Full Strength

Forty Six-Lillian ❤️‍🩹

        "You're sure about this?" Logan asked softly.

        I smiled. "I'm sure. I wouldn't even suggest that you could try it if I wasn't sure," I said, watching as he looked out over the ice. 

        The laces of his skates were wound so tightly around his knuckles that his skin had turned white. His expression said that he was thinking about what would happen if he fell wrong, or if landed too hard. If he couldn't get back up.

        Sliding my mittened hand into his grasp, I said, "I'm going to be here. Close by. If anything bad happens, you'll be okay. I'll be here."

        "I guess I should probably give you these then," Logan said, handing me the large box he'd had tucked under his arm. At first, I'd thought it was just the box for his own skates, but now-

        My throat closed up as I took off the lid. A beautiful pair of lilac skates gleamed up at me, the blades sparkling and the laces whiter than snow. Lightly trailing my fingers over the curved toe, I relished how new they were. Never worn by someone else, kept in pristine condition just for me.

        "They are figure skates," Logan said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I really wanted to get you lavender ones, but I couldn't find hockey skates that weren't black or white. Plus I thought you might already have boring skates, so I thought you should have some in your favorite color." He was stammering now.

         "Logan, I love them," I squealed, giving him a one-armed hug. He'd picked out custom skates, just for me. "Thank you!"

         "I mean, I wanted you to be able to skate to catch me if I fall," he said, faking looking bored. "I didn't give you these for any other reason. Not like I like you or anything."

        I shook my head, grinning. "No, nothing like that."

        Smiling shyly, he sat down on the little bench that was next to the edge of the pond. I sat beside him, pulling off my winter boots and pulling on the lovely new skates. Next to me, Logan had on his practice skates, black and clunky. 

        "When's the last time you skated?" he asked me.

        "Um, probably last winter. For Christmas, they invited all the players and their families to the rink for skating and hot chocolate. It was really fun," I said, standing up in the ankle-deep snow.

         He nodded. "We do something similar. Except one of us is randomly drawn to play Santa for all the players' kids."

        It was pretty easy to make my heart melt these days. "Awww," I said, smiling at the thought of it. "Have you been drawn yet?"

        "Nope. But I can see Graham fiddling with the name slips next year to ensure it's me," Logan said with a grin. 

         Extending my hands to him, I offered to help him up. A flash of indecision crossed his face; he really was nervous. Smiling, I reminded him, "I won't let you fall. Promise."

        Exhaling, he took my hands. Through my lavender gloves, I felt the warmth radiating from his fingers as I pulled him to his feet. His maroon scarf was wound around his neck, resting on the collar of his thin puffer coat. He wasn't wearing a hat, showing off his light brown hair. I was more bundled up, wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves set, along with my tan winter coat with the big buttons. .

        February was almost over, the sunset now arriving at around six instead of four. The sky was painted with pink and orange hues, the ice glowing softly to reflect its sky counterpart. The trees, while dead and bare of leaves, swayed in the winter wind. But most of all, I liked the silence. You couldn't hear anything out here, not the traffic or the nearby city. It was a serene picture, one that someone had hidden in a secret compartment instead of putting it with all of the other photographs in the world.