Page 67 of One Last Run

Maggie had a point, but it made Pete feel restless. "You're the one who thought this was all a good idea in the first place." Pete crossed her arms with indignation.

"Yeah, because you're good together. To be honest, I thought if she realized how happy she was with you, she might finally leave Eddie. That guy was such a wet blanket." Maggie sighed, digging her thumb into her temple. "And then when we found out that she and Eddie had already broken up... You two were already pretty cozy, and she seemed excited about it. She seemed like the old Danica, you know? So, I encouraged her, too."

Izzy sighed. "You're all such meddling teenagers."

"Oh, I don't want to hear it, Ms. I-Kissed-Kiera-Once-And-Still-Stare-At-Her-Longingly-When-I-Think-No-One-Is-Watching."

Izzy's cheeks flushed. "I do not."

Pete's mouth dropped open in surprise as she turned to look at Izzy. "Are you in love with Kiera?"

"No," Izzy's eyes were wide as saucers. "I'm not."

Both Pete and Maggie stared at her and Pete could see how uncomfortable she was growing under their intense scrutiny.

"She'smarried," Izzy said.

"Her husband is cheating on her," Maggie said with a hint of boredom.

Pete nearly leapt off the couch, but Izzy froze. "He is?" Izzy asked, her voice strained.

"Yeah, and she's still staying with him for some reason," Maggie said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's so weird to me. Who would do that to themselves?"

"That's so sad," Pete commented, aware her words didn't fully capture the complexity.

Izzy tapped her fingers on the wine bottle, which they had continued to pass around. "No wonder she got so upset thinking that Danica was cheating on Eddie. She knows how it feels." Like a narrator of a Greek tragedy, her voice dripped with sorrow as she described the event, making no effort to explain their friend's despicable act.

Maggie sat up straighter, pulling a bag of candy out of her hoodie pocket. "Hey, I forgot I put these in here," she said, holding up a bag of weed gummies. "Should we get high and order Taco Bell for delivery?"

"Fuck yes," a voice chimed in from the other side of the living room, and Pete turned with surprise to find Danica standing in her pajamas, her hair tied up in a bun. A few pieces had fallen around the nape of her neck and her face, curled from the steam of the bath.

A nervous flutter filled Pete's stomach as she saw Danica. Danica’s tear-stained face, though heartbreaking, only amplified her inherent loveliness. She watched as Danica sat on the floor near the coffee table and inspected the bag thoroughly, then grabbed out a handful of gummies and popped them in her mouth.

"Oh my god, Wendell! You don't even know how strong they are," Pete said with surprise, taking one.

Danica looked at her like she was being ridiculous. "Come on. They're basically just candy; how strong can they be?"

CHAPTER 21

DANICA

"This isthe best thing I've ever tasted," Danica heard herself say as she crunched on the freshly fallen snow she held in the palm of her mitten.

"Better than a Baja Blast?" Maggie asked beside her as she shivered in the cold.

The four of them stood out on the deck, their breath fogging the air around them as they admired the view of Mountain Village at night. The resort was lit up only by the snowcats grooming the trails late in the evening. Snow had begun falling steadily as they'd started in on their Taco Bell feast, and now, two hours later, a fresh inch coated the world. The night smelled crisp and cold, with a hint of firewood smoke, and she wanted to bottle the moment to keep forever, delicious snow and all. Every sensation felt magnified, like the world was in syrupy slow-motion and hyper-color.

"I'd spend so much money to have a Baja Blast snow cone," Danica said, her mouth watering at the thought. “Why didn’t I save any of my drink? I just chugged it and now it’s gone.” Herdespair felt oddly heightened. She'd eaten the handful of weed gummies earlier, desperate to drown out the pain of what Kiera had said to her during their fight. Kiera's actions — the lies, the deception, her harsh, unresolved exit — left a bitter taste in her mouth, a sense of injustice and hurt.

What she'd lacked in foresight about her THC tolerance, she made up for in the very, very good mood she was in now. The few times she'd smoked weed back in college, she'd been too anxious to enjoy herself, but now she felt mellow and loose andwow, snow was the most delicious thing in the world. She liked the way it crunched in her mouth, melting on her tongue.

"How much snow can she eat before hyponatremia sets in?" Izzy asked beside her. “Does it help or hurt that she ate three Crunchwraps?”

Danica considered the thought, staring down at the snow in her hand. "Whoa, you guys. I just remembered that snow is frozen water."

Pete snorted in amusement, putting an arm around her waist to hold her steady. "Let's take a break on snow snacks for now, Wendell."

"Let's take a break from being outside. It's fucking freezing," Maggie said, and Izzy agreed.

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