The Family Business

Ice Skating

From Sam' POV:

We took Maggie's car into town to go ice skating at the new arena. Andrea sat in the front seat, while John and Hannah sat in back. "So, does anyone know how to ice skate?" I asked.

John and Hannah both said no, but Andrea said that she had learned when she was a kid, living in Minnesota. "Not much else to do in the winter, except anything dealing with ice. Ice fishing, ice hockey, ice skating...." her voice drifted off.

I reached over and covered her hand with mine, and gave her a reassuring smile. Blushing a little, she took my hand in between hers. When we arrived at the arena, John and Hannah couldn't wait to go skating. I ran around to the passenger side to open Andrea's door for her, but she had already opened it. I offered her my hand to help her out of the car, which she accepted, but didn't release once she was out of the car.

I called after the kids to not walk so far ahead of us, unless they were paying for their own tickets. That got their attention, and they decided to walk with us, which made Andrea and me laugh. I found myself thinking how cute her laugh is, how kind she is, especially with John and Hannah, and also how brave she is. She's certainly been through a lot in the past couple of days.

We found John and Hannah at the skate rental counter and paid for their admission and for renting the skates. Andrea asked me if I was going to skate, but I declined. "Trust me, this is not my thing. Roller skates maybe, but not ice skates," I explained.

"Please? I could teach you! I used to be pretty good at skating, all that ice and free time in the winters of Minnesota," she said.

"Yeah, come on, Uncle Sam! Skate with us! Pleeeeeeaaaaassssseee?" John and Hannah pleaded in unison.

I rolled my eyes, pretending to be annoyed, when I was anything but that. I rented my skates and went over to a bench to put them on. "You know, John and Hannah, if I fall and break my leg, I'm telling your mom and dad that it was your fault, 'cuz you begged me to do this!" I teased. As soon as everyone had their skates in place, we made our way to the rink surface.

There were people of all experience levels on the ice. The ones who looked like they were born on skates were in the middle, practicing jumps and spins. Others obviously had hockey experience, while people like me spent most of the time hugging the wall. Andrea was facing me, skating backwards, while I hung onto the wall for dear life.

"Come on, Sam, you can't hold the wall all the time. Give me your hands and I can pull you till you get going," Andrea coaxed.

I watched her feet move, and tried to imitate her movements. I started to glide, so I let go of the wall. I reached for Andrea's hands, but missed, so she moved in a little closer. At that same moment, I surged ahead and we got tangled up in each others' arms. We spun around a bit, wobbling, each holding on to the other trying not to fall. Alas, we were going down, and in a spectacular way. I fell to the ice on my backside, pulling Andrea down with me and causing her to land on top of me.

We started giggling at how we must have looked, both scrambling to stay upright, but utterly failing to do so. Then our giggling stopped, as I realized the proximity of her adorable face. I brushed a lock of hair from her forehead and I rested my hand on her cheek. I pulled her closer to me, our lips so close to touching. Just then, John and Hannah came skating up to us, breaking the moment. "Are you guys okay? We saw you fall down, Uncle Sam," Hannah said, worry etched on her face.

"I'm just fine, Hannah-Bear. Thank you for checking on us. You guys want some hot chocolate, or do you want to keep skating?" I asked as I stood up. "Hot chocolate!!" they said in unison. I reached both hands down to Andrea to pull her up, which she accepted. We got the twins some hot chocolate, a coffee for me, orange tea for Andrea. We sat down at an available booth, John and Hannah on one side, Andrea and me on the other. The kids gulped down their hot chocolate as quickly as their mouths would allow, then bolted back to the rink for some more skating.