Page 26 of Hearts on Ice
No, she would pay, as a thank you for his help, and she’d figure out the rest later. She was learning more and more to swallow her pride. She’d had to digest a huge chunk of it when she asked Archie if she could stay in his house. At least he wasn’t asking her to pay rent yet, which was a surprise. But if she wasn’t out of the house by the time ski season started, she was pretty sure he was going to make her pay.
“Colby Martin!”
The shrill voice made her jump and she pasted on an automatic smile as she turned to face the teenaged fan who rushed the table.
“I’m sorry to bother you but can I get a selfie?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Colby hadn’t really been prepared to go out in public. She took a little time to get ready in the morning, because she didn’t want Declan to think she’d turned into a hag. But she was not internet ready.
“Oh, please?”
She held up a hand. “I’ve been skating this morning, all my makeup is gone.”
“You’re still beautiful,” the fan said. “Please? No one will believe me.”
“I can sign an autograph,” she said, not daring to look at Declan.
The young woman pouted. “Not the same. Please?”
“Sorry,” Declan interjected. “Maybe another time.”
The young woman narrowed her eyes at him, then widened them. “Declan O’Hare! Are the two of you back together? Are you skating together again? Oh my God, that would be the greatest. I remember watching the two of you when I was just a kid, and thinking how romantic you were.” She turned back to look at Colby. “Are you back in Colorado to stay?”
The young woman was not keeping her voice down, and other heads at the crowded diner were turning. Colby had not foreseen this. She’d dealt with it in California, but not in Colorado so far. But she hadn’t gone out in public much since she’d been back.
Well, hell, she may as well have done the selfie, because now camera phones were out everywhere, and she had no control of what they were photographing, or where they would post the photos. She cast a panicked glance at Declan to see how he was handling the sudden chaos.
He was returning his wallet to his back pocket as he dropped a couple of bills on the table. He took his sandwich in one hand and reached his other in Colby’s direction. She looked at his hand a moment, remembering the urge to take it earlier. Now he intended for her to take it, so she did, and let him pull her from the booth and toward the door.
She felt a laugh bubble in her throat as he quick-walked her out to his truck, and she had trouble getting her feet under her. He apparently realized he was holding her hand and released it within a few feet of his truck, and urged her to go around to the passenger side. She didn’t hesitate, flung herself into the unlocked door and buckled in as he started the engine. She looked back toward the diner and saw people lined up along the window with their phones aimed at them.
“Well,” she said, drawing a deep breath, but the giggle popped out anyway. “I guess that will take over the video of Tristan barfing on me.”
He pulled the truck out of the parking lot and into traffic with a grunt. “Terrific.”
“Thank you for getting me out of there.”
He looked across the cab at her. “Does that happen often?”
“Not so much lately.”
“Just lucky it happened to be with me.”
She looked over at him. “I didn’t plan it. You invited me, remember?”
He blew out a breath. Surely he didn’t think she was that manipulative. But maybe he did. She’d pulled stuff like this before, to keep them in the public eye.
To keep herself in the public eye.
“I didn’t do this.”
He nodded. “Well, it’s done. We’re going to have to figure out how to deal with it.
“Maybe it won’t be so bad. I’ve been out of the news for a while. It won’t be that big of a deal. Maybe show up on some social media. It’ll be over in a couple of days.”
“Maybe,” he said, his tone doubtful. “Where do you want to go?”
“I guess you could drop me at the mechanic.”
