Page 14 of Have a Bear-y Little Christmas

Especially when we moved away from the wall and Max and I moved in casual circles around the large rink. Slow and easy, but relatively smooth. Just when my nerves receded so much that they were almost gone, Max spoke through the scarf that covered the bottom half of his face.

“Can I try on my own for a little bit? I’ll hold the wall again.”

Oh God.

Funny how I had once faced completely supporting myself at the ripe old age of nearly seventeen, and somehow that had been less scary than the idea of leaving my son alone on the ice.

Because, when it came down to it, where was the line?

I was his protector. His guardian. The person who was supposed to use my adult experience to counterbalance the naïveté of youth. But I also needed to know when to let him takerisks, and when to let him learn things on his own so he could be an independent adult. I had to find balance between those two truths, otherwise I’d end up hurting him.

No pressure, right?

Well, what was one of the biggest lessons I had learned since becoming a mother?Compromise.

“I’ll tell you what,” I started, steering us toward one of the exits from the rink. “I’ll set your watch alarm for ten minutes, and you can skate all on your own. But after that, you come to me to rest and hydrate, then we’ll do it again if you want to. Sound good?”

He nodded vigorously. “Idostill wanna skate with you, Mama. I just… I dunno… gotta do some things on my own.”

“I know, baby, I know. And I trust you.”

He beamed at me, and that was enough to convince me that I’d made the right choice. Hey, sometimes I was kind of good at this parenting thing.

“All right, let me set your watch, then you can go have fun.”

He held out his arm, and I had to excavate through his sleeve, his thicker mitten and his fingerless gloves below, but he was patient the entire time. Again, there was temptation to drag the process out, but I resisted it.

I was rocking two for two. I definitely deserved a treat. Maybe that pint of specialty ice cream I had waiting in the freezer for my period?

Nowthatwas an idea.

“Off you go,” I said, giving him a pat on the pom attached to the top of his beanie. “Have fun.”

“I will!”

And there he went.

I sat down on the bench, caught between wanting to laugh and wanting to cry. That was my baby boy, growing up and just being a regular kid.

Really, that was the best Christmas present I could ever ask for.

Chapter 6

Remington

Ice is for Polar Bears, not a Grizzly

“Come on,Daddy! You can go faster!”

“While I appreciate that you have faith in me,” I said, legs wobbling like Jell-O as I slid along at approximately one mile per hour, “I’m not so sure about that.”

“It’s all about your center of gravity,” Addy said as she skated in a circle around both me and Eva, cool as a cucumber.

“Sure, that’s what it is.”

While I had no doubt that my daughter was partially right, I was pretty sure weight made a huge difference. I was a big guy with broad shoulders, and I’d always put muscle on easily and maintained it well with my landscaping work. Granted, I’d gained a bit of weight since Zara had passed, because food was a comfort. I still fit into most of my clothes, but my six-pack was more of a two-pack, and my thighs had definitely thickened. But hey, I was a bear; it was only natural to bulk up in the winter.

“I think you’re locking your knees,” Addy continued as I gripped the side rail along the wall for dear life. “What about all your shifter super-powered stuff?”