Mark shook his head and laughed.
“You were sexy and dorky out there,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with that.”
He took her hand. “It means you’re supposed to do me when we get home.”
Cadence laughed hard.
“I’m sorry I ruined your skate lesson. I don’t think they’re gonna let me back on the floor today.”
“I have a feeling that happened a lot when you were younger,” Cadence said, letting him lead her to a bench.
“Uh, yeah,” Mark replied. He pulled off his shoes.
“Expensive to only go around the rink a handful of times,” she pointed out.
“I know. But my dad was just as bad, if not worse. We were banned for a month or so.”
Cadence giggled. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
“So we skated around the neighborhood instead until we got in trouble with the homeowners association.” He looked around the rink and sighed. “God, I miss my dad.” He scratched the back of his neck and looked at Cadence.
“I miss mine, too,” she said softly. “I mean, I miss the dad I knew before all this happened.”
Mark pulled her leg over his knees and untied her skate.
“Is it my fault?” he whispered.
“What? That my dad disowned me?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Mark, are you serious?”
“You would still have a relationship with your parents had I not come into the picture,” he pointed out.
“You coming into the picture shed light on my tenuous relationship with my parents,” she explained.
“Tenuous. I like that word.”
“I just used it in an English paper. Still fresh in my mind,” Cadence said.
Mark chuckled.
“Look at me,” she demanded.
He pulled her skate off, then looked at her face.
“Do you think for a minute that I feel like it was a big mistake starting a relationship with you?” she asked.
“I hope not.”
“It wasn’t. I know I was meant to be with you. And I don’t care who accepts it and who doesn’t. Fuck ‘em because I love you. And you were given to me. I recognized that from the beginning.”
“And who gave me to you?” he asked.
“God.”
Mark thought for a moment. “You know, you like to credit God for every good thing . . .” He blushed.
Cadence grinned. “You can say you’re a good thing because you are. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Mark squeezed her foot. “I just meant that even when it’s people doing nice things for you, you always credit God.”
“You think he’s not using those people to help me?” She draped her other leg over his knees, and he went to work on her skate.
“I never thought of it that way,” Mark said.
“Well, that’s because you’re angry with God and cut yourself off from him. Doesn’t mean he can’t still use you for his purpose. He uses people all the time who don’t believe in him.”
“Puppets, huh?” Mark asked, sliding off her skate.
“No.”
“Chess pieces?”
Cadence paused then leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“I will never understand your pain,” she whispered. “I don’t think I’m supposed to. But I’m here. Always. And I’ll come skate with you whenever you want.”
Mark tensed.
“And if you need to talk about Andy and your loss, you can. Anytime. If you wanna talk about your dad, I’m here. I may not be able to understand, but I’ll listen. I’ll comfort you. Because I love you, Mark. You were meant to heal my heart last year when I was lonely and lost. I think maybe I’m meant to heal yours, too.”
Mark looked out on the floor as he absent-mindedly rubbed Cadence’s foot.
“You realize I didn’t even make it a full circle around the rink?” she asked.
He chuckled. “Baby steps.”
“Gotcha.”
He turned to her once more. “You ready, Sweet Cheeks?”
She nodded and leaned in for another kiss. It was an innocent roller rink kiss. No tongue. No deep-seated passion. Just a boy-and-girl-on-a-date kiss. He drew back and smiled at her.
“I’ll behave the next time,” he promised.
“Okay,” she replied.
They walked out of the rink leaving their baggage on the waxed floor.
***
“Hey, this sounds familiar,” Cadence said, rounding the corner of the kitchen.
Mark hovered over the record player.
“I should hope so,” he replied, watching the vinyl spin. “One of the best love songs of all time.”
“I know this song,” Cadence said. She thought for a moment. “This is a Killers song!”
“Oh. My. God.”
“What?” she cried. “It is!”
“No, honey. No, it’s not. They covered it. But this is a Dire Straits song,” Mark explained. “Give credit where it’s due, okay?”
“Never heard of them,” Cadence replied, shrugging.
Mark turned around and took Cadence in his arms. He sighed patiently. “Thank God you’re dating me.”
She burst out laughing.
“Wanna slow dance?”
She grinned. “You know I can’t dance.”
“I don’t know about that,” Mark said. “Your Tori Amos interpretive dance was pretty good.”