Page 139 of Ice Darling
“Okay, but that lunch box says you havesomething.” Rebel gestures to the bag. “A man doesn’t cook for a woman he doesn’t care about. Andespeciallynot Renthrow.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing I could confide in my bosses but not knowing where to start. “It’s…complicated.”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it,” April says, patting my shoulder. “But if you really don’t want this, I’m taking your offer. No use wasting a perfectly good meal.”
My bosses’ footsteps fade, and I hear them gushing about how great the food is.
“It’s so pretty!”
“Look! I think there’s potato fritters too!”
“Potato fritters? No! I call dibs!”
Exploding away from the car, I stomp up to them, grab the box away, and screech, “Renthrow and I almost kissed in his bedroom yesterday.”
Rebel had already snagged an egg roll on the end of a fork, but the roll slaps to the ground as she stares at me, slack-jawed.
“I-in his bedroom?” April blinks rapidly.
“I didn’t mean to kiss him. I mean, I did. Sort of. To be fair, he was shirtless, and he has abs? Why does a single dad have such scrumptious abs? Does playing hockey mean youhaveto have a six-pack? It’s ridiculous!”
Rebel blinks. “He was…shirtless?”
“That’s not the point.” I absently grab one of the egg rolls and stuff it into my mouth. Then I freeze. “Whoa. That’sgood.”
April snags the third one, and I feel a twinge of sadness because now there’s only one egg roll left, and in the spirit of fairness, Rebel has to get it. Since she dropped hers earlier.
“You mind rolling that back and starting from the beginning?” Rebel asks.
I offer the last egg roll to her. She shakes her head. “You can have it.”
A more selfless woman would insist on giving it away, but I eagerly munch on the egg roll before she changes her mind. “There’s not much else to the story. I somehow ended up in his bedroom, and we almost kissed, but Gordie knocked on the door, and I kind of flung myself into his closet to hide.”
“Why?” Rebel asks.
“Because Gordie can’t see me with her dad.”
“Why?” April tilts her head.
“Because.”My voice bristles with frustration. I don’t get what they’re not getting. “He and I can’t be together.”
“Why?” Both April and Rebel ask together.
I massage my forehead. “Because dating Renthrow isn’t a casual thing. He has Gordie to protect.”
“You can protect Gordie together. I don’t see the problem,” April says, dipping one of the fritters in the sauce.
Rebel reaches over me to pinch at a piece of bacon. “Is the reason you’re hesitating because of Renthrow or because of Gordie?”
“I love Gordie.”
“Then Renthrow’s the problem,” April deduces. “You just don’t like him in that way.”
“That’s not…exactly the case.”
Rebel scrunches her nose. “Is there another guy? Brennon? Do you like him more?”
“Of course not.”
