodded. I got the impression this was among the handful of times in her life that she hadn’t just got something simply because she wanted it.
“Right, well, I’ll see you around,” she said, skating off and waving.
“Doubt it,” Lawson muttered through gritted teeth as he smiled and waved back.
My heart leapt. He really stood up for me right then. And the way he did it, so polite and cool about it, it just made me feel like I was the most important person on Earth. We went back to our ginger skating attempt for a few minutes before he guided me toward the exit of the rink.
“I’m starving,” Lawson said. “How would you feel about going for an early dinner?”
“I would love that,” I said. “I think my ankles might fall off if I keep trying to skate anyway.”
“Oh, thank goodness I’m not the only one,” he said. “Let’s turn these death blades in and get something delicious.”
I laughed and linked hands with him as we went back to the desk and turned in our skates. It had only been a little over an hour on the ice, but it was so much more than that to me. Being out and being “public” with him was incredible. It felt like something, something real. Something bigger than two adults going out and acting like kids in the snow.
A little restaurant was on the main street just beside the park a block or so away, and despite our ankles being in rough shape, I felt like I was walking on clouds holding hands and being with him. I didn’t mind the distance. We arrived at the restaurant and were relieved with how warm it was inside, and the garlands, bows, and lights made the entire place seem festive.
I realized as I started in on the appetizer course of hot soup and crackers that we hadn’t really talked about our feelings to an extent. We had spent all day with our arms wrapped around each other or giggling and kissing, but we hadn’t established any sort of relationship. Even when he was fending off Amy the Ice Queen, he didn’t say we were a couple. He just said we had plans.
Lawson hadn’t even decided how long he was going to stay or if he was going to just head back to his home after the holidays. What happened then? We were grown adults. A long-distance relationship just felt like something teenagers did when they were too scared to break up after high school and weren’t confident enough to date in different colleges.
What was going to happen in the future? I didn’t know. All I knew was that sitting across from him, sipping on soup and waiting on our main courses in this tiny restaurant surrounded by Christmas, was such a wildly different experience I couldn’t have predicted it. And what’s more, I couldn’t have predicted how much I would love it.
I decided not to say any of what was on my mind. I just wanted to enjoy what we had. For however long I had it.
