Page 7 of Frozen Play

“I packed mine. This one is all yours.”

She eyed it for a moment before taking it. “Uh, thanks.”

I considered asking what her problem was but decided to wait till we’d eaten. Because suddenly I was starving.

Chapter 5

This isn’t my place

Skye

I wasn’tsure what exactly I’d expected Phin to pull out of his bags. Maybe caviar? Quail’s eggs? Lobster rolls? But what he grabbed was a couple of sandwiches, a thermos with reasonably warm soup, and some apples and oranges. Everything looked good, but after our interactions with his family, I didn’t want to assume anything.

“You only brought food for you though. Maybe I should eat some of the canned stuff and replace it after.”

He met my gaze. “You’re stuck here because you came to help me. You’re not replacing anything. And I brought lots. If we run out, I’ll buy more in town. Or if we can’t get out, I’ll grab some rocks to get into the cans.”

He flexed his arms, and yeah, the man was built. I forced my mind away from imagining what those arms would look like if they weren’t covered up with layers of clothing.

We each settled on one of the couches in the big room. The fireplace cast enough light in front of it for us to see each other, but the rest of the room was in dark shadows. Kind of spooky. Ishuffled a little closer to the fireplace before I took one sandwich and an apple. He went to the kitchen with his flashlight and came back with a couple of spoons and bowls. Carefully pouring out the soup, he passed me a bowl. I wanted to say no, but there was still heat in the soup and it felt good just to hold it. I had my gloves off as the room got a few degrees warmer, but the soup would help heat me up from the inside.

“Instead of mutilating what could be our last food source, it might be easier to search for a can opener in the daylight.”

He dropped his head back. “What do you want to bet there’s an electric can opener in a cupboard and that’s all they’ve got?”

I wasn’t sure why he saidthey, instead ofwe. I opened up the wrapper on the sandwich, now that I’d finished the excellent soup. The bread was crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, with turkey and a pile of vegetables. If it was as good as the soup, I was going to be a happy woman.

“So there’s no genny here for power outages?” It wasn’t completely unheard of for a summer thunderstorm to bring down the power lines.

He looked around the room, as if a generator might suddenly appear behind a couch. “I have no idea.”

Had he really become a guy who paid people to do everything for him? “You know, it wouldn’t hurt to know a bit about your property for when something goes wrong and there aren’t any employees around to take care of it.”

His brows lowered. “This isn’t my place.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve only been here maybe three times.”

I stopped chewing. “This year?”

He shook his head. “Ever.”

What the…“Why?”

He looked around with a frown. “I loved the cottage when we were kids. When we came to an actual fucking cottage. This—this is Lina’s place. Not mine.”

His face was partially shadowed, but he sounded sincere.

“Really? Your family is here a lot in the summer.”

His jaw clenched. “Has anyone seen me?”

I bit into the apple. Because of the way we’d lost our cottage, I both hated hearing about the Collinses, and wanted to know, kind of like picking at a scab. Depending on which way I was teeter-tottering, I might have missed something. I shrugged, since I didn’t have an answer.

“Okay then, answer this. Why did your family sell your cottage?”

Just like the first time he asked, I reacted with a jerk. This time, instead of spinning a tow truck into a hydro pole, I flung my apple and almost hit his head.

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