Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Jami continues, pulling my gaze reluctantly to her. “I’m sure things have been just as easy as they were when you were first paired together. Ha-ha. I remember standing there and watching as you two sized each other up. How Fable complained that a hockey player couldn’t figure skate and that she couldn’t skate with Jett. My boy Jett proved her wrong, and she hated it. Weeks turned into months, and the arguing was my favorite part. It meant you two cared and wanted this to work. Even at a young age, you two saw something in the other that you knew you needed. Jett was the calm to your storm, my darling, and Jett, she kept you on your toes. Made you work harder and called you out when you didn’t.”
Jami pauses, taking a breath, while my thoughts run mad in my head. We were so young, but we relied on each other. We had a goal and, together, we made it happen, even when her parents wanted anyone but me to be with their daughter. I have been fighting her left and right, when really, we work the best together. I swallow past the emotion that forms in my throat. I hadn’t realized Phillip had noticed all that Fable had done for me. I am who I am today because of how hard she pushed me. I don’t back down for anyone.
Well, except her.
I look over at Fable, and her eyes are flooded with tears, her bottom lip trembling. I reach over, brushing it softly, and she sighs deeply, her tears spilling over. I catch each tear, wiping it away as our eyes stay locked in an embrace I’ve craved since the moment I saw her skating around in her little white leotard and sheer skirt.
Jami gives us a second, and I feel her gaze on us. I wonder what she sees. Two people reliving their past, brought together by a request from the grave? Fable takes a shaky breath as Jami continues, even though we aren’t looking at her. “I am proud to have watched you two grow, and my love for you, while it comes second to mine for my sweet Kitty, is all-consuming.”
Fable looks at Jami first, and I wonder if she’s feeling what I am. Our time skating together is running like a movie reel in my head, with Damien Rice’s “The Blower’s Daughter” as the theme song. Don’t ask me why, but that song has always described how I saw our relationship. My need for her was so great, but no one thought I was good enough for her. A forbidden love, I guess.
But that won’t be the case anymore.
Because there is nothing forbidden about how I feel for her now.
“Speaking of Kitty, she is the reason for my letter, not that it should surprise either of you.”
Jami’s words have my attention, and I groan inwardly. “Now what?”
“Exactly,” Fable mutters, her finger twisting around mine.
Jami grimaces but continues, “By year two, we knew you two were a force to be reckoned with. I would catch Kitty watching film of the two of you skating before she went to bed. She never missed a practice or a competition. I assumed it was because she cared for you both, but she told me once that watching you two skate settled her soul like nothing else could. Her truth made me wild with jealousy, but instead of pulling a Tonya Harding on you two, I decided to help you guys get even better so that Kitty’s soul was always at ease.”
I press my lips together to keep in the laughter. Fable looks at me, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Did my grandfather just say he wanted to take out our kneecaps?”
I nod. “Yes, which is terrifying, because I’m surprised he didn’t with how much he loved Kitty.”
She grins, her face bright and, thankfully, with no sign of tears. Jami giggles with us, but then she takes a deep breath, letting it out in a rush. She looks hard at the paper in her hands, and I notice a slight tremble along her fingers. “It was hard for Kitty when Jett went to play hockey and Fable went off to individual. She still loved watching you, my darling, but she was convinced you never smiled the way you did when you skated with Jett, and I agreed.”
That shouldn’t please me, but it does. I want to be the reason for every smile. Every laugh. Anything that makes her happy, I want it to be because of something I did.
“Now, I won’t hold anything over your heads. I just hope everything I’ve said convinces you two to honor my wish from the grave…”
I find that I’m holding my breath, and when Fable moves to the edge of her seat, her finger slips from mine. Not enough that we aren’t touching, but enough that I have to lean forward to rewrap our fingers.