Maybe it was time he went on a date. There were some available women in Cooper’s Hawk. For instance, Penny Castle had invited him over for dinner a few times. She’d even stopped over at the house one day and brought him cupcakes. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he didn’t much care for cake.
Turning the horse to start back, his gaze naturally fell on the words engraved on the side of the big oak tree. Mindy + Creed wrapped in a heart. He’d done a lot of things back then that he couldn’t see himself doing now.
Chapter Three
THERE WAS A big difference between perception and reality in figure skating. People believed it was an easy sport, but what Mindy had learned over the years, after lots of blood, sweat and tears were left on the ice, competitive skating required a fearlessness—both mentally and physically—that a lot of people didn’t have.
In her younger years she’d learned triple loops without a care in the world. In her twenties, she’d understood the bravery behind tossing herself into the air and landing perfectly on her skates because if she didn’t she would seriously injure herself. She could be off the ice for weeks or months, or worse, she could do permanent damage and she’d have to hang up her skates. She’d had a few scary scrapes with injuries but had been lucky, if one could call it luck.
There was an expiration date on the sport and now, in her late thirties, she understood how unbelievably insane it was to still get out on the ice and take risks, but just like being in love, a person must take chances or lose everything.
Throwing herself thoughtlessly into the air and hoping for the best didn’t feel the same at thirty-seven that it did at twelve. The moves became harder and her bones resisted, especially those parts of her like her ankles and knees that had paid the price of hitting the ice.
But there was a lioness within Mindy that kept her from giving up what she loved, what made her happy.
Listening to the blades of her skates slide against the ice was music to her ears. Her body moved from muscle memory. She closed her eyes and counted the steps in her head. Opening them, she jumped into a single loop, came down steady on her skates to hear clapping off to the side.
“Bravo! Bravo!”
Her old coach and owner of the rink, Isabella, waved from the sidelines.
“I didn’t know I had an audience.” Mindy felt her cheeks warm. She hadn’t skated in front of anyone, outside of her students, in years.
“You deserve one, my dear.” Isabella was still as beautiful as ever. Her long, silver streaked hair was pulled back into a severe bun, showing off high cheekbones, olive complexion with only a trace of wrinkles. At five eight, she had a thin, athletic body and the leotard and skater’s skirt complimented how shapely she still was at sixty.
“You’re only being nice.” Mindy opened the gate and walked in to sit down on the bench.
“I’m being truthful. Have you ever known me to be dishonest? You were my best student.” Isabella sat down on the other end of the bench. Skaters came from all over Montana, and sometimes beyond, to have lessons with the Olympic medalist.
“You were the best coach. This place brings back so many memories.” Mindy felt refreshed, better than she’d felt in a long time. “I’m so glad to see that you’re still here too.”
“What else would I do?” Although she wore a smile, Mindy could see the concern in Isabella’s soft grey eyes. “How long are you staying in Cooper’s Hawk?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Watching you out on the ice, like the little girl who showed up here with such a strong attitude and full of determination, I too was taken back to a different time,” she said with an accent from her German roots. She’d moved to Cooper’s Hawk with her American husband when she was nineteen who she’d met during the Olympics.
“I love this place. I haven’t been on the ice in months.” She untied the strings of her worn skates and slipped out of them.
“That’s a tragedy, my dear. People like you and me, we belong here.” She clapped her hands together, much like she did when Mindy was younger and she’d made a mistake. “I have a proposition for you.”
Putting on her flats, Mindy also grabbed her jacket and shrugged into it, covering her black leotard. “A proposition?”
“Come help here at the rink as a coach. I don’t skate like I once did, not since the knee surgery a few years back. You would be perfect.”
Mindy hadn’t considered getting a job while in Cooper’s Hawk. She’d planned on working on the ranch, but the offer was very tempting. “Do you have any students right now?”
“Five, but I know with you here there would be more.”
“And the schedule would be flexible?”
“Sure. As much as you like, dear. We could discuss it later in more detail?”
Why wasn’t Mindy jumping at the opportunity? She felt more alive on the ice than anywhere. “Let’s do that. I’d love to coach.”
“Great!” the older woman’s eyes twinkled. “When did you get back?”
“A few days ago. I’ve been sticking around the house, reacclimating myself to ranch life. Working with the horses.”
“How’s your father doing? We used to run into each other often. Since Benny passed Rusty no longer comes to visit.” Ben was Isabella’s husband. When Mindy had heard the news of his passing she’d called and had spoken to Isabella. What she and Ben had shared had truly been a love story. The sadness remained in Isabella’s gaze.
“Since Daddy’s heart attack he’s been different. I know it takes time to recover, but he
