Page 56 of Icebound Hearts

“My ex.”

Her eyes widen, and I step aside to take the call, not wanting to interrupt the fun. My conversations with my ex these days are usually tense at best, and I don’t expect this one to be any different.

“Hi, Miriam,” I say after swiping across the screen to answer.

“I need to borrow some money,” she says bluntly. No pleasantries, no greeting.

“Why?” I ask, trying to keep my voice calm despite the irritation prickling under my skin.

I paid Miriam alimony for a couple of years after the divorce, and she’s got a good job—but despite all of that, this isn’t the first time she’s called me asking for more. And calling it a loan is somewhat laughable, since she’s never once paid me back.

“It’s for a business opportunity,” she tells me, and I scrub a hand over my face.

This isn’t anything new either. She’s invested in or started up more failed businesses than I can count, mainly because she starts with grandiose ideas and then gets frustrated and bails out the moment things get even a little hard.

A lot like the way she handled our marriage, I guess.

“Miriam, no,” I tell her, my voice quiet and clipped. “I’m not doing that again. I told you.”

She starts to respond, but before she can, the sound of Jake and Violet laughing together about something fills the kitchen. Miriam must be able to hear it through the phone, because she makes an irritated sound, clicking her tongue against her teeth.

“You have a woman over? At this time of the morning?” she asks, sounding testy—which is hypocritical as fuck, considering we’ve been divorced for years, and she cheated on me for months while we were still married.

“That’s the nanny,” I murmur, turning away and lowering my voice even more. “I needed some extra help, since you have no interest in helping raise our son.”

Jake doesn’t hear me, still happily absorbed in making breakfast, but I catch a flash of movement as Violet looks over at me, sympathy and concern reflecting in her large hazel eyes.

She huffs a breath. “He’s doing just fine, Sawyer. He doesn’t need me.”

Of course he fucking doesn’t, I think, clenching the phone in a hard grip.I’ve done everything in my power to make sure he's happy and healthy and okay. But he craves a mother figure, and that’s something I can’t give him.

“Right,” I say tightly. “Well then, I guess this conversation is over.”

“Wait! What about the loan? This is an amazing opportunity for me, and I?—”

“I already told you. The answer is no.”

She hisses out an angry sigh, then inhales as if she’s about to say something else—but she must change her mind, because she just hangs up instead. The phone goes quiet, and I stand where I am, closing my eyes for a moment as I wrestle my emotions back under control.

“Everything okay?” Violet asks softly, and I open my eyes and glance over at her.

There’s a tiny line between her eyebrows and a hint of worry in her eyes. She also has a little smudge of flour on her cheek, and although it probably shouldn’t, just the sight of her eases the knot in my chest a bit.

“Yeah,” I say, stepping back over to where she and Jake are finishing up the pancakes. It feels like stepping into a little bubble of warmth. “Everything is fine.”

The look of concern doesn’t quite leave her eyes, but she nods, reaching out to squeeze my forearm in a gesture of support.

We all sit down to eat breakfast together, and Violet glances over at Jake. “Are you excited about going to see your dad’s practice today?”

He bobs in his seat, nodding emphatically. “Yeah! We get to go out on the ice with you, right, Daddy?”

His entire class is taking a field trip to the arena today, where they’ll get to watch us practice and then spend a bit of time learning more about hockey and the players, even getting a chance to come out on the ice. Violet surprised me by offering to help chaperone the trip, which is really sweet, considering she could have that time to herself instead. It’s just another sign of how invested she is in Jake’s life.

“Yup,” I promise him. “But only if you’re good while we practice.”

“I think we can handle that part, can’t we, Jake?” Violet asks him, and he giggles and nods at her.

I love how well they’re bonding. Violet hasn’t been here long, but it feels like she and Jake have known each other for years already. I shouldn’t be thinking about this, but the moment makes me wonder how Jake’s going to handle it when Violet inevitably has to leave for California.

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