Page 35 of Holiday on the Rocks
“Langley—”
“Everything is done.”
“I hear ya honey, and I guess it’s your lie to believe then. I just?—”
She let a sarcastic laugh fly. “Please hold while I connect you with someone who gives a shit.”
She skated to the bench, pulled off her skates, put on her boots, and tossed her skates in the box before heading up the hill toward the house.
She needed space. I’d just stay out here for a bit. It was warm for December so I’d just chill and try to not think about her. I walked across the ice realizing a little time was needed. That plan was shot to hell when the ice beneath my feet cracked.
FIFTEEN
ALLIE
THIS IS DONE
As I walked up the hill I decided if I stayed in my bedroom until everyone else arrived, I’d be able to control myself as the storage closet incident was playing on a loop in my noggin. Because I didn’t like that I liked thinking of the low groan that rumbled through him when my fingers touched his skin.
And the phone calls. Clearly, he’s meeting up with some chick at 7:00 to do something when he goes home.
Yes, I’d focus on the staying-in-my-room plan. The staying-away-from-the-hot-one plan. Then my mind grew exceptionally quiet. I was suddenly suspicious that I was up to something I didn’t want me to know about. Whoever is in charge of making sure I don’t do stupid shit is fired.
After hiking up the hill that was steeper than I remembered when going down, I reached the deck and looked over my shoulder to see Levi was gone. I glanced to the forest, but he wasn’t in sight. Maybe he went for a walk and would just keep on walking. I needed to learn to love the sound of my feet walking away from things that aren’t good for me because those kisses could take me out altogether.
Suddenly the world around me faded away as I saw Levi’s shoulders and head come up from the ice and then disappear again; the ice had broken. A cold wave washed over me as I kicked into gear and ran back toward the lake.
“I’m coming!”
I ran down the hill and grabbed the toboggan Levi had sled down on before my legs sprinted across the ice and toward him as his head and shoulders appeared again.
“Levi!”
As I approached, he grabbed onto the ice around him trying to pull his body out. “Stop right there!” His teeth were chattering and the fear in his eyes squeezed my heart so hard I was dizzy. “Everything I’m grabbing is breaking. Stay back!”
“I’m going to slide the sled to you. I’ll hold the rope, you climb on in the water, and I’ll pull you out.”
His body went back into the water except for his head. “Lookey here, does Langley have a side-hustle as a superhero?”
“Bet your ass I do. I’ll be damned if you’re going die here on the ice.” I dropped to my knees and pushed the sled across toward him. “I have plans for that later.”
He chuckled. “Going out in a blaze of glory, am I?”
I lay on my stomach realizing that was the only way I could keep hold of the rope tied to the toboggan. Fear was crushing me as I looked at the face that tore at every one of my senses. “I felt a spree coming on this morning. I wasn’t sure if it was shopping or killing at the time, so I came up with a few options for both.”
He grabbed the sled. “I think the ice will break, I don’t want you to?—”
I forced a smile as a tear rolled down my cheek. “We’ve got this.”
He set the sled on the edge of the ice as his teeth were chattering harder. “Allie, please don’t cry.”
I wiped my face with the back of my hand. “Big girls don’t cry. They pop a couple of Xanax, wash it down with vodka, and set your car on fire. Now let’s get this show on the road so I can partake in all of those.”
His hands rested on the sled.
“Hold on!”
I got to my feet and slowly pulled the heavy sled, but with every inch I pulled, the ice around the sled broke and Levi remained in the water.
