Page 159 of Ice Mechanic

But…

I trust him.

The gala last week proved that he can control himself and not jump on every woman he’s attracted to, even if that woman is me.

Of course, I’m not delusional. I’m aware there will besomedrawbacks to competing with hockey for Chance’s attention, butI decide not to let Corinth’s harsh prediction get in my head. I’ll simply enjoy being with someone who cares about me and who I care equally for.

The weekend rolls around again and Chance asks if I can clear my schedule to help him look at properties.

May knocks on my room door while I’m getting ready. She pouts, “Are you sure you don’t want me to film you today? This will makesuchgreat content for your channel.”

“Chance and I arereallytogether now,” I say, tying the lacings on my fresh white sneakers. They’re the only white items I own and are exclusively for special occasions, like on dates with Chance. “We don’t need to film everything about us anymore. I don’t like sharing too much either.”

The town provides enough candid pictures of me going grocery shopping or working in the garage to satisfy the fans.

At first, the secret picture taking was mildly annoying, but now it’s just plain scary the way our privacy is infringed upon.

Two days ago, someone took a picture of Chance, dad and I at the nursing home. They uploaded it and the picture immediately started trending.

Chance got the picture taken down quickly but, on the internet, nothing ever disappears.

“The poor ChApril fans arestarved, April.” My sister drapes across my bed in a dramatic fashion. Her long hair brushes the ground. “Starved.”

“I’m a mechanic, not a social media influencer. I don’t live my life for the ChApril fans.” I walk over to the writing desk where I keep my beginner friendly makeup items. Since I don’t have anywhere to store the makeup and brushes, I keep them in a little mug on my desk.

“The garage is doing better now, so we don’t need everyone’s attention. We just need the attention of those who want their cars fixed.”

“You’re no fun,” May whines.

There’s a knock on the front door.

“I’m not ready yet!” I panic, whirling back to the mirror with my eyeliner pencil in hand.

Despite my precision when working on cars, it freaks me out to have a pencil that close to my eye and I keep having to wipe away the scraggly lines and re-do them.

“I’ll get it.” May pulls herself up and sends me a cheeky grin. “The great thing about you dating Chance is that whenever he brings something for you, he always brings something for me too.”

“That’s because you harass him,” I scold, giving up on the eyeliner. It’s not like Chance likes me for my makeup skills anyway.

“It’s not harassment. It’s a mutual exchange. Chance understands the brother-in-law assignment.”

I reach for something to throw at my sister, but she’s already laughing and dancing out of the room.

Hurrying through the rest of my routine, I head to the living room.

Chance is sitting in our sofa, which is average-sized, but he’s so big that he makes the couch look like a child’s. I do a quick once-over. He looks scrumptious in a white button down and loose cream-colored trousers. I have a hate-hate relationship with colors that are easily soiled, but Chance seems to love them.

“Hey,” he says, lighting up at the sight of me.

“Hey.”

“I have something for you.”

I squeal when Chance presents a book on the history of driver-less cars. “I love it! Thank you!”

“You should have brought her flowers too,” May says, lifting a small bouquet of wildflowers. “If you keep bringing her books instead, you’re going to run out of books eventually.”

“I’ll get creative when that time comes,” Chance says, his eyes never leaving mine. “You look amazing, April.”

---