Page 64 of Hearts on Ice
“I thought I could,” he said, grasping her hand and letting her pull him up.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I hit you pretty hard.” She circled him to dust the grass off his back, his hair, stopping just before dusting off his butt in front of his family.
“Might feel it in the morning, but the ground is softer than the ice.”
She curled her hand around his bicep and drew him away from the bottom of the slide, where the kids were launching themselves over and over.
“It did look kind of fun, though,” he said, reaching around to dust off his own butt.
“Go ahead and go. I will not try to catch you.”
“Nah, I’m probably too old for that.”
She arched a brow at him. “We are the same age.”
He grinned and started toward the deck. “Want something to drink?”
She wanted all the things to drink, to ease the anxiety that was creeping back in as she followed him to face his family.
The day was overcast and breezy, but all the adults were sitting on the deck, so Colby followed Declan. He opened the ice chest close to the house and pulled out a couple of beers, handing one to her.
She didn’t really care for beer, but she took the offering without comment. No empty chairs remained, so she sat on the step, her knees tucked to the side, and Declan lowered himself behind her with a bit of a groan. She glanced around to make sure he was okay, not sore from his fall, and he just offered her a brief, reassuring smile before he lifted the beer to his lips.
The weird thing, she did feel reassured. She let herself lean back into him, just a little, let the conversation flow around her. She was almost…relaxed.
And then…
“What about you, Colby? Have you given up the dream to make it big in Hollywood?”
Declan’s mom’s voice was sharp, and she felt him tense behind her.
“Mom,” he said, but Colby put her hand on his. She could answer that.
“It was more like Hollywood didn’t really care what I had to offer.”
“So you didn’t have a choice. You had to come back here and ask Declan for his help.”
“Mom. We were working with the same pair. She didn’t ask me for anything but a chance to prove she could be good at her job.”
His hand was on her shoulder, and Colby could feel his tension. She moved her hand to his knee to reassure him now.
“I came back to the life I knew.”
“After shutting the door behind you when you left.”
“I made mistakes,” Colby said, trying not to sound defensive. “That’s something Declan and I have been working out. Between us.” She made the last two words very clear
“Declan must be more forgiving than we are.”
“Clearly.”
“Mom, not here.” Declan spoke through his teeth.
“We saw what happened when you left before. You turned your back, you didn’t look back and see the damage you left. We saw, and we remember. We’re not as eager to forgive you.”
Colby pulled herself up straight. “I’m not asking for your forgiveness.”
“If you want to be part of the family again—”
