Page 121 of Test the Ice
Malaki starts walking again. “Yes, ma’am. Happy wife, happy life.”
“I’m not your wife!” I remind him.
He smirks. “Yet. You’re not my wifeyet.”
I roll my eyes and scoff. “Bye…”
“Wait!” he says.
“Malaki!” I scold through the phone. “Go get on the ice!”
“I am, I am. But…you didn’t say I love you.”
My fingers tighten around my phone. Malaki’s narrowed gaze is set in a challenge. I quickly scan the area behind him, but there’s no one near that I can see.
“I’m waiting, Dimples.”
My heart pounds, my stomach on a wild ride of confusion and butterflies.
Just because I say it aloud doesn’t mean it’s true.
Oh, but it is.
I rush the three little words out without thought. “I love you.”
His face fills with surprise.
“Now go get on the ice!”
I quickly hang up the phone and toss it far away.
The only noise is the TV and my pounding heart.
Zoe, now holding Charleigh on her hip, stands with her jaw on the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Daisy staring at me.
I’m certain her eyes are twinkling, but instead of confirming, I snatch the bowl of popcorn into my lap and search for a Skittle.
“What?” I finally ask.
Zoe, for once, says quiet, but I wish she’d say something, because with the stark silence in the living room, we all hear my phone vibrate with a text.
Zoe laughs. “Ten bucks it’s Malaki.”
“Twenty.” Daisy sticks her hand out.
I huff. “You two are ridiculous.”
But sure enough, they’re right.
Malaki
Hanging up the phone before I can say it back doesn’t negate the fact that I love you too.
Me
Are people screening your messages now too?
He doesnotlove me.
