Can't Love Christmas

Thirty Seven

When her siblings were young, Ash's parents decided they wanted the twins to be skaters. They started in figure skating for years, then switched to speed skating. Neither of them stuck with it, which meant at this point, they were extremely talented recreational skaters who could show up anyone who challenged them. They never played hockey, but skating with them always left Ash feeling inadequate.

Ash glided across the surface while Reese and Ryan challenged each other in the centre. There didn't appear to be any rogue hockey players crashing around this time, so she tried to relax. Her parents skated slowly around the ice, holding hands and completely lost in each other.

Ash took a seat on the side and pulled out her phone, filming the twins. Reese was better at spinning, but Ryan was graceful everywhere else. When they were too dizzy to continue, Ryan challenged Reese to a race around the rink, and demanded that Ash be the official.

They were not the only people on the ice, and to ensure it was more fair with no one getting to take a short track, Ash timed them both. Ryan beat Reese by a substantial margin, though Reese claimed he was cut off. They decided to try again, and Ryan was actually cut off, prompting a best two out of three situation. With everything on the line, the racers took off, and at the end, Ryan was determined to be the winner.

As Ryan channeled the spirit of all great champions to have come before, they stuck their tongue out and blew a raspberry at Reese. He lunged at Ryan in retaliation, and they both ended up in a heap on the ice. Tana and Darren finally broke it up as they cruised over, in no hurry at all. Ash stepped back onto the ice and took a few turns around the rink with Ryan, while Reese decided to cool off on the sidelines.

"So, have you talked to Rowan again?"

"About what?"

"Anything."

"No, I haven't."

"Huh."

Ash frowned at Ryan. "What's huh?"

"I'm just surprised. He's totally in love with you so I just figured he'd talk to you."

"He texted me the day you were at the mall, but that was it. He's not in love with me."

Ryan rolled their eyes. "Ash, he absolutely is. You need to stop denying it."

"He's just charming. He's good with ladies."

"He didn't seem like a player to me."

"Yeah, well he wasn't about to do that in front of my whole family now was he?"

"In my experience, you can usually tell. He seems genuine."

"And how much experience do you have?"

Ryan shoved her shoulder. "Hey, just because I haven't been in love doesn't mean I can't read people."

"Fair enough."

"You like him though, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think so. It just won't work out though."

"Why not?"

"He doesn't do relationships. He's a casual dater."

"Maybe because none of those women were worth getting serious about. But you are."

"I hardly think I'm about to change a man like that."

"Ash, I know chicken-shit did a number on you, but I don't think you see yourself the way the rest of us see you. You're amazing. We all know it. I just hope you know it."

Ash shook her head. "I'm just okay. I'm a bit of a trainwreck actually. There's a reason Carlos didn't want me. I'm just the kind of girl who waits for the men to have their fun, and hope they come back when they want to settle down."