Page 25 of Fear of Love (Falling #3)

Like a rocket, Hudson took off. Ice flew from his skates as he pushed the puck in front of him while skating around the cones. He had great foot work—could use a little work on his turns but that came with practice. When he got to the end, he sent the puck into the net with a snap of his wrist.

“Good job, Hudson.” His fist hit mine before skating to the back of the line. “Next!”

One by one, the others went down the line. I gave tips as they went, Nathan doing the same as they stood in line. I could see them getting more confident with each round and how they took our advice seriously.

Blowing the whistle, I gave the boys a water break while grabbing the cones to move them out of the way.

“We’re going to work on the fly formation next. We might switch some people around so get in position,” I instructed. While the six players stayed on the ice, the rest of the team moved off to the sideboards.

We rotated players to practice the formation every twenty minutes like in an actual game. I liked to try and let all the kids play during a game so we had multiple sets of the same position.

Getting everyone in the spot they needed, I stayed off to the side as Nathan blew his whistle to start. I watched closely as all six moved.

The fly formation was something Nathan and I came up with a bit ago. It was a way to spread out the players while keeping them within passing distance. That way if the opposing team tried to gang up on one player, there would be another there to help them.

We were doing well with it, but it wasn’t meshing as well as Nathan and I hoped. Hence, the practice. Instead of letting the other players play offense, I wanted to see these six move on their own. I’d already been wondering if we needed to switch some kids around to play different positions.

After a minute, I blew my whistle to pause everyone.

“Marcus.” I skated toward our left defender. “How do you feel moving to right defender for a few minutes?”

“Um, okay?” He looked at me like I was crazy but agreed.

“Chris.” I gestured to our other left defender on the sidelines. “Adam,” I said to the kid in front of me on the ice, “switch with Chris. I’ll bring you back out in a minute.” The poor kid looked confused as he skated off the ice and traded places with Chris.

“Let’s try it again—this time with Chris as left defender and Marcus as right.” Clapping my hands, I moved back to the side of the rink.

As the kids started again, I could instantly tell it was the right move. Marcus was already skating down the ice better, even though he was originally a right defender. It would take him a few practices to get the hang of the new position, but it was already a success.

After letting them skate around for a bit and get a feel for the new change, I had them stop again.

“Good job, boys!” I sent them all a grin. “Let’s do a small scrimmage.”

As they all got in position to play, I moved off the ice.

Leaning my forearms against the boards, I watched as they played, mentally taking notes for next practice.

Nathan stayed on the ice to make sure the boys didn’t take the scrimmage too seriously.

The last thing we needed was them getting hurt at practice.

Practice flew by, and slowly, the benches filled with family members to pick up their kids or to drop off much smaller ones for Little League.

“Great practice everyone.” I looked at each kid as I spoke. “Remember, our next game is Tuesday. Be here at three o’clock at the latest! I repeat, three o’clock!”

I got a chorus of, “Yes, Coach,” before they skated off to greet their parents, taking their gear off as they went.

Nodding to a few parents who waved from the side of the rink, I got to work on cleaning up the cones and pucks before next practice. Time for the little kids.

I enjoyed coaching the older kids, but if I was being completely honest with myself, it was the young kids I liked teaching more. Seeing their little bodies on skates, wobbling around like newborn deer, small hands trying to grip the hockey sticks. It was comical and adorable at the same time.

The kids today were between the ages of six and ten.

Sometimes we’d get a few older children, but the youngest kids I’d let skate was six.

I had a few parents get mad at me for not allowing their four year old to skate, but I wasn’t about to let some small ass kid cut themselves with the skates or fall and break something.

This was more of a beginner class than anything else. Just a way to teach kids the basics. Whether that be for hockey, figure skating, or in general.

As I watched the little kids stumble across the ice, I was reminded of Lydia.

She couldn’t skate for the life of her. When we had our girls versus boys game, I learned just how bad she was.

She was a wobbling mess and could barely put one blade in front of the other.

During the first half of the game, she was either clinging to the wall, Mila, or me.

I couldn’t help but smile, remembering her cocky attitude despite the way she held onto me.

I hadn’t seen her since Wednesday morning and was trying to come up with a way to spend time with her tonight. I was wrong in thinking one night with her would be enough. Instead of getting her out of my system, it was like she buried herself deeper.

I wanted more and more every time I saw her.

Before I could dwell on that thought any further, I caught sight of Rosie.

The cute seven year old clung to the wall of the rink as she watched the other kids.

While we got quite a few girls coming in, Rosie was one of the only ones who seemed interested in hockey.

I saw the way she watched the boys playing with the pucks and sticks like she wanted to learn but was too scared.

Skating over, I squatted down in front of her.

“Hey, Rosie,” I greeted with a soft smile. Some kids were scared of my big frame, but Rosie just looked at me with wide curious eyes. “Why aren’t you out there skating with the others?” She knew how to skate just as well, if not better.

“They’re playing with the sticks.” The way she looked at the others made my chest hurt. “They said girls can’t play.”

At that, I looked at the group of four boys with narrowed eyes. They were about seven or eight, laughing as they passed a puck around.

“Don’t listen to them. Girls can play hockey.” Guys who claimed otherwise were misogynistic assholes, I mentally said to myself. I didn’t think any parent would appreciate me saying that out loud. “Want me to teach you?”

“I can?” The way Rosie’s eyes lit up felt like a punch to the chest.

“Of course. Let me go grab some sticks and pucks.”

When I got back Rosie was practically bouncing in excitement. This part of the ice was fairly empty, so she was going to have plenty of room to try it out.

“Here we go.” Dropping down to one knee, I held out the hockey stick for her to grab. She held it like a baby kitten, looking at it like it was the coolest thing she ever saw. I smiled at the reaction.

“Here’s how you hold it.” As I started teaching Rosie, I couldn’t help but grin at how serious she was watching me, her eyes tracking every movement. I didn’t think I ever had another kid, older or younger, pay such close attention.

I spent the next half hour teaching her how to correctly hold the hockey stick and how to hit the puck to send it down the ice. The look on her face was everything.

As the ice started to clear with kids heading home, I led Rosie over to the net. With multiple pucks in hand, I stepped to the side so she had plenty of space to hit.

“See if you can get it in the net.”

Wiggling with excitement, Rosie perfectly lined up the puck. She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she brought the hockey stick back, just like I taught her.

The puck sailed across the ice right into the net. Granted, we were only a few steps away, but it was impressive. For a little kid, she sure had some power. She picked up everything so fast, I wondered if she would join a team in the next few years.

A loud cheer from our side had us turning our heads. Rosie’s mom stood by the boards, beaming.

“Mom!” Rosie yelled, taking off toward her mother, dropping the hockey stick. She stumbled a few times before slamming into the wall and gripping it tightly. “Did you see that?!”

“I did, baby.” Her mom grinned down at her daughter as Rosie animately talked about what she did today.

I was so engrossed with Rosie, I hadn’t noticed all the other kids were gone for the day, even Nathan.

“Thank you, Landon!” Rosie’s mom called after me as she ushered her daughter off the ice.

“Anytime,” I replied, sending a wave to Rosie as she got ready to leave. The cute little girl bounced around, her voice carrying through the place as they left.

The clock said it was a little after five o’clock as I slowly skated around the rink, picking up pucks as I went. As I came around by the benches, a figure caught my attention, the familiar blonde hair making my eyebrows raise.

“Blondie?”

Coming to a stop in front of her, Lydia looked at me with a small smile. She had the tiniest dimple on her right cheek. It was slowly becoming my favorite thing to look at.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Willingly coming to my place of work? Is the world ending?” I teased.

“Quite possibly. Or I’m having a stroke.”

“Need mouth to mouth? I’m certified.” I shot her a wink. My playful side was coming out more and more whenever I was around her. I didn’t tease, let alone wink, at people, yet with Lydia, I did.

“I’m sure you are,” Lydia said dryly, but I didn’t miss the way her lips twitched.

“Any special reason you came by?” I leaned against the boards.

“That woman really liked you,” was her response.

“What woman?”

“The mom to the little girl.” She gestured toward the spot Rosie and her mom were at moments ago.

“She’s just a mom.” I waved it off.

“Do you get a lot of moms here?”

Was that jealousy I heard? I didn’t know why but I found myself smiling at that. “Quite a bit.” I kept it vague on purpose to see where she went with it.

“Bet they love you,” she muttered.

“Are you jealous, Blondie?” I leaned forward with a smirk.

“I don’t get jealous.”

“Uh huh.” I’d let her believe that for now. “Did you come by to see my gorgeous face?” Lydia rolled her eyes, which just made my smirk grow.

“I was going to see if you wanted to get dinner.”

One thing I liked about Lydia was how she didn’t mince words. If she wanted something, she’d say it. At least that’s how she was with me. It was something I appreciated more than she’d ever know.

“I want to, don’t get me wrong, but I need to clean this place up, and I have a pile of paperwork to get through.” I inwardly winced at how that came out.

“I don’t mind waiting. I can help if you want,” Lydia offered.

“It’s a lot of paperwork.” I wasn’t trying to convince her to leave, but I also didn’t want her to feel obligated to stay.

“I’m fine with that,” she repeated with a shrug. “Put me to work.”