Page 120 of Side By Side
Belle nodded and said, “Yes, I am.”
“Does she know that?”
“No. We’ve been on exactly one real date. I would’ve told her at some point, obviously, but her being gone changes the timing, I think. I always knew she’d leave. She needed to find another partner, and the timing was already tight for her to do that and still make the team, but I didn’t expect it to be the morning after we–” She stopped herself.
“Belle, you’re almost twenty-seven years old.”
“I know. It’s still weird talking about it with my dad.”
“She left the morning after?”
“Not like that. We went to the Ice Park to work, and she got the call. We had a real goodbye. She didn’t, like, run out on me or anything.”
“Well, that’s good. I’m less mad at her now.”
“You shouldn’t be mad at her at all. I’m not mad at her.”
“I’m mad at anyone who’d choose anything over my kid. You’ll get it when you have kids one day. You want the best for them in all things. You want someone to see them as the biggest priority in their lives.”
“Dad, that’s not fair, though. This is her career, and it’s about to be over. She can’t skate at this level forever; this is her last shot. I want her to have it. Hell, if she makes the team, I’ll take out a credit card and put a trip to the Olympics on it. I’ll be there to support her, and maybe after that, she and I can finally really begin, you know?”
“If that’s what you want, then okay.”
“It’s not.” Belle chuckled. “I want her here with me or me there with her. But I also want her to be happy, and I want to be happy, too.”
“I’m sorry I needed you to come back,” her dad said and patted his cast gently.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t choose to fall and hurt yourself. I want to be here, too, though. That’s the thing. I love my life here. I love you. I love my beat-up old truck, the guys, hockey, the Ice Park. I never planned on going anywhere. I want to run the Ice Park and hang out with my clumsy dad, watching him fall in love with Sheryl, who is sweet and clearly likes him a lot.”
“She likes me. I don’t know about a lot.”
“Any woman who would work a very hard job with long hours and still come here to take care of the likes of you – it’s a lot, Dad.”
He laughed a little and said, “Maybe. We’ll see. I like her, too.”
“A lot?”
“How did we start talking about me? We’re supposed to be talking about you.”
“Dad, don’t mess this up, okay? If you really like her, be with her. Don’t wait. Don’t mess it up. You deserve not to be alone and to be happy. You know Mom would’ve wanted that for you. I want that for you, too.”
“I know. I know.” He waved her off. “I’m working on it. It’s a little hard to treat a good woman how I’d like to when I get tired walking from the bedroom to the kitchen. But when I’m out of this cast, I’ll take her out to a nice restaurant, and we’ll see how it goes.”
“Good,” Belle said.
“What are you going to do about Chandler?”
“Nothing right now. Just wait until she texts, try to remember that I told her it’s fine if she couldn’t, and hope that in the end, this was the right move while I miss her like crazy and wish I could be with her.”
“Sounds like you have about nothing figured out,” he teased.
“Yeah, thanks for that, Dad,” she said. “Now, I need to get back to the Ice Park. Are you sure you don’t want me to make you any lunch?”
“No, I actually came out here because Sheryl’s on her way with food for us to eat, and I didn’t want her to think I couldn’t move out of the damn bedroom.”
“Ah, so I should make myself scarce,” she stated and stood up.
“I didn’t say that. I’m sure she’ll have enough food for us all to share, if you want.”