“Not bad, eh?” he said, tilting his head so she could see the white teeth of his grin.
It felt so wonderful to be here with him, out in the open, flirting, teasing. Did he want her to fall for him? She couldn’t believe that. He wanted to leave this place and never come back, and soon he’d have to find out about his grandma’s exaggeration that had brought him to Valentine. But . . . not now.
“Did your brothers skate with you?” he asked, coming alongside her.
She darted away before he could catch her arm. “Yep. We did most things together, especially Josh and me, since we’re closer in age. You didn’t have a brother or sister, so who did you play with?”
“The kids in the trailer park. I played a lot of football there, in the open lots. It came in handy by high school.”
She did a little one-foot spin, calling, “Ta da!” when she struck a pose afterward.
He laughed. “I had my dad’s horse, too, don’t forget. I was the one who took care of old Star.”
Brooke did a hockey stop near him. “I remember Star! We bought him when your dad had to sell. Sorry to say, he only lived about five years after that.”
“But they were good years, here with you,” Adam said, relief evident in his voice. “I always worried what had happened to him since he was too old to be of much use.”
They fell silent. She continued to skate, and he slid at her side. He caught her hand and held it, and she thought it was the most romantic thing to be with him under the moon—even if the temperature was dipping into the twenties.
“I’m surprised you’re not worried someone will see us,” Adam said at last.
“I could say the same thing about you.” She hesitated. “You should know that people have begun to guess the truth about us.”
He slid to a stop. “I hope I haven’t made things hard for you.”
“No, no, nothing like that.” She couldn’t be surprised he was more concerned about how it affected her, than himself. He was far too honorable for all this sneaking around. “Josh overheard us that day we kissed in the barn a couple days ago. He didn’t give me a hard time or anything. He’ll be quiet. Monica and Emily guessed, too. We’re not as good at hiding as we thought.”
She skated around him once, then came to a stop before him. “Adam? Shouldn’t you say something?”
“I’ve put you in the position of lying to your family,” he said soberly.
“I’m an adult. It’s nobody’s business but ours, and we agreed on that.”
They looked at each other, and in that moment, she panicked at the thought of losing him. Oh God, it was too late—she’d already fallen in love with him, a man who didn’t want a relationship, maybe didn’t want love. He wanted to be free to nurse his wounds and move on.
And then he took her hand. “If you’re sure,” he said slowly.
“I’m sure.” Relief swept through her, and she pretended to lose her balance rather than show him how dizzy the thought of losing him made her feel.
And then she knew what she had to do—find a way to win him over, to prove that they belonged together, out in the open. She no longer cared that he worked for her, was done worrying how appearances affected her relationship to her family. Adam mattered—Adam and her. Josh understood—she could make the rest of them understand. But not until Adam wanted that, too.
When Brooke dropped her skates and coat off in the mudroom, she had every intention of plopping her freezing butt in front of the fireplace until she felt singed.
But she found her mom in the kitchen, using her walker to move between the stove and the refrigerator.
“Mom, I said I’d cook dinner,” Brooke said, guiltily checking the clock on the wall. She was a little later than she had meant to be . . .
“No, you deserve to have fun, too,” Sandy said, giving her a smile. “I saw you skating on the pond.”
Brooke turned her head away to wince. Damn.
“You haven’t done that in a couple years,” her mom continued.
“I was clearing the pond for Steph and her friends, then Adam challenged me to prove I could still skate.” It wasn’t like she could hide his presence now.
“I always said it’s like riding a bike,” her mom agreed.
She said nothing else about Adam, and they worked companionably, preparing a shrimp salad for just the two of them.
Brooke thought about what her dad had said, that he worried about how everything affected her mom. But Sandy had been the one who helped Brooke figure out her passion for teaching—Sandy would never want Brooke to stay a little girl at home forever. Brooke had to take the chance that she was strong enough to hear the truth—some of it.