Page 37 of A Shot at Love
“I promise I’m not driving you all the way out here to kill you,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Jules turned to meet her gaze and she smiled, but it didn’t meet her eyes. “That remains to be seen when we haven’t even arrived at our destination.”
“I’m not the violent type and besides, you’re too pretty to go out like that. I’d be too distracted.”
The compliment slipped out before she could stop it and it silently hung in the air between them. When Frankie risked another glance to her right, Jules was blushing and trying to hide it by looking out the window again, her smile more genuine.
They finally arrived at their destination and Frankie got out of the car and walked back to the trunk. Jules stood by the passenger door, looking out at the sight before them.
It was a small body of water, just a pond really, but it was completely frozen over. Around it, pine trees covered in Christmas lights and wooden benches made it seem like a scene taken straight out of a movie.
Kids and adults alike buzzed around on the ice, some with hockey sticks in their hands as they played with pucks and a few small pond hockey nets, and some people simply skated around the exterior of the pond holding hands and leisurely enjoying the winter day.
“When you told me to bring my skates, I…I didn’t expect this,” Jules said, looking over her shoulder to Frankie at the back of the car. She looked nervous.
Frankie stuffed their skates into a duffel bag and threw it over her shoulder before sliding another bag with a thermos and a blanket inside over her forearm. “Isn’t it awesome?”
“My skates aren’t even sharpened, Frankie. I can’t…I can't skate here.”
“Of course you can,” Frankie said, reassuring her. She closed her trunk and approached Jules, nodding towards the pond. “Everyone is here for fun. There’s no pressure, no judgement, and no one knows who we are. If they do? We’ll wish them a Merry Christmas and just keep skating, and I really want to skate with you. I told you I would get you back on skates someday, why not now?”
Jules seemed to deflate at that, the nerves falling off of her as her shoulders relaxed. She leaned against the car door and looked from the pond to Frankie and finally, she smiled and her eyes brightened.
“You have a way with words, you know that?” She said and Frankie laughed.
They took a seat on a vacant bench and Frankie set their skates down on the ground in front of them. Like Jules, it had been far too long since she skated just for the fun of it and she inhaled the fresh December air while she slipped her feet into her skates then pulled the laces tight.
No matter how old she got, no matter the distance between her and her family, she always thought of her dad when she put her skates on. She was always brought back to the times in her hometown community rink when he’d plop her down on a bench in the locker room and one at a time with one foot held tightly between his closed thighs, he’d pull her laces tight for her because she was too small to do it on her own.
“How’s that?” He’d ask.
“Perfect,” she’d reply.
And then they would step onto the rink.
He wasn’t the reason why she fell in love with it over and over again when she was young but he had been the first person to get her on the ice and the rest just happened.
“Okay,” Jules said. She stood and slipped a pair of mittens on then put her hands on her hips and set her sights on the ice in front of them. “I’m ready.”
She looked like she was preparing to go to war, though her green puffy winter coat and knit toque with a fluffy bobble on top of it wasn’t exactly a uniform fit for a battlefield but maybe, for her, this was still a battle in some way.
It was obvious that there was some uncertainty, some apprehension in wanting to do something Frankie knew she once loved doing so much. So without saying anything, Frankie just slipped her own gloved hand into Jules' and tugged her towards the edge of the pond.
The sound of their skates on the ice at the first glide was music to Frankie’s ears and the feeling in her body with each stride was pure elation. Jules wasn’t tense beside her, but she definitely wasn’t as relaxed as Frankie was and Frankie let go of her hand to skate ahead, turning around to face her as she began to skate backwards.
“Did you speak to your brother this morning?”
Jules nodded. “I sure did and it sounded like he was really enjoying himself.”
“I know it’s hard to be away from him this year but…I hope you’re still having a nice Christmas.”
”I’m having a wonderful Christmas, Frankie,” Jules said. Her features softened and she took in where they were. The sound of laughter, squeals of delight and the unmistakable smack of hockey sticks on the ice and pucks hitting the metal posts of the pond hockey nets surrounded them. It felt like they were so far from the little coastal life they’d both been building in Halifax and when Jules fixed her gaze on Frankie, the pink flush on her cheeks was from more than just the cold. “Thank you.”
Frankie warmed at the sight of it and she swallowed hard, turning around and slowing her stride to come in line with Jules as they made their way around the pond.
“You’re lucky to have Cam,” she said, unable to keep herself from wondering what her parents were doing right now, if she’d even crossed their mind. If there was any time to tell Jules about her life, about why she was alone again on another occasion where family should be together, it would be now.
The excuse she’d given when Jules questioned the lack of family at Frankie’s first game had sufficed but after Jules had been so open with her, it was only fair to be the same in return.
