The Twelve Dates of Christmas (11 page)

Ripping my mind away from that unwelcome image, I stood up, brushed some snow off my black Polartec pants, and surveyed our paltry group. When I'd come up with this idea, I'd envisioned Jaylene lost in crowds of people out on the ice, giving me free rein to zero in on Cam and work the nostalgia angle. After all, Nick had tons of friends, which meant his parties normally resembled New Year's Eve in Times Square. But with only eight of us, it wasn't going to be so easy to cut Cam loose from the herd. Still, Allie and Nick had promised to run interference for me if they could. I was just going to have to make the best of it.

I finished my laces, then sat up and pulled my warmest gloves back on. That made my hands feel a little less like blocks
of ice, though it didn't help my face, which had gone numb. Who needs Botox when you have an Arctic air mass?

Nick already had his skates on. He was swinging his arms back and forth, trying to stay warm as he waited for the rest of us to finish getting ready. “Hey Bruce,” he said, “where's your man Cam? Thought he said he'd be here.”

Good question. I wanted to check my watch, but it was hidden under three or four layers of clothing.

Bruce was sitting on a bench playing snowplow with his skate blades in a handy drift. “Yeah, he'll be along. Probably late though. That new girlfriend of his takes forever getting ready to go out.” He stood up and sidled over to me. Even with a frozen face, he could still leer. Amazing. “Guess she's not the natural woman type like you, eh, Lexi?”

Before I could answer, I heard a car door slam. I glanced over toward the parking lot, my heart jumping. But it was only Allie. She'd been changing into a borrowed pair of Nick's extra-warm wool socks in his car.

But behind her, I finally saw a familiar
car pulling into the lot. “Cam's here,” I hissed at Nick.

Bruce spotted the car at the same time. “Finally. Here they are.”

He headed over to greet the newcomers. The rest of us drifted along after him, walking awkwardly across the snowy lawn in our skates and guards.

Cam climbed out of the car first and waved. Then he hurried around to the other side to let Jaylene out.

“What, is she incapable of opening a car door for herself?” I muttered to Allie.

She shot me a sympathetic glance. “Be fair,” she said. “You can't blame Jaylene because Cam's a gentleman.”

“Oh yeah? Just watch me.” I scowled as Cam bent over the passenger side door.

A moment later Jaylene emerged. My frozen eyeballs bulged as I got a look at her. Sure, technically what she was wearing could be considered appropriate for skating. But only if the skating in question was in the Ice Capades. She was dressed in a snug Irish wool sweater, a flippy little lavender miniskirt, and shiny white tights. To top it off, a navy-and-white striped scarf was looped jauntily around her neck. At
least she was wearing a hat today. It matched the scarf perfectly.

“Oh mah gosh, y'all!” she called out to us, laughing in little bursts that were visible in the cold air. “Ah guess Ah may be kind of underdressed fer this shindig.”

Cam swung his battered old hockey skates by their laces, looking sheepish. “She thought we were going to an indoor rink,” he explained. “I guess I should have been more specific when I told her about this—she's still not used to, you know, being in the north.”

Jaylene waved her hands, which were as usual encased in cute but awfully thin-looking white mittens. “No, Ah'll be fine,” she insisted. “Of course, Ah might need a little help to stay warm, if ya'll know what Ah mean!” She grabbed Cam and snuggled up against him.

“Aw, young love,” one of the music class gigglers called out. “Aren't they adorable?”

“Sweet,” Bruce agreed. “Yo Jaylene, how is it you can look freezing cold and smokin' hot at the same time?”

Jaylene giggled, swinging her hips a little so her skirt danced. “Oh, Bruce. You're such a nut!”

I gritted my chattering teeth. The worst part was, Bruce's obnoxious comment was true. The outfit Jaylene was wearing was totally inappropriate for the occasion. But she
did
look ridiculously hot.

Still, I figured in that get-up Jaylene wouldn't last long on the ice. I was glad I'd brought plenty of hot chocolate—it was already bubbling away in Mom's portable party beverage dispenser, which was plugged in in one of the little cement picnic shelters nearby. With any luck, Jaylene would give up on skating within minutes and camp out in there to stay warm. All I had to do was distract Cam enough to keep him from following her in there. If it was awkward watching her cling to him now, I didn't want to think about catching a glimpse of them making out or something.

“Come on, everybody,” I called out with forced cheer. “Why are we all standing around here? We'll be a lot warmer once we get moving.”

“She's right.” Nick waved an arm toward the lake. “Let's skate!”

I felt a little better once I was out on the ice. My parents and aunt and uncle started taking me and Nick skating as soon as we
were old enough to stand up on our own, and I still loved it. The ice was solid in the inlet, though I knew it was probably still a little iffy farther out in the deeper parts of the lake. I forgot about everything else for the moment as I swooped forward, doing some big loopy circles and figure eights to work out the kinks.

The rest of us had left Cam and Jaylene putting on their skates. After a few minutes, I glanced over to see how they were doing. I was just in time to see Cam lead a wobbly-looking Jaylene down the slight incline and onto the ice.

Allie swooped over to me, executing a neat T-stop. “Think she knows how to skate?”

“Nick asked Cam about that,” I replied, not taking my eyes off the pair. “Apparently she's skated a few times, but she's not very good.”

We watched as she pushed off, clinging to one of Cam's hands with both of hers. Two or three strokes in, her left skate skidded out from under her, quickly followed by the other. She would have fallen if Cam hadn't been holding onto her. Once he'd set her on her feet again, she collapsed against him, laughing.

“Oh mah gosh!” her giddy voice floated across the lake. “This is even harder than Ah remember!”

But before long she was upright and sliding along with tiny, choppy, tentative strokes like a little kid. Cam practically had to skate backward to stay with her at that (lack of) speed.

Nick glided over to Allie and me, both hands tucked into his jeans pockets. “Looks like Cam's doing some babysitting,” he said in a low voice. “It's going to be hard to peel her off of him.”

“Tell me about it,” I said. “But you guys promised to do what you could, right?”

Allie nodded. “Come on, Nick. You taught beginner lessons that one winter, right? Why don't we go offer your expertise to poor Jaylene?”

My friends are brilliant. Within minutes, they'd commandeered Jaylene, pushing Cam out to watch as they took Jaylene by each arm and taught her some basics. I waited until Jaylene looked good and distracted, then skated over to Cam.

“Hey,” I greeted him, doing a little backward circle on the ice in front of him. “Having fun?”

“Sure.” He smiled at me. “It's kind of cold, but hey, what's a little frostbite when it comes to a friend's birthday?”

“Huh? Oh, right.” I'd almost forgotten that we were all supposed to be there for Nick. “So anyway, it looks like Jaylene is learning fast now that those two have ahold of her.”

“Yeah. I just hope she doesn't get too chilled.” He looked worried. “I really should have warned her we'd be skating outside.”

Personally, I thought he was being way too hard on himself. What kind of Southern-fried nutjob expects indoor skating in December in a town located on the shore of a huge frozen lake? But I didn't bother to point that out.

“I'm sure she'll be fine,” I said. “Once you start moving around out here, it's not so bad. Speaking of which, want to take a spin around the inlet while she's having her lesson? You know, for old time's sake.”

“Sure, I guess.” Cam shot another glance at Jaylene, who had just slipped again and was clinging to Nick's waist while Allie tried to haul her back to her feet without skidding out herself. I wasn't sure Cam had even caught the “for old time's sake” bit in my invitation.

“Let's go, then,” I said as cheerfully as I could. “Last one to the swimming platform's a rotten egg!”

In summer, the skating inlet became the swimming inlet. There was an ancient, half-rotted wooden platform that had been out there since sometime before my parents were born. It was pretty much unofficially condemned at this point—kids only ever climbed on it as a dare. But it still floated out there, making a handy end point for racing whether the water was frozen or not.

I took off toward it, pushing out faster and faster to work up speed. After a moment I glanced back over my shoulder. Cam was a few yards back. I could tell he wasn't going anywhere near full-out—he always let me win, no matter how many times I scolded him about it, saying it was sexist.

I skidded to a stop once I reached the platform, spinning around and waiting for him to catch up. When he got there he was smiling, his cheeks showing the two rosy little spots he always got when he exerted himself.

“You win, as usual,” he said. “I should know better than to even try.”

That sort of comment used to annoy me
a little. After all, it wasn't as if I needed him to let me beat him at speed skating. It was one thing for my dad to do that when I was five, but Cam was supposed to be my boyfriend—my equal.

Only he wasn't my boyfriend anymore, and somehow that made it seem more sweet than annoying. That Nostalgia Footnote thing was obviously working on
me
.

“Winner and still champion,” I said lightly. Suddenly remembering one of Allie's older theories—the Touchy-Feely Theory—I reached over and punched him lightly on the arm. “How about a rematch? Shore and back?”

“Maybe later.” His gaze had wandered back across the ice toward where Nick and Allie were still guiding their pupil along. “I should probably go back and check on Jaylene.”

My heart sank. So much for trusting in those theories.

“Okay,” I said, feeling a little desperate. “But wait, first you've got to see my new move. Double axel.”

“Really?” He turned back to me, looking impressed. “I had no idea you'd been practicing that, Lexi.”

The truth was, I hadn't. I'd only seen skaters do it on TV. But what did I have to lose? I could do a single axel in my sleep. If I pulled off a double on my first try, yay me. If not and I wiped out, Cam would have to rush to my aid. Right? With any luck I'd be injured and he'd be stuck nursing me while the others rushed to call 911. . . .

I was so lost in that wacked-out little fantasy that it took me a moment to notice that he was sort of drifting back in the direction of the others. It was now or never.

“Here I go!” I sang out, not stopping to think about what I was about to attempt. At least if I broke both my arms and legs, my college applications were already finished.

I pushed off, picking up speed quickly, aiming toward a broad patch of smooth ice toward the north end of the inlet. Faster. Faster. I raised one leg and got into position. My heart pounded as the sane part of my brain screamed at me to stop. The uninhabited wooded shoreline over there was getting closer, and I had to go soon or else give up and turn back.

Thinking of Cam, I went. I might have
closed my eyes for a second. Then I pushed off—and spun. Once around. Twice. A second later I felt the blade of my landing skate connect cleanly with the ice. I'd done it!

“Whoa!” I heard Bruce call out from over near the shore. “Did you guys see that? That was amazing, Lexi!”

But I didn't care what
he
thought of it. I glanced back toward Cam. He was smiling. But then his expression switched over to one of alarm.

“Lexi, look out!” he called. “You're heading straight for the—”

SPLASH!

The ice collapsed beneath me.
“Aaaah!”
I screeched as I sank into freezing-cold water up almost to my thighs.

It was only then that I recognized my mistake. The spring. We'd all had it pounded into us since we were kids:
Don't skate too close to the spring.
The water there bubbled up from underground, constantly moving, and therefore it was the only part of the inlet that never fully froze, even in the coldest depths of February.

And what had I done? I'd skated right into it. Brilliant. It was a good thing old Mrs. Simpson hadn't been there to witness
my stupidity, or that Simpson Scholarship would have been Andrew's for sure.

Luckily the water isn't very deep that close to shore. By the time my friends reached me, I had clambered my way onto dry—well, make that
snowy
—land with soaked legs, chattering teeth, and bruised ego.

“Lexi, what were you thinking?” Allie exclaimed. “You know better than to get so close to the spring!”

Jaylene arrived only a moment after the others, so her lessons must have been working. “What happened?” she cried. “Oh mah gosh—skating outside is so
dangerous
!”

The cold was seeping into my bones, giving me an overall feeling of numb pessimism. I expected Cam to rush over and give Jaylene a detailed topographical lecture on Lake Claus. But instead he shrugged off his ski jacket and draped it around me.

“Come on,” he said. “We've got to get you dried off.”

Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. “Stick her in my car,” he said, tossing the keys to Cam. “It has the best heater. Also, I think there's a pair of sweats in the back.”

Cam caught the keys and put an arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Lexi.”

My teeth were still chattering, which was probably a good thing. Otherwise I probably would have been grinning like a fool. I shot Allie a quick, triumphant look.