Page 18

Normally, I’d throw out a cheeky comeback. A question about whether Ro hero worshiped me too, but a heaviness settled over my body. “It’s bad. I shattered some bone in the fall. Like a freak break, and there was no pinning it back together.”

A bitter taste filled my mouth. I’d only admitted the truth out loud to my parents and Coop. Speaking those words into the universe and in front of Ro made it more real. Exposed my weakness. “I’ve worked hard to strengthen the leg back up. I’ve done everything I can, but the worst of it is, whatever happens, is out of my control.”

My chest heaved a little heavier. Why couldn’t I stop the words from tumbling out? A lump sat in my throat, and I couldn’t swallow it away. Fuck, I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t burst into tears any second. “Any decision about my future depends on one examination. One opinion.”

Ro turned into me. “What do you mean?”

“My contract is coming up for renewal, but if the surgeon says it doesn’t look good,” I met her dark brown eyes, “It’s over.” My voice wavered as I spoke. “I have to get back on the ice, Ro. I don’t know what else I’ll do.”

A line etched between her brows. “But it’ll be okay, right?”

I shrugged. “Best case, I get everything clear and go back to my team.”

“And the worst?”

I paused, steadying my breath. What the hell was wrong with me? “They’ll say I’m unfit to play. If that happens, Denver won’t re-sign me, and neither will anyone else. There’d be no hushing it up. No team in their right mind would hire me again.”

Ro raked her eyes over my face, the line between her brows deepening. An ache hit my chest, and my head throbbed. I wanted her to hold me so much it hurt. To press into my body. Wind her arms around me and help me forget about my leg. My career. The air between us compressed, and all I could focus on were the freckles on her nose.

As if feeling the pull, Ro looked away. Shoving her hands against the concrete, she shifted back on the bench, bringing one of her legs up, knee to chin. She pulled at the laces of her skate. “We should get back. Gran’s making pot roast tonight.”

Her words were so pedestrian, so ordinary. Why, then, did they leave a gaping wound in my chest? I closed my eyes. The last thing Ro needed was to witness my pity party in the park. I forced a smile. “Sure.”

Ro tugged her skate from her foot. After placing it on the floor, she leaned down to haul her bag off the concrete. Stowing it on the seat next to me, a bright piece of paper poked out of the top. The wordScalperscaught my eye. “What’s this? ”

She stopped unlacing her other skate, following my eyeline. “Ha! Just a dumb idea. Eve gave it to me.”

“May I?” My hand hovered over the paper. Ro shrugged, and I picked it up, scanning the words on the flier. My eyes widened, an energy building up in my body. “A derby try-out? You should totally do it! You’d be great.”

She looked at me as if I’d suggested she take up jello wrestling.

“Hey, I know a little about skating.”

She scoffed, pulling on the laces of her skates extra hard. “You know abouticeskating, Brody.”

I shook my head. “Are you doubting me? Ro, you have skills.”

“Yeah, but being on wheels is different.”

I folded the flier in half then half again. “Not necessarily. You’d make a great jammer.”

She paused, crinkling her nose. “A what?”

“A jammer. That’s the person who scores the points in derby. You could skate rings around the blockers with your maneuvers.”

Ro giggled. The sound had fingers curled around my gut, giving it a gentle squeeze. “How do you know so much about roller derby?”

There was no point lying about it. She knew I wasn’t a monk. “I dated a derby player. Maybe two or three. Not together, and not for long, but I went to a few bouts. Learned a little. Enough to know you’d be more than useful.”

Ro eyed me, and the warm breeze ruffled through the stray strands of her ponytail. After a long beat, she shook her head. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

She was crazy to doubt her talent, but I wasn’t about to strong-arm her. If I remembered right, Ro didn’t like to be told what to do. She liked to find her own way to a decision. I turned my face into the breeze, and a glint of light in the distance made it through the trees. Sunlight on water. “Do they still have boats for hire out on the lake?”

“Yes. Why?” Ro pulled off her other skate, massaging her foot through its thick woolen sock.

“Nothing,” I lied. “I guess I’m just feeling nostalgic.”

“You remember the lake?”