14
Lily held onto Ethan’s arm as they stepped inside his house. She felt like she needed to help him despite there being nothing wrong with his legs. But she felt horrible.
Flinging a flaming marshmallow into his face was, perhaps, theworstimpression she could have made. If he had liked her before, there was no way he did now.
After she finished weeping on him, she realized she had sat in the marshmallow that was all over his sweatshirt from when he rubbed it off his cheek. Now that they were both sticky, and she had used their entire water supply trying to soothe the burn, they called it quits and came back to his place. They left everything back at the campsite except their bags. Ethan insisted it would be fine for the night, and he would pick it up tomorrow.
She followed him into his living room and stood awkwardly, fidgeting. She had pulled her sweatshirt off so she wouldn’t get marshmallow all over his truck, and now she only stood in a T-shirt. The cold had nipped at her, but she had forced it down, her adrenaline still pumping from the marshmallow incident.
But now that they were in his house, she realized how cold she was. And, boy, did she feelstupid.
“I’ll be right back,” Ethan said before he disappeared into his bedroom.
Lily pulled out her phone and opened a local ride-share app. She wasn’t entirely sure that Wintervale had such a service, being a small town and all, but she’d rather pay for a ride than make the walk back to the resort in the cold. There was no way she would ask Ethan to take her back after the evening she had subjected him to.
The app showed the nearest driver was fifteen minutes away. She sighed and opted for the ride before looking around his living room. Photos of his family were on the mantle above his fireplace. She smiled softly, recognizing everyone in the pictures from the other night.
Then she came across a photo of him in his tux alongside his brothers. He looked good. His hair was styled, and he had a genuine smile on his face. But with his sunny personality, she’s not sure she had ever seen him without a sunny smile. He seemed to let things roll off his back, and now she wondered if he’d be able to let this one go.
Doubtful.
He’d have to live with the mark on his face for a few weeks, at least. But hopefully not beyond that. In the back of her mind, she stressed it would scar over. She’d never be able to forgive herself if it did.
Her phone pinged with a text and she saw the driver was still ten minutes away, so she opened it.
Stacy: I hope you’re having a great time with that hunk of man.
Lily: I burned his face off.
Stacy: Care to elaborate?
Lily: I flung a burning marshmallow at him. Oh my God, Stace. I feel terrible.
Stacy: Um. Why did you do that?
Lily: We were roasting marshmallows and mine started on fire. I panicked and flung it.
Stacy: Oh dear. How bad is it?
Lily: It’s already blistering.
Ethan stepped out of his bedroom and Lily looked up from her phone. He was in a fresh change of clothes and looked like he had taken a quick shower. His hair was damp, and his cheek looked red and angry.
“I’m so sorry,” Lily said.
He smiled and then winced. “It’s okay. It’s not a horrible burn… just unpleasant. But I think drenching my face in the cold shower was more unpleasant. I didn’t want to take a warm shower to risk making it worse.”
“I’m the worst.”
“No, you aren’t. Accidents happen. Next time, I’ll just put a divider between us so it can’t happen again.”
She covered her face. “Oh my God. How embarrassing.”
He chuckled. “There will be a next time, right?”
She parted her fingers and peeked between them. “Are you sure you want to risk it? Who knows—I might light your clothes on fire.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
