Page 43 of Lost on Ice
I shrug. “Eight younger siblings, remember?”
Growing up, I did my best not to be the burden my stepdad, Kevin, thought I was, so I jumped into helping with my younger half-siblings without complaint. It didn’t make Kevin think any better of me, but I did enjoy taking care of my brothers and sisters, and when they were young, I actually got a taste of the unconditional familial love I always wanted. That didn’t really last, though, as they got older and fell under Kevin’s influence. It was all made worse by the fact that mom never treated me like anything more than a mistake. An inconvenient reminder of her life prior to being “happily married with kids.”
“Fanks, Jake,” Lilah chirps, picking up a piece of pancake.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” I say, unable to stop the smile that pulls at the corner of my mouth.
Abbie busies herself preparing her own plate, dropping her eyes from me, but I catch the way her jaw tightens when I say that. I don’t know if she’s annoyed or something else.
Finally, she looks up and meets my gaze. “So, you staying here—was that just some overprotective, impulsive thing you said last night? Or did you actually mean it?”
I blink. “I meant it. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”
“You didn’t even hesitate.”
“Yeah, well,” I say, “you said you were dealing with a stalker. Alone. Forgive me for not loving that idea.”
“I didn’t say I was alone. I said I was handling it.”
I raise a brow. “Same difference when no one else knows it’s happening.”
She huffs, frustrated. “I didn’t want anyone else getting dragged into it.”
“That’s how people get hurt, Abbie,” I say. “You can’t keep shit like that to yourself.”
That earns me a glare. “Hey, word choice!”
I smile at this. “Sorry.”Right, right, can’t say ‘shit’ with the kid here.“Still, you can’t keep people at arms length. It impactsthem as much as it impacts you. And obviously it isn’t working for you.”
She grits her teeth at this, but holds in the furious response she clearly wants to have. Instead, she mutters, “I’m just being practical.” She pauses, looks away, then continues. “You think you can come into my life and just fix things, but that’s not your responsibility.”
Anger pulses through me. Is she really complaining that I want to help her?
Sucking in a breath, I try to calm myself down and see things from her perspective. She’s been on her own with Lilah for so long, and now I’m just invading her space and her life… even if it is to help her, I can’t confuse help with control.
I run a hand through my hair, exhaling. “Look, I didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“No?” she says, voice low. “Then why does it feel like you’re picking one?”
“I don’t mean it to seem that way.”
She sighs and shakes her head. “Whatever. Ugh! It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be snapping at you like this. This whole thing is just stressful.”
I nod. “I can’t imagine what this has been like for you. I really just want to help, Abbie. That’s it. I swear.”
She regards me before dropping her gaze and begrudgingly replying, “Yeah, I know. We’ll figure this out. Hopefully the cops can catch this guy soon and this will all be over.”
So eager to get rid of me, but as I look between her and Lilah, who’s munching happily on her breakfast, I don’t think I’ll be able to just walk away from them so easily. Not now that I’ve stepped up to protect them, all but staking my claim.
“What are you going to do about hockey?” she asks. “You’re really going to drive back and forth from here to Boston?”
I shrug. “Carter did it. It’s not that far.”
“Seems super inconvenient.”
I arch a brow. “I don’t mind.”
That’s not entirely true, though it’s not because I mind the drive. I hate the idea of leaving her alone, even for a short amount of time.
