Emma

 

By the time they left Jacques, Colin was so hopped up on sugar that Will suggested they go ice skating to work off some of his energy. They walked through Central Park toward Wollman Rink. Colin ran up ahead while Will stayed close to Emma’s side. She couldn’t keep the smile from her face as the crisp winter air stung her cheeks. The park looked especially beautiful today. There’d been a light dusting of snow overnight and it still clung to the ground, making the gentle hills of Central Park glisten in the morning light. The trees they passed under shimmered with a layer of frost, their thin, brittle limbs twinkling like chandeliers made of the finest crystal.

Emma found herself shivering at the beauty. Will moved closer, mistaking her tremor for a chill. But Emma didn’t protest when he put his arm around her, rubbing her arm vigorously for warmth. And she definitely didn’t mind when he decided to leave his arm wrapped neatly around her waist. It certainly wasn’t just his body heat that was driving up her temperature. Being so close to Will made Emma feel like she could scorch the park with just one touch.

She snuck a peek at him from under her lashes to find he was already staring at her, the beginnings of a smile tugging at the corner of his gorgeous lips. It nearly stole Emma’s frozen breath right from her lungs.

“Have I told you how beautiful you look today?” Will asked.

Emma stopped walking. She stared into Will’s blue eyes, finding only brutal honesty there. He took her gloved hand and pulled her closer. She fought her nerves and moved closer still, only stopping when their chests were pressed together. They shared a frozen breath, white swirls of steam dancing in the air between them. This was it. Will was going to kiss her. And from the frantic pumping of her heart, Emma realized that she wanted him to.

Emma reached her hand up, letting her frozen fingers touch Will’s cheek. He leaned into it, the warmth of his skin stinging even through her gloves.

“Em . . .” Will started. But if he’d been about to say something else she didn’t hear it. Instead her cheek was met with a solid whack!

Emma yelped, stumbling back. Both she and Will looked at each other, stunned for a moment. But then Colin’s laughter filled the air.

“Gotcha!” he yelled, hurling another snowball in their direction.

“Oh, it’s on!” Will called back, pulling Emma behind a tree for cover as he set to packing together a few lumpy snowballs.

Emma was still clutching her cheek from where Colin’s first snowball had hit her. “Is it normal that I want to kill him?” she muttered.

Will grinned and handed Emma a snowball. “I knew you’d get the hang of this sibling thing.”

Emma narrowed her eyes. “He’s not gonna know what hit him.” Then she stepped out from behind the tree and hurled a snowball at Colin. She was a terrible shot and missed him completely. But his shriek of joy was almost as satisfying as if she’d pelted him. She dashed after Colin, who dropped his snowball and ran. Will followed behind, bombarding them both with snowballs.

“Hey! Whose side are you on?” Emma called.

“Let’s get him!” Colin yelled, and before Emma knew it, she and the bubbly little boy were crouched behind a shrub, chucking snowballs at Will. It was completely useless. Will had much better aim, so she hatched a plan to beat him playing to her strengths. Emma whispered her plan to Colin who grinned like a maniac. Two seconds later he fell to the side clutching his leg and started to wail.

“Will! Will! Help. Colin’s hurt.”

Will sprinted to her side. “What happened?” he asked worry in his voice as he surveyed Colin’s leg. “Buddy, tell me where it hurts.”

“Here!” Colin said springing up to tackle Will. He was able to bowl Will over from his crouching position easily and Emma fulfilled her end of the plan by pinning him down while Colin tossed their remaining snow balls at Will.

“Oh, I see. It’s like that, is it?”

The twinkle of mischief in Will’s eyes scared Emma and rightly so, because before she knew it, he had her pinned beneath him, packing snow into the hood of her jacket while she squirmed and giggled. Colin clung to his back like a bug, but the little boy was laughing too hard to be of any help to Emma. And truthfully, Emma didn’t really mind. She was perfectly happy right where she was—giggling in the park with Will and Colin. Strangely, she couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be.

Will

When they arrived at the skating rink, Will was out of breath from laughter. His cheeks physically hurt from smiling as he watched Emma and Colin trying to make shapes with the steam from their breath in the freezing air. They were walking hand-in-hand like they’d been siblings all their lives and it brought more joy to Will’s heart than he’d been expecting.

He tucked his phone away after capturing a few more seconds of video. He’d been sneaking shots all day for another project he was working on. Watching Emma and Colin together made him realize just how lucky he’d been to grow up with his five brothers, and how much he missed them—especially around the holidays. He knew things couldn’t stay the same forever, and he was happy his brothers all had exciting lives of their own now, but it still didn’t dull the sting he felt of being left behind. And as fun as today had been, Will felt disheartened that his pain had still managed to slip in and steal some of his joy. He wondered if he would ever find a cure for the loneliness that had crept in over the last year.

“What size do you wear?” Emma called, freeing Will from his thoughts.

She was at the skate rental counter, grinning at him. Her hair was a beautiful mess, glistening in spots where little crystals of snow still clung. He hadn’t seen her smile like that in a long time, and it pulled him back from the depths of his sorrow. “Thirteen,” he replied.

The girl behind the rental counter gave Will a once over. “I like a guy with big feet,” she purred.

Emma rolled her eyes. “Keep it in your pants,” she muttered.

“I have big feet, too!” Colin yelled standing on his tiptoes trying to look over the counter.

The rental girl gave a humph and handed over the ice skates. Emma paid her and said, “Thanks,” with enough frost to resurface the ice rink.

Will took his skates giving Emma a questioning look, which she ignored. The three of them moved over to a bench to lace up their skates. Colin insisted he could lace his own skates, so Will sat down next to Emma and gave her a playful nudge unable to hide his grin.

“What?” she said cooly.

“Keep it in your pants?” Will asked.

Emma rolled her eyes again. “Well, she was being gross.”

“My size thirteen feet are gross?”

“Shut up, Will. You know what I mean.”

“I don’t think I do,” he said still grinning.

“Does your ego really need to hear me say that girl was hitting on you?”

He snorted. “And that bothers you?”

“No. It was just inappropriate in front of a little boy.”

“I don’t think he got the reference, Em.”

Emma only looked up from tying her laces to give Will a glare.

He bent down to lace his own skates and leaned into Emma. “I’m a little disappointed.”

“Why?”

“I liked the idea that you didn’t want her hitting on me.”

Emma

Emma stopped mid-lace and looked at Will, their faces mere inches apart as they bent over their skates. This was definitely not her imagination. Will was flirting with her. Her heart thumped in her chest. She wanted to reach over and kiss him right now, but she had to be sure this time. She couldn’t recover from him making her feel like a complete fool a second time. “Why?” she whispered.

Will smirked. “I’ve always liked the feisty side of you, Em. But I guess I never pegged you for the girl who defends her guy, and . . . it was nice.”

“What was nice?”

“Having you want me.” He winked, his vivid blue eyes gleaming with mischief.

“Will . . .” Emma didn’t know what to say. Being this close to him was making it impossible to think of anything other than how much she wanted to kiss him. “I . . .” Was it possible that he didn’t know how she felt about him? That he’d never known?

“It’s okay to be jealous, Em.”

Emma sat up quickly. “I’m not jealous.”

“I liked it,” Will teased.

Emma huffed, finishing her laces. “Sometimes you’re impossible, Will.”

He barked a laugh, then moved his lips close enough to brush her ear. “Yeah, but sometimes I’m irresistible,” he murmured.

A ripple of desire shuddered through Emma, but before she could react, Will was on his feet and Colin was tugging at Emma’s sleeve.

“Come on,” Colin whined. “I wanna go skate.”

His excited voice brought Emma back to reality. “Do you know how to skate, Colin?”

“Not really.”

“Okay, well let’s start out slow so you don’t get hurt.”

“Okay,” he said beaming up at her as he slipped his tiny mittened hand into hers.

Will took Colin’s other hand and they led him onto the ice. After a few less than graceful laps around the rink, Colin got the hang of it. Emma was impressed with how quickly he picked it up. But then again, things like ice skating came easier to little kids. She’d always thought that it was the low center of gravity or having a shorter distance to fall. But as she watched Colin skate away, Will trailing him with his phone out to record the moment, she realized it was because kids had no fear. They hadn’t been scarred by the world yet. And they hadn’t learned that there was so much they could lose if they took a chance and failed.

Emma’s eyes found Will. He was skating backward filming Colin, waving and cheering him on. The happiness on Will’s face brought such a brightness to Emma’s heart that it was almost hard to breathe. She watched them take a lap around the rink, grinning and laughing the whole way. When he came back toward her, Will pulled Emma with him, twirling her once on the ice, until she was clinging to his strong arms to steady herself.

“I’ve gotcha,” he whispered and Emma’s heart shuddered with a mix of emotions. This was the Will she’d fallen in love with. The Will who was always there for her. The Will who made her feel like home.

They’d spent countless days like this in the park—just being kids and having fun. The small seed of hope Emma clung to grew. She never imagined she’d ever get more moments like these with Will. But somehow he’d made it possible—better even, by including Colin.

The little boy zipped around the skating ring, pushing between them until he held each of their hands again. Emma squeezed Colin’s little hand in hers and grinned over his head at Will. His expression seemed to say, ‘I told you today would be great’.

Now if only Emma could tell Will that Colin was only part of the reason she couldn’t stop smiling.