02. i sit at the rental booth at our local ice rink and watch you teach children how to skate03. alternatively, i watch kids teach you how to skate because you’re a terrible skater
Thanks for sending this in! I hope you enjoy some shy single dad Jay! I combined these into one drabble.
“You owe me so big,” Erin mutters underher breath, adjusting herself on the most uncomfortable chair that ever existed.It’s cold outside, and the little space warmer is doing nothing to stop thechill from entering the rental booth she’s currently stuck in. The littlewindow closes, but that doesn’t help when she keeps opening it to deal withcustomers.
Damn Kelly for being such a nice personand volunteering. Of course, the noble stupid man he is, he got hurt saving aperson from a fire without his gear, so he was now stuck at home with someminor burns on his arms. And how could she say now when he had asked her totake his shifts at the local skating ring.
She busies herself now, coming up withideal rewards she would demand from her friend, while automatically giving outskates to kids and their parents. That’s mostly the crowd, apart from an occasionalcouple holding hands, or a couple of friends.
The only things keeping her from dying ofboredom are the kids, falling over and getting back up, despite the fact thatthe icy surface looks like a painful thing to land on. But the kids don’t seemto care, and for a brief moment, their persistence makes her wish she could goout there and learn to skate.
She gives out a couple more pairs ofskates before she has time to glance at the ice again, and it’s filled up quitenicely. There is a man, teaching a group of kids how to skate, and she finds itadorable. At second glance, she realizes he’s hot. Like ridiculously hot. His face is covered with brown stubblethat gives him that rugged look, and she can tell he’s fit, despite the jacketcovering his body.
The kids seem to love him too, and for therest of the night, she watches him with the kids whenever she gets a chance.
The crowd is now mostly leaving, everyonereturning their skates at once, so she doesn’t see the little figure in frontof the booth. Suddenly, the man occupying her thoughts (and later maybe evendreams) is standing in front of her with a charming smile and a little girl inhis arms. She holds out a cup of something warm that looks too much like cocoa.
Erin smiles and takes the cup gratefully. “Thankyou. How did you know this was just what I needed?”
“You looked cold! My mom always used tomake me cocoa when I was cold.” She says it so matter-of-factly, but the use ofpast tense tells Erin something else.
Glancing at the stranger, whose smilefades a little but not all the way, she nods in acknowledgement and mouthsanother thanks to him, finally takinga sip of the delicious hot liquid. The warmth spreads over her and she closesher eyes at the unexpected pleasure.
“I’m Amelia by the way, this is my daddyJay. What’s your name?”
“I’m Erin,” she tells Amelia. She thinksabout how his name suits him. “It’s nice to meet you. Both of you. You lookedgreat out there!”
“Thanks! My mom taught me. She also taughtmy dad, and now we teach others. It’s fun. Unless you fall. Do you skate?”
“No, and with how clumsy I am, maybe that’sa good thing,” Erin tells the chatty little thing in front of her.
“We should get going, pumpkin. It’s almostyour bedtime. And I’m sure Erin has other work to do.” He watches his daughternod and sets her down on the ground. “Go say bye to your friends. We leave infive.”
She ran off, waving to Erin.
“She insisted we bring you hot cocoa,” heexplained.
“I don’t mind at all. It’s a wonderfullittle girl you have. Chatty too.” Kind, shethinks. Maybe she takes that after her mother, or maybe after both of herparents.
“Yeah, she doesn’t get that from me,” he statesthe obvious, and they share a chuckle between them. “So, it was nice meetingyou, Erin. Maybe I’ll see you around here again?”
“I hope so,” she replies earnestly,because she realizes that she would very much like to see that smile again.
“Are you sure you can’t skate with metoday, daddy?”
“No, Ames, sorry.” He doesn’t likeexplaining to her how hurt he got doing his job, so he does his best to hidethe slight limp of his left leg, and the bruises covering his body. He doesn’twant his little girl to worry, even though with every scenario like this, hethinks more and more about asking for a desk job. He is the only parent Ameliahas left, and he can’t very well let her lose that.
He was so worried after Allie had died, watchingthe light inside his little angel fade. But she seems to have come to termswith what happened, and she shines as bright as ever. Maybe it was a silverlining that it happened when she was so young, he thinks. Nonetheless, he makesit a point to spend as much time with her as he can. He isn’t interested inbeing an absentee dad.
“Always. I will be right here, okay?” Hemotions to the bench on the side—a perfect vantage point to see her.
Amelia nods, and walks away awkwardly withskates on a rubber floor. Jay glances at the rental booth. They don’t rentskates, because with how often they come here, it made more sense to buy them.But the small window doesn’t reveal the gorgeous woman from the other night. Maybeshe works another shift.
He’s just gathering up the courage ofmaybe asking the man sitting in the booth where Erin is (at least he knows hername), when he hears a shriek from the rink. Then there she is, in all herglory, leaning dangerously backwards, as his darling daughter tells her franticallyto lean forward.
His lips tug at the sides, as he smilesagainst his will. She looks amazing on the skates, her jean-clad legs pushing forwardawkwardly. She’s wearing a red sweater and a white winter hat, and all he canthink about is how dry his mouth is and how red is definitely her colour.
The truth is, her smile had awakenedfeelings that were buried under five feet of grief. He never imagined he wouldfeel like this again—not after they lost Allie. But here she is, and thebutterflies in his stomach take flight after a long winter sleep.
Amelia is squealing with joy, cheeringErin on as she becomes more confident in her steps. His heart swells. He wouldn’ttake anything that happened to him back, because it meant that he got to be herdad. It was the single most important thing in the world.
“Daddy, we taught Erin how to skate!”
“That’s great! You’re a good teacher—betterthan me.”
He watched Erin as she reached the edge,leaning on the wooden railing with her elbows.
“You’ve got quite a talented thing here,you should enrol her in some classes.”
“I was thinking about that yeah. If shewants.”
“How come you’re not up here?” She seemsgenuinely curious, and since Amelia is not around, he tells her the truth.
“I’m a cop, got hurt on the job.”
“Don’t want her to know?” She makes aquick guess, and he nods. “How about we all go get some cocoa instead? My treat.”
Since he was just thinking of a way to askher out without making a fool out of himself, he agrees, his smile wide enoughto put the sun to shame.
As they pack up and leave together, hefinally finds enough game to slip one hand into hers. Her fingers wrap aroundhis hand tightly. He thinks that maybe he doesn’t have to be alone anymore—thatmaybe Allie wouldn’t have wanted him to be.
When he kisses her later than day, shetastes like rum punch and hope, and perhaps even like the beginning ofsomething much more.
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