Several moments then passed while the ice continued to glow around us like moonlight trapped under glass. Skylar’s fingers were still tangled with mine, small and tense, like she hadn’t decided whether to pull away or hold on tighter.
We stood in silence, just breathing and it felt like the kind of silence that hurt but also healed. Her eyes shimmered under the rink lights, brown flecked with gold, reflecting pieces of the projection still fading behind us.
I didn’t know what to say next. Every word I’d rehearsed for days felt too small to say.
But I had to say something so I just told her the truth.
“I missed you,” I said quietly.
She blinked, startled, like she wasn’t expecting me to sound so broken and sincere. “You don’t get to say that.”
“I know,” I said, voice rough. “But I’m
