by A. J. Wynter
“Lauren isn’t back from work yet,” Charlotte said. “Is it okay if we hang out here until she’s back?”
“Actually,” Logan cast a grin at Tabitha, “I heard that you two haven’t been to a Bobcats game yet and I happen to have two extra tickets.” He pulled an envelope out of his coach jacket and handed it to Charlotte.
“What do you say Tabby?” Charlotte asked. The young girl looked up at her aunt with wide eyes, “Can we?”
“Of course, we can do whatever we want, just go leave a note for your mom.”
Tabitha squealed and ran off into the kitchen. Charlotte leaned in toward Logan, “Thank you, that’s very sweet.”
“She’s going to love it.” Logan smiled. “The game starts at seven.” He rested his hand on the door handle. “I would drive you there, but I have to be there early.”
“We’ll be there,” Charlotte took the envelope with the tickets and stretched up onto her tiptoes to give Logan a peck on the cheek. He lingered for a moment. “All right then,” he said. Charlotte thought he was going to take a step forward, or do something, but instead, he opened the door. “See you there,” he paused again and then jogged down the flagstone walkway out to his truck. Am I always going to have to make the first move? She wondered as she checked her watch; they had roughly an hour before the game started.
The parking lot was jam-packed and Charlotte had to park on a side street three blocks from the arena. Megan wasn’t kidding when she said everyone from town went to the games. The old school wooden bleachers were jam-packed as Charlotte and Tabitha shimmied to find a space near the red line.
“Which team are we cheering for?” Tabitha asked.
“The blue one,” Charlotte replied. The Bobcats jerseys were navy blue, the logo an aggressive-looking cat with its teeth bared.
The screams and shouts from the audience were deafening as the Bobcats scored the first goal of the game.
“That’s our team!” Tabitha clapped her little turquoise-mittened hands together and gazed up at the scoreboard.
Charlotte looked around and realized that she was woefully unprepared for the game. Fans wore Bobcats’ jerseys, held up handmade signs complete with glitter and puff paint, and most of them remembered a blanket. Charlotte shifted uncomfortably, the cold from the bench seat seeping through her jeans. She looked down to Tabitha, worried that she was cold, but she was practically vibrating with excitement watching the players skate around the ice. She clapped her hands together, grinned, and waved. Charlotte looked across the ice and saw Logan, waving across the ice at them. She raised her hand shyly and waved back. She saw him grin and then focus back on the action on the ice.
The game was a roller coaster of emotions and Charlotte found herself getting into the action. The players were fast, and she winced every time one of them was body checked into the boards. The Bobcats were down a goal at the middle of the third period but tied it up.
With one minute left in the game, Logan pulled the goalie. She heard a mix of grumbling and cheering around her in response to his call. Pulling the goalie meant they’d have an extra player on the ice, but an empty net. It was risky. Her heart was in her throat as the seconds ticked away on the scoreboard. Then, Logan’s star player, Riley intercepted a pass and deked around two players – a breakaway. The fans were on their feet. Charlotte was sure the screaming from the arena could be heard all through town as Riley charged to the net. He wound up and Charlotte held her breath, but he faked the shot, then rocked back on his skates, stickhandled the puck to the other side of the net and easily backhanded it in behind the goalie.
Charlotte screamed and raised her arms above her head. Tabitha was jumping up and down and clapping. The fans around them were screaming and high fiving, the energy was high at the Chance Rapids Forum that night.
“Oh, that was so good,” Charlotte said.
“Did you see that guy skate?” Tabitha was watching as the team members piled onto the ice and hugged each other.
“He was fast,” Charlotte replied. The only time she had ever seen Logan play was on TV when he was a junior. She realized that by boycotting the games she had missed out on a lot of excitement.
Charlotte looked to the other side of the ice and caught sight of Logan’s team hat as he disappeared from the bench.
Now what? She wondered.
All day she had been expecting a romantic date, and while the game had been exhilarating, she had hoped for some actual one-on-one time with the man.
“I should get you home,” Charlotte smiled at Tabitha who was still clapping along with the audience.
“Aww.” Tabitha groaned.
“You know that your mom is strict about bedtime, Tabby C.” Charlotte checked her watch. “It’s 8:45 and we’ll be lucky to get home and sneak you into bed before your mom finds out I had you out late.”
“Okay...” Tabitha shrugged her shoulders dramatically and the two of them shimmied in front of the other fans and headed to the exit.
Charlotte shivered as they exited the arena. The body heat and excitement of the game had warmed both of them, but now that the sun had set, it was frigid.
“Brrrr.” Charlotte rubbed her leather gloved hands together and blew on them. She reached down to grab Charlotte’s hand and it was surprisingly small. She looked down, “Where’s your mitten?”
“I think it fell off when we were leaving,” Tabitha said.
“Were you going to tell me?” Charlotte asked.
“I was worried that you would be mad.”
“Why would I be mad?” Charlotte asked.
“Mom told me the mitts are special because grandma made them.”
She looked down and saw that Tabitha was crying and her heart sank. “It’s okay, Tabby. We’ll find them.”
Screw bedtime she thought. That mitt was one of, if not the only, things that Tabitha had from her mom, and she was going to find it. “Come with me” She let Tabitha directly into the throngs of people leaving the area, and like salmon swimming upstream, they were dodging and fighting against the traffic as they made their way inside. They retraced their steps, but it was tricky to see exactly where they had been sitting without all the people. Charlotte looked for the red line and pictured how Logan looked across the ice.
“Try here,” she said. The two of them headed down the concrete stairs and started looking for the missing turquoise mitten amongst the spilled popcorn and discarded contraband beer cans littered under the benches.
When their search along that set of benches turned up nothing, they tried a row higher.
“Here it is.” Charlotte spied the hand-knit mitten under an empty bag of chips.
Tabitha ran to her, took the mitten and held it to her chest. That’s when Charlotte knew that she’d made the right call, mitten before bedtime. She rested her hand on Tabitha’s shoulder and guided her to the main stairwell.
BANG.
They both jumped as a puck hit and then ricocheted off the boards right by them. Charlotte turned, ready to yell at whatever inconsiderate jerk had just scared her and Tabitha. It was Logan. He had skates on and raised his hockey glove to wave at them.
Charlotte shook her fist at Logan. He wound up and launched another puck at the boards.
“That’s so loud,” Tabitha said.
Logan skated over to them and leaned against the boards, his breath fogging up in the glass in between them.
Charlotte jogged down the stairs to ice level. “You jerk,” she hissed. “What if that had hit us.”
Logan pulled off his glove and rapped on the glass.
“It could’ve gone over.” Charlotte crossed her arms in front of her.
“Do you know how many pucks I’ve shot in my lifetime?” he asked. “Trust me, I just wanted to get your attention.”
“Well, you got it.” If Charlotte had been alone, she would’ve found his gesture cute, but she hated the fact that he’d spooked Tabitha.
“Tabitha,” Logan waved. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”
<
br /> Tabitha giggled. “It’s okay. Those pucks must be heavy.”
Logan picked up the puck from the ice and lifted his hand up and down as if weighing it. “Have you ever held one?”
“No,” Tabitha said. “I’ve never even watched a hockey game before.”
“Seriously?” Logan skated to the section of boards without glass and waited for Tabitha and Charlotte. He held out the puck, “You can have this one.”
“You have to get home to bed, missy,” Charlotte said, but Tabitha hit her with puppy dog eyes. She sighed, “Go on,” and pointed to Logan.
Tabitha practically sprinted to meet Logan. He put the puck in her mittens. “It’s not as heavy as I thought,” she said.
Charlotte leaned on the boards so that her elbow brushed Logan’s. She wanted to be close to him. “That was an exciting game coach.”
Logan smiled at her and nudged her arm with her glove. “We have good fans.”
“What are you doing out here?” Charlotte asked.
“Sometimes after a stressful game, I come out here and shoot pucks. It’s the only thing that really relaxes me. My meditation if you will.”
“Well, I need to get Tabitha home to bed. Her mom will have my hide if she sees ten p.m. again.” She put her hand on Tabitha’s shoulder. “What do you say to Logan for the tickets.”
“Thank you, Logan. I had so much fun.”
“You’re welcome kiddo.”
“Hey, Logan...” Tabitha’s voice trailed off.
“Yes?”
“How fast can you go on your skates?”
“Pretty fast,” Logan grinned. “Have you never skated?”
Tabitha shook her head.
Logan looked at Charlotte. “Can you give me just one minute.”
“For what?”
Logan reached over the boards and picked Tabitha up under her arms. He set her down on the ice on her boots. “It’s slippery,” she squealed, sliding her feet back and forth.
“Want to go fast?” Logan asked.
Tabitha looked up at him, her eyes wide, “Yes!”
“May I?” Logan asked Charlotte.
“How can I possibly say no now?” Charlotte smiled and shook her head. “Just be careful, I need to return her in one piece.”
Logan nodded. He held Tabitha under her arms. “You hold onto my wrists, okay,” he said. She nodded and her little hands gripped onto Logan’s arms.
“Here we go,” Logan said and started skating forward, Tabitha’s boots slid along the ice. Charlotte watched as he rounded the corner, her heart melting when she saw the huge grin on Tabitha’s face, and a matching one on Logan’s.
“Faster, Logan,” Tabitha yelled.
Tabitha’s boots were whizzing along the ice and she was laughing and squealing as Logan did one more lap with her. As he rounded the corner and headed back to Charlotte, he raised her up, did some fast crossovers and swung Tabitha out to the side, like a swing at the fair. He returned her boots to the ice and delivered her back to the boards where Charlotte was waiting.
“How was that?” Charlotte didn’t even have to ask. The huge toothy grin on Tabitha’s face gave it away.
“That was so much fun. Did you see how fast we were going?”
“I did,” Charlotte smiled.
“Thanks, Logan. I think that was the highlight of her evening.”
Logan leaned on the boards and reached out to hold Charlotte’s hand. She let him. “You should take her public skating on the weekend,” he said.
“Can we?” Tabitha jumped up and down.
“Logan will have to take you, I can’t skate,” Charlotte said.
“You can’t skate?” Logan seemed taken aback. “It’s your turn then.”
Before she realized what was happening Logan had pulled her onto the ice surface. She clutched the boards as her legs did their best Bambi impression. “Logan Brush, you put me back.”
Tabitha giggled and jumped up and down. “Do it, Auntie Charlotte.” She clapped her hands and then turned to Logan, “Take her fast.”
Logan raised his eyebrows and held out his hand. “I’m only doing this for you, Tabby Cat,” Charlotte said and took his hand. She practically purred as she felt his warmth as he nestled in behind her. He towered over her in his skates, so he had to bend down to slip his hands around her waist, interlacing his fingers at her belly button. His breath wisped around her ears. “Ready?” he asked but didn’t want for a response. Charlotte’s leather boots skimmed over the ice surface as she felt Logan’s thick thighs outside of hers, powering them forward.
“Faster,” Tabitha yelled from the sideline.
“Don’t you dare.” Charlotte gripped his biceps so tightly she was sure that he was going to have bruises in the shape of her fingertips tomorrow.
Charlotte squealed like Tabitha when Logan scooped her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip and buried her face in his chest. While his powerful legs swept them around the ice, his upper body remained remarkably still.
“You can look, you know,” he whispered. She cracked open one eye and then the other. Logan had stopped skating and they were gliding fast but peacefully around the ice. Her hair whipped her face and she looked up to Logan’s face, his playoff beard was just starting to come in and she saw a few hints of gray in his stubble. Time seemed to slow while she was cradled in his arms.
He delivered her back to Tabitha and gently set her down, so she was sitting on top of the boards.
“I should be the one out of breath,” Logan laughed. Charlotte realized that she was breathing as if she had just raced against Usain Bolt and won. It was exhilarating.
“Wasn’t that fun?” Tabitha asked. “Can I go again, Logan?”
“I think you’re getting dangerously close to missing your bedtime,” Logan smiled. “I’ll take you and your auntie public skating sometime so you both can learn to skate on your own.”
“That would be awesome,” Tabitha said.
Charlotte had never understood why Lauren didn’t bring men around Tabitha, and at this moment she saw why. It only took a few minutes for Tabitha to become completely enamored with Logan. She didn’t need to be heartbroken at ten years old when Logan was no longer in her life. She got it now.
“We’ll see about that,” Charlotte said. “Logan is a busy man, you know.”
She thought that she saw Logan’s gaze drop and backpedaled. “Alright, maybe.” Charlotte swung her legs so that they were on the bleacher side of the boards and hopped down to the concrete.
“Charlotte, do you have plans tomorrow? I’d like to take you somewhere.”
“Tabitha and I are going to bake cookies,” she said. Her first reaction was to say yes, but she needed to be there for her niece. She looked at Logan, he was still in his suit from the game and she had never seen anything sexier than a man in a suit on skates. Being with Logan was exhilarating, exciting, but felt safe at the same time. He created a desire within her that she’d never had before, a desire to explore his body, and his mind, to know what made him happy, and do it for him – inside the bedroom and outside of it.
“Auntie Charlotte?” Tabitha tugged on her arm.
“Yes, sweetie.”
“Can I do a ski lesson instead?”
“Instead of baking cookies?” Charlotte asked.
“Yes.”
Charlotte swore that she saw Tabitha throw a conspiratorial smile Logan’s way.
“It looks like I’m free then.”
Logan grasped Charlotte’s gloved hand and used it as leverage to pull himself to the boards and planted a peck on her cheek. “See you tomorrow.” Then he grabbed his hockey stick and skated back to the pile of pucks.
Tabitha waved, “Bye, Logan,” she shouted.
“Bye, Tabby Cat!” he shouted back.
Tabitha slipped her little mittened hand into Charlotte’s as they walked out of the arena and to the car.
“Is Logan going to be your boyfriend?” she asked.
“I-I-I don’t know Tabby.” Charlotte was telling the truth.
“He should be.”
Chapter 18
AS AN ATHLETE, LOGAN’S resting heart rate was usually in the sixties. As soon as his truck’s tires hit the wooden boards of the covered bridge he felt his heart start to pump a little faster. He was going on a real, bonafide date with Charlotte.
Logan was thankful his hands were full of the giant bouquet of flowers or else he wouldn’t have known what to do with them. He pressed the doorbell and steeled himself as he waited for the heavy wooden door to open.
His breath hitched as the sunlight caught the gold flecks in her eyes as she smiled. She was even more beautiful than the day before. How is that even possible?
“Wow, did you leave any at the market?” she took the giant bouquet of flowers from his hands and buried her face in their blooms. “Thank you, Logan.”
I should kiss her, he thought. She paused and he wondered if she was thinking the same thing.
“Let me put these in some water,” she said, breaking the awkward pause and headed into the kitchen.
“Those are some kind of a spring flower. I bought them at the G-Spot. Did you know that there’s a greenhouse in Windswan?” he yelled from the doorway.
Charlotte laughed as she placed the heavy vase on the kitchen island. “They’re called tulips.”
“That’s right. That’s what Muriel told me. And don’t worry, there are plenty left at the store, but I was thinking that we should check out the greenhouse sometime. It must be something to see with all of that color in one place.”
Was it too much? Making plans with her past today?
“I would love to see that.” She returned from the kitchen and pulled her coat out of the front closet.
Logan realized that he had missed the opportunity to take Charlotte into his arms. Why was he so nervous around her? He wanted to touch her, he wanted to taste her, the anticipation of just kissing her was almost too much and he felt himself growing hard against the zipper of his jeans.
Where are we headed today?” she asked. Logan took her down coat from her hand.
“You’ll see.”
