I didn’t know what she’d say to the board, what she’d tell them about what had happened in that house on the island. That was the other thing we weren’t talking about.
“What do you want to do now?” I said.
“It’s Valentine’s Day,” she said.
“So we should do something special.”
“Damned right we should. Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
We left my truck in the parking lot. She drove me across town to one of the big ice arenas.
“I played here once,” she said as we pulled in. “A big tournament. I think I had eight minutes in penalties.”
“Why are we here now?”
“Why do you think, genius? Come on.”
She took me inside. The rink was reserved for open skating all day, with a Valentine’s Day special discount for couples.
“It’s been a while,” I said.
“Me, too.”
They tried to give her white figure skates. She pushed them right back to the man. “Real skates,” she said.
A few minutes later, we were on the ice. We went slow at first. I was still getting my strength back, after everything I had been through. The bruises were finally going away. I was no longer scaring children in the streets.
We went a little faster as we got warmed up. We held hands and skated in big circles. When the ice finally cleared ahead of us, she let go of me and skated ahead. As I watched her, I thought about what I was feeling, for the hundredth time that day. Part of me wanted her to go back to the police force, to find her way back into the real world, no matter where that took her. Part of me didn’t.
In a way, I knew exactly what she was facing. I had been in a similar situation once myself. I ended up leaving the Detroit police and moving to Paradise, Michigan. I rented out cabins and went down to the Glasgow Inn every single night. That’s how it turned out for old Alex. But then, I didn’t have someone around to love me.
She picked up speed. Three strides and she was already a blur. She went into the corner and turned hard. There was no net on the ice, but she circled around where it would have been and came out the other side like she was fired out of a slingshot. She skated like a hockey player, head down, shoulders square to the ice-but so graceful it took my breath away. Her hair was sailing behind her. She was smiling.
She went all the way around the ice, dodging anyone in her way. When she came back to me she dug her skates into the ice and sprayed me.
“How’s that?” she said.
“You were flying.”
“Damn right I was.”
I took her hand again. I kissed her right there in the middle of the ice. Then we kept skating. We skated together, around and around, until it was time to go home.