Page 27 of As You Ice It

Now I’m holding onto several large secrets, and the knowledge makes me distinctly uncomfortable. Her anger feels a lot more justified, taking all of this into account.

An awkward silence descends on the room for a few seconds, and suddenly, the guys are apologizing and making excuses as they shuffle toward the door. Parker hovers, glancing between Naomi and me. I swear, I can smell her getting ideas. Parker is always getting ideas.

Thankfully, whatever she’s cooking up gets interrupted when Liam bounds back into the room, his arm wrapped neatly. “Look, Mom!” he says, waving his arm in her face. “Now you don’t have to see it.”

Naomi still looks slightly woozy, and I bet she’s imagining or maybe even remembering what’s underneath the bandage. She takes a step back and gently guides his arm away from her face. “Um, yes. That’s great. Now we can go.”

“Actually.” Parker steps up, I guess not fully deterred from whatever ideas she has. I wonder if I should stop her, but Parker is somewhat of a bulldozer when she gets excited about something. A cheerful, happy bulldozer. But she’ll plow through you, nonetheless. “I was thinking maybe we could do something nice for Liam after having such a rough morning.”

He frowns. “My morning was awesome. I got stitches! And I got to see cool places like this that no one gets to see in the Summit. And I met some of the Appies.”

Naomi looks far less pleased by each of these things.

“Well, then how would you like a tour of the Summit? Maybe we can even find some signed pucks and merch.” Parker crouches a little until she’s level with Liam’s wide eyes. Lowering her voice, she adds, “Would you like to see the locker room?”

“Yes,” Liam says in a reverent whisper. Then, as though just now remembering he has a mom and probably needs to check with her, he grabs her hand. “Mom,please? Can I?”

I already know there’s no way she’ll say no to that face. Instead, Naomi looks at Parker with wary reluctance. “Are you just doing this so we won’t sue the organization?”

Parker laughs. “I mean, we hope you don’t sue, but no. We want every child who attends an Appies event to leave with a positive experience. And though your Liam definitely deserves a medal for his cheerful attitude about getting hurt, we want to ensure he has great memories to hold onto.”

“Fine.” Naomi stumbles a little as Liam throws his arms around her in an exuberant hug. He saysthank youover and over into her rib cage. “Okay, calm down, dude. I already said yes, we’ll go on the tour.”

“Actually,” Parker says again, turning sly fox eyes my way, “if you’d rather skip the tour, I know our chef is still here and would be happy to whip something up. You and Camden could catch up and eat. We’ll meet back up with you later. You can trust me with Liam, I promise. It’s been a while, but I had all the proper babysitting certifications back in high school.”

Though Naomi clearly knows as well as I do that this is a setup, Parker’s genuineness makes it really hard to say no. Especially when combined with Liam’s pleading eyes.

As nervous as I am at the idea of being left alone with Naomi right now, I really don’t want her to say no.

“I guess that’s fine,” Naomi says, pointedly not looking at me.

Parker smiles and plucks a business card from her pocket and presses it into Naomi’s palm. “That’s got my cell number. Text me, and I’ll save your number in my phone, then message you when we’re done. I’d also be happy to play tour guide to Harvest Hollow anytime you’d like since it sounds like you’re new in town. Or if you want to hang out, I’d love that, too. There’s way too much testosterone in my day-to-day life.”

Naomi’s smile is genuine now, a little more relaxed. I wish I had half an ounce of whatever Parker does that enables her to do this—putting people at ease and drawing them out.

“Thanks,” Naomi says. “I really appreciate it.” She pulls out her phone and texts Parker, who smiles when her phone buzzes.

“Got it. Now, where would you like to start?” Parker asks, steering Liam toward the door.

“The locker room. Definitely. Did you know that locker rooms don’t have actual lockers? Each player has a stall where they keep their gear.”

“Ididknow that,” Parker says. “It’s pretty cool, right?”

“So cool.”

And then the door closes behind them, leaving me alone with my ex.

CHAPTER7

Naomi

Part of me—avery large, very opinionated part—urges me to grab onto Liam’s good arm and announce that I’m joining him and Parker on their Summit tour. I can feign excitement over a locker room that hasstalls—a term that calls to mind horses or public bathrooms rather than hockey players—instead of lockers. I guess it fits with the idea of calling this very luxe stadium abarn.

Anyway, a Summit tour seems like a better, wiser, less terrifying option than spending prolonged time alone with the man currently watching me with an unreadable expression.

Does he evenwantto babysit me?

I haven’t been particularly nice to him today, which isn’t fair. I definitely regret the punch, and I mostly regret the glares and fighting with him over getting Liam equipment. That was a sweet gesture. But if I’m going to keep my distance, sweet gestures aren’t what I need. What I need is a wall. Space. To clutch my anger tighter, even if I’m not so much angry as I am scared.

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