Page 74 of Losing an Edge

“I’m sure. Sophie and I will be just fine, and if we need anything, Gord can help us out. Right, Sophie Bug?”

She’d recently given me permission to call her that, too, just like Levi did. Only the two of us were ever allowed to call her that.

“Right,” she said, tugging her arms out of her coat. “Cadence and I are just gonna skate, Mom.”

“Go,” I said, shooing her on her way. I took over working on Sophie’s skates because the activity would surely help me calm down. “I’ve got everything under control here.”

“You’re an angel,” Paige said. She kissed Sophie on the top of the head, and then she headed out with the same brisk pace as she’d come in.

I made sure Sophie’s laces were tight and then grinned at her. “Ready?”

“Yep. But I wish Levi was here.”

“Me, too.” For more reasons than I cared to explain at the moment. I held out my hand to help her up, but she pretended she didn’t see it and got up on her own. We headed out to the ice and got started.

Twenty minutes into our session, the doors banged open.

“That was fast,” I said, without bothering to look over my shoulder. I’d thought it would take Paige nearly the full hour before she returned. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

“Weren’t you?” Guy said.

Every ounce of blood in my body froze.