Page 53 of Break the Ice
When she was dying, I used to play it for her and relive the time Elijah danced with me to it. My grandma adored Elijah, and in my heartI’m sure she would love Jayden too. His goofy, bubbly personality and the joy for life he possesses...usually.
Because the last couple of days, he’s been off—too quiet, too mindful of himself.
I don’t like it.
“Earth to Finley!” Christina clicks her fingers in my face. My gaze focuses on her again. “Where did you go?”
“Nowhere. Was thinking is all,” I tell her as we enter the elevator.
“About?”
“My grandma.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” she murmurs above the soft music in the background. Her hand clutches mine tighter with a comforting squeeze. “She would be so proud and so happy for you.”
“I think so. She loved Elijah.” Christina beams at my remark. “I think she’d love Jayden too. Like… you know… the way he is and that he’s into music…”
“Jayden,” she chuffs quietly, biting the inside of her cheek. Her narrowed stare studies me. Her silence is as disconcerting as Jayden’s aloofness lately.
“She would’ve loved him, right?”
Christina nods. She never met my grandma in person, but I used to call Tina a lot when I was looking after her, and before she got too sick to talk, they would speak. Christina would tell her all about LA, give her the lowdown on Elijah and what he was up to.
“Do you?” She asks.
“Do I…?”
“Love seventy-four?”
“No.” I swallow past the sudden swelling in my throat as my reply sets off an unusual churn in my belly. “Of course not. He’s my friend… Elijah’s best friend...no.”
Oh God.
My heart pinballs in my chest, hammering my lungs into my ribs.
No.
“Okay,” she coos with a cocked brow.
Even though I nod, there’s a tight ache pulling from my shoulders to the pit of my stomach. It’s a familiar pang. A yearning that has my mind thinking about the way his skin felt under my touch, the rise and fall of his shaky breaths beneath my fingertips when I took care of him…
“Come on, Amish, time to meet your new girl friends. Warning,Alice can be a bit much at first.” Christina links her arms with mine, leading me out of the elevator to a restaurant with panoramic views.
A grand piano sits in the middle of the room with a string trio. The music is as warm and luxurious as the gilded walnut walls framing the floor-to-ceiling view that brightens the air.
Christina weaves through the maze of diners to a semi-hidden booth where an auburn woman is sitting with her laptop open and steaming teacup next to it.
“Summer Hawthorne, are you working?” Christina chuffs by way of greeting her.
“Do you know how behind I am? The morning sickness is destroying my schedule and—” she pauses. A beaming grin cuts her face as she stands and holds her hand out to me. When I take it, she tugs me closer at the same time as she leans in to kiss one cheek and then the other. “You must be Finley. Christina’s told us so much about you already. It’s nice to put the face to the name… I’m Summer by the way.”
“Where’s Alice?” Christina drops onto the bench seat, shuffling in so I can sit next to her.
“I’ll give you one guess,” Summer smirks.
“Harrison,” Christina mutters.
Summer applauds her reply. “Ding, ding, ding!”
