Page 89 of Wilder

“You did?” Her smile grew. “That’s nice of you.”

Wilder walked along the boards toward the entrance as she skated on the ice. “Figured you might like some Thanksgiving dinner. We had atonof food.”

When they reached the entrance to the ice, she retrieved her guards. Together, they walked to the office, where Lexi dropped down into her seat.

“Oh, that feels good.”

“Is there a microwave here?” Wilder asked as he lifted the plates out of the bag.

“Yeah. Behind the counter at the café.” She gestured to the plates. “Didn’t you have dinner already?”

“I sure did,” he said as he lifted the plate with the food that needed to be reheated. “This is all for you.”

She gave a huff of laughter. “I think not.”

“You can always eat more of it tomorrow.” Heading for the door, he said, “I’ll be right back.”

Luke smiled as he took the plate into the small kitchen behind the counter. When he returned a couple of minutes later, he carried the plate of warmed up food.

“Smells good,” he said as he handed it over to Wilder, along with a fork and knife.

“Sorry I didn’t bring some for you.”

“No worries. My mom and grandma cook up a storm, so I’ll be eating plenty on Saturday.”

Taking the plate back to the office, Wilder spotted Lexi bent over with her head on her arms. He paused, not wanting to disturb her if she needed some rest.

Lexi straightened before Wilder could decide what to do. Walking to the desk, he said, “Do you want to take a nap?”

“I’m fine. Just glad to be off my feet.”

Wilder set the plate down in front of her, along with the silverware, then uncovered the plate with the salad. “Do you want a water?”

She picked up her water bottle, then frowned. “You don’t have to get that for me.”

“I don’t mind.” He pointed at the plate. “Now eat.”

It only took him a minute to return with a bottle of water for Lexi. She looked up as he set the water down on the desk.

“This is amazing.”

Wilder grinned as he sat down across from her. “What, in particular, are you referring to?”

“All of it.”

“My mom, Charli, Kayleigh, and Denise prepared most of it, I think.”

“Seems like you have several people in your family who are great cooks,” Lexi said. “I don’t think I could ever produce something like this.”

“I’m sure if you wanted to, you’d figure out how.”

“I can only make a handful of extremely simple dishes, and none of them are healthy, which is why I’m glad I managed to line up someone to do meal prep for me.”

“Did you? That’s great.”

In between bites, she told him how she’d found someone online, then had a conversation with her. She’d had all the nutritional information from her previous training, so she’d passed that onto the woman.

“Are you sure you’re not burning the candle at both ends?” Wilder said. “You have a crazy schedule.”

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