Page 27 of 10 Things I Skate About You

“Oh for Christ’s sake, Kate. Will you listen to yourself? Can you honestly say that you didn’t go out with me last night so your shitty ex would see you having a good time?”

“So what? Are you saying my reason is worse than yours?”

“I’m saying neither of those reasons is a reason for us to fight over because we had a fucking amazing time last night. And we were having a fucking amazing time this morning. We can still have a fucking amazing time if you don’t run off. If that scaresyou, then that’syourproblem—don’t try to make this about me being an asshole.”

“Everything’s about you being an asshole!” she hisses. “Thatis my problem.”

I throw my arms up into the air. I can’t believe I was about to give her my Windsor chair. “Okay. Well. If you can’t handle being in a relationship with a real man, then there’s nothing else I can say.” I walk back into the house.

Slowly.

Waiting for the snark because I set her up real good with that sentence.

But it never comes. I go inside and shut the door. See the drugstore teddy bear on the coffee table. And the half-eaten box of chocolate-covered cherries. She’s not getting my chair, but I will not let her run off without the Valentine’s gifts I got her.

She’s standing at the end of the driveway with her arms crossed, staring at the pavement. I walk up to her, without saying a word, stand in front of her, and hold out the teddy bear and the heart-shaped box. She frowns at me and takes them. I walk back to the house and shut the door.

I watch out the window until I see her get into her sister-in-law’s minivan.

When she drives off I’m reaching for my keys because there’s only one person I can talk to in this town right now, and I can’t wait another minute.

“I’m an asshole,” I say, dragging my palms down my face. I’m also an idiot, but I’m not going to admit to anyone that I tried calling Kate five times as soon as I parked outside. She didn’tanswer, of course, and I didn’t leave a voicemail or send her a text. “Total asshole.”

“You didn’t think this was breaking news, did you?” Ms. Percy says from the other side of the counter in the front office. She doesn’t even look up from her laptop. “If you have a concern regarding the rink or any other arena-related matter, let’s hear it. If you have some juicy gossip for me, it better be something I don’t already know. Otherwise—scoot!”

I rest my forearms on the counter and lower my forehead to them. “I screwed up. I need help.”

“Mr. Foley, I’m going to need specifics.”

I look up, resting my chin on the counter, slouching and moping like a damn loser instead of the angry, growly winner I should be. “I need your help convincing Kate Pogue that I love her.”

Ms. Percy’s big eyes widen as she removes her reading glasses. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her remove her glasses before. “I’ve been waiting ten years for you to ask me for help with this, you dummy.” She closes her laptop and claps her hands together. “Now. First things first. Do you watch teen rom-com movies?”

“What is a rom-com movie?”

“My dear, idiotic boy, how do you not know this? A rom-com is a romantic comedy.”

“Noooo, ma’am, I do not.”

“Well. Lucky for you I’ve seen all of them. Pull up a chair, Mr. Foley. You’re about to get schooled—Ms. Percy style.”

13

KATE

Damn Valentine’s Day flowers.

Stupid drugstore teddy bear.

The chocolate-covered cherries I could deal with—by eating them.

But I can’t throw out or donate a teddy bear that’s holding a heart. I’m not a monster.

And these flowers that the busboy delivered yesterday are beautiful. I’ll just wait until they aren’t beautiful anymore. I won’t change the water so it turns putrid and the stems get all moldy. Then I will unceremoniously toss them into the organics bin. Or maybe I’ll do it ceremoniously. I’m just hoping that if I glare at them long enough they’ll shrivel up and die faster so I don’t have to be reminded of The Icebreaker Who Breaks Things That Aren’t Ice.

Yes, that is the best nickname I’ve come up with in the past twenty-four hours.

Runners up include: The Fort Worth Fraud, Most Valuable Peckerhead, and The Sin Bin Sociopath.