Page 38 of The Ruin
“You’ll see.”
“Fine.” Sighing melodramatically, I take his hand and follow him inside.
He covers my eyes with one of his hands and leads me left, right, through a door, and down a hallway. It’s hard to tell what I’m in for when I can’t even see anything. We go through another door that shuts behind us with a heavy, echoing click, and then all of a sudden the temperature gets noticeably colder. I smell ice and frost. Luka shifts so he’s behind me.
“Ready to open your eyes now?”
“Yes!”
Pulling his hands away, I blink into the blinding light all around us.
An ice rink spreads out before me, the pristine white surface glistening like it’s just been polished. A table with a white tablecloth and two chairs is positioned in the center of the rink. Candles flicker warmly, casting a quiet glow. The whole tableau looks enchanted.
“Luka, this is magical!”
“I rented out the rink so we could skate together,” he tells me. “Alone. No PR, no paparazzi, no family looking over our shoulders. Just us.”
“We have theentire rinkto ourselves?” I’m shocked. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined he’d do anything like this.
“We do. But first, we feast.”
“Oh my God. This is so cool!”
And it is. But I don’t have the heart to tell him that I’ve only skated once in my life, and that was at a mini rink set up in the middle of our local shopping mall during the holidays. I was such a disaster on the ice, I still can’t believe I didn’t fall and crack my face open.
He leads me to a bench, where a pair of skates is waiting for each of us, along with two pairs of knit gloves, two matching hats, and two scarves. They’re all covered in the Bulls and Blackhawks logos, which makes me laugh. I sit to pull off my shoes, and pick up a skate.
“These are my size,” I gasp in wonder.
“You think I don’t know my wife’s shoe size?” he says, laughing. “I got you.”
I don’t know why, but it’s this small detail that has me blinking back tears all of a sudden. He’s been devoting himself to me all along in the quietest ways, and I never noticed.
Slowly, I manage to get the skates laced up. He gets his own on a lot quicker, and I realize he’s done this before. Great. He’s going to skate circles around me. In fact, I bet he’s a pro. He must be, or how else would he have come up with this idea? Boy, am I in for it.
I catch a whiff of whatever deliciousness is waiting for us at the table.
“Let’s do this,” I say. Sure, I might fall on my ass and make a total fool of myself, but I’m determined to get to that food.
Gloves on, Luka steps out onto the ice with absolute confidence and holds out his hand.
Forcing a smile, I carefully pluck my way out onto the rink, grabbing onto anything I can until there’s nothing left to hang onto. I wasn’t exaggerating about being a disaster on the ice. Luka’s eyes twinkle with amusement.
“I should have asked if you could skate,” he says. “You grew up in Chicago, so I just assumed you knew how.”
“Well, you assumed wrong.” I make a mad reach for him, flailing my other arm needlessly. Luka’s got me now, and I look up into his face with a mortified grin. “Yeah, so, my parents had me in piano lessons and ballet at our local rec center. You?”
“Played hockey since I was six. But that’s okay, I can teach you. And just think. You’ll get to spend all night in my arms.”
“Ha-ha,” I say drily, but I can’t keep the smile off my face. With nobody else here to watch me struggle, and Luka being kind enough not to laugh, I have to admit that thisisfun.
He leans down to kiss me and it’s the warmest kiss I’ve ever shared with him. Then he takes both of my hands and starts skating backward while pulling my ungraceful self along.
My feet don’t want to stay directly under me and keep splitting like scissors, but I manage to make it to the chair in one piece. Luka skates around the table a few more times and then pulls a two-bladed stop, spraying me with a fine shower of ice crystals.
“You show off!” I yelp, but I’m loving this playful side of him.
I get settled while the aroma of whatever is under the warming plates on the table teases me. Luka pours us wine and removes the cloth napkin covering a basket of steaming bread.
