Page 42 of Hotter on Ice

Molly grabbed his hand and tugged him inside. “We’re having hotdogs and chips and carrot sticks and marshmallows and apple juice,” she said, leading him into the kitchen.

Suzanne was standing at the stove, pulling the hotdogs out of the boiling water. Henning walked over and kissed her on the cheek. “Hotdogs and hot chips. My favorite brunch menu.”

“Me, too,” said Suzanne, rolling her eyes.

“Me, too,” Molly echoed with a little squeal of joy. “I’m going to go tell Daddy and Liam to come downstairs. And then I can open my present, right, Mummy?”

She ran out before the answer came. Suzanne turned around, giving him the older sister assessment. “You okay?”

“Fine,” he grumbled, knowing she could see he was so obviously not fine.

Henning sat down at the kitchen table, but Suzanne was still watching him like a hawk. Finally she sighed. “I watched the show.”

Henning gritted his teeth. The YouTube snippets from the Icehotel. The footage he had resisted watching all week, knowing there would be glimpses of Alya. Those few days together were captured on film, suspended in time for him to relive, over and over, if he let himself.

“It’s Alya Petrova, isn’t it?” his sister said softly. “The reason why you went. She’s the only one from Sydney, the only one it could be.”

Henning pinched the bridge of his nose.

“If that woman did anything to hurt you...”

Henning gave a short bark of laughter. “You’ll what? Meet her in the middle of Main Street at high noon?”

Apparently, the role of older sister didn’t expire, even into adulthood, because she didn’t smile. “She hurt you. I can see it.” Suzanne crossed the kitchen and sat in the chair next to him. “I can’t believe she did that, not when—”

“Enough,” he grumbled. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I was the one who messed it all up. Not Alya.”

“What?” Suzanne pulled back and stared at him like he was crazy. “What the hell, Henning? You barely leave your apartment for five years, and then you travel across the world just for a woman—and not just any woman but Alya Petrova—and you mess it up?”

So much for the protective sister thing. “Thanks, Suzanne. Great summary of my life.”

She shook her head, slowly, her forehead wrinkled. “But why? If you simply weren’t into her, then fine, I’d accept that, but I can see that’s not the problem.”

“You’daccept that? Thanks again,” he said dryly. “Can we not talk about this, please?”

Thank God Molly ran back in, cutting off their conversation. Kenny followed on her heels, with Liam asleep in his arms. Molly climbed up on Henning’s lap and kissed him on the cheek, on his scars. It didn’t usually bother him, not from her at least, but the last person to touch him there was Alya.

“Now can I open my presents?”

“You better ask your mum, sweetheart.”

The moment Suzanne nodded, Molly grabbed the present, her chubby little fingers tearing at the wrapping paper. She opened the little box and pulled out the tiara. “A princess crown,” she whispered, her eyes wide in amazement. “A real one. Mummy, he got me a real princess crown.”

Molly put it on her head and scrambled onto her feet, wandering around the kitchen. She turned around and curtsied for her audience. “Did you get it from a castle?”

Henning smiled at her. “No, sweetheart. It’s actually from a friend.”

“The friend you were with? Mummy showed me on YouTube.”

Even his niece knew about Alya? Henning swallowed back a fist-size lump in his throat. “How do you know about YouTube?” he asked, his voice wavering.

“I can do it myself,” she said, her eyes shining. “I’ll show you.”

I can do it myself.Molly’s favorite line. He started to protest, but she had already run off. Henning rubbed his temples. Shit. He really did not want to see this video, but how did he explain that to Molly without disappointing her on her birthday? He looked up at Suzanne in a silent plea, but she was giving him a strange look. No, his sister was definitely not going to help him out with this.

Molly returned a moment later with a little tablet, which she laid on the table. She climbed onto his knee and bent over the device, scrolling until she pulled up the video. Damn, the girl could barely read, but she knew how to find videos on YouTube.

“Do you really know how to do that by yourself?” he asked softly.