Page 74 of Ice Darling
As soon as my daughter’s finished with her ice cream, she asks permission to play on the slide with the other kids.
I’m left alone with Cordelia.
I lean back in my chair, noticing how stiff she’s gotten now that Gordie can no longer be a buffer between us.
“Are you still mad I took you to the hospital?” I ask.
She stares straight ahead. “You mean ‘dragged’ me to the hospital?”
I accept the berating. Something inside my brain snapped when I saw her injured, and I understand how grabbing her and swinging her into my arms could have been annoying.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
She glances over at me, her eyebrows raised.
“I acted without thinking. Actually”—I scrub my chin, which is already getting prickly from my beard filling in—“Iwasthinking. You’re Gordie’s lifeline. I can’t let anything happen to you.”
Her eyes widen, and she looks away. “You overreacted.”
“In my eyes…” I wait for her to meet my gaze again. “Protecting you is protecting my daughter.”
“I…” Cordelia’s attention slices back to the playground where Gordie is running around. “How am I supposed to respond to that?”
I shrug. That was a simple statement of fact. I wasn’t looking for her permission or approval.
We sit in silence for a minute.
My eyes dip to her hand. “Do you get hurt on the job a lot?”
“No. I was rushing, that’s all.”
“Why the rush? Something good happening later?”
Her expression pinches in a strange way. “Nope.”
Intrigued, I lean forward. “Is your mom back in town already?”
“Surprisingly, it’s even worse than my mom.”
“Worse?”
“I’m meeting a…” She stops herself and glances at me with a hint of uncertainty. “A friend.”
Alarm bells start ringing.
But it’s none of my business. And I really don’t care who…
“What kind of friend?” I blurt.
She rolls her eyes. “One I knew from my old life.”
That told me absolutely nothing. Which is fine. She owes me nothing. I’m only in her orbit because of Gordie, and she’s only tolerating me because of her mom. We have a clear-cut and professional relationship…
“Male or female?” I ask again.
She takes up her napkin and wipes her hands. “I haven’t eaten ice cream in so long, I forgot how sticky it is.”
I reach into my bag and grab a bottle of hand sanitizer. Pushing it over to her, I frown, “Cordelia.”
