Page 81 of Ice Mechanic

“Ghosted means you won’t see them again. April’s right here in town. We have a date tonight.”

He smirks. “You don’t sound so sure.”

I open my mouth to disagree and then realize I don’t have a leg to stand on. April’s been ignoring my texts since I came back and that’s not a good sign.

Reaching for my water bottle, I chug all the contents and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

“I wouldn’t be desperate if she was answering her phone,” I grumble.

Max makes the disgusted sound again.

I shove him.

“Youdoremember thatyou two aren’t real?” Max hisses the last part of the sentence. “Why are you bothering the poor girl?”

“I’m not bothering her.”

“What do you call sending eighteen messages?”

“It was eight.”

“You should have stopped after she didn’t answer the first one. Instead, you stalked her shop?—”

“I brought her food.”

“That’s what all the stalkers say.”

I resist the urge to punch him.

Squeezing the towel until it screams for mercy, I ask, “You really think April’s ignoring me on purpose?”

“Everyone is glued to their phones these days.” Max points out. “In this era of technology, not texting back is a choice.”

I worry my bottom lip.

“Did you do something to offend her?”

“No, nothing.” I scratch my head. “I mean…”

Max leans in. “What?”

I think of that day at the nursing home. Trapping April against the wall. Testing the waters by admitting I like her freckles and her smile.

“Maybe…”

“Maybe?” Max urges.

Did I push too hard?

I close my eyes and think of that pretty flush spreading across her cheeks. Her calloused fingers digging into the wall behind her. Her pretty green eyes sparkling at me.

No, it wasn’t that.

Was it Derek’s stupid comments?

The first thing I did after that day was send April a text apologizing for my agent. But that was a week ago and April assured me that it didn’t bother her. Had she been lying? Was she just bottling up her true irritation all this time?

“What?” Max yells, startling me from my thoughts. “What did you do?”

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