Page 114 of Crack the Ice

I stare at the ceiling, listening to her footsteps as they fade down the hall, doing my best to remember what it was like before she got here. Before any of them got here, but I can’t. I can’t because they’ve rewritten the soundtrack of my life. They’ve made me a better man. They’ve helped me build something worth staying for.

I am one lucky man.

My house is swimming with my teammates, Lily’s teammates, and her friends from school. Cecilia’s parents are here, as are the Wilder brothers’ parents. Tom is standing in the back, and for some reason, so is Sheila. I can’t say that I’m happy about that because, one, I’d like to be making out with my woman in a corner somewhere, but two, her being here is making both Cecy and Lily hyperaware of her presence when they should be enjoying the party.

I know Cecy is still waiting for the other shoe to drop on the Sheila front. She’s cried over it on more than one occasion. No matter how many times I’ve told her Tom had it handled, it didn’t seem to calm her down at all. Sheila isn’t even the Social Worker on this case anymore. Tom had her removed for unprofessional behavior, which makes me wonder why she’s actually here.

Then there’s Lily. She’s a freaking teenager now. How? To me, she’ll always be the fiery little seven-year-old she was when I met her. Watching her grow up to be a strong-ass woman is one of my biggest blessings.

“Hey.”

I turn away from the room to see my sister standing behind me. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

She stares blankly for a moment before crossing her arms. “It’s your birthday, Maverick. I wouldn’t miss it.”

I want to pull her in for a hug, tell her I miss her, but I’m still pissed at the way she treated Cecilia. There was no reason for her to react the way she did, especially because Cecilia told me Lana had told her she wanted us together anyway. It makes no sense to me.

“Does Cecy know you’re here?”

She nods, her eyes scanning the room, her body deflating a bit when she sees Cecilia with Kait and Lettie. My breath catches in my throat when Mia throws herself at her, Cecy catching her without missing a beat, cradling the little wiggle worm to her chest as she continues her conversation like this is an everyday occurrence.

“She invited me, then I invited Sheila.”

“You did? What’s your reasoning there? You know her and Lily think she has the hots for me.”

My sister snorts, eyes rolling wildly. “She does,” she says. “I wanted her to see how much these kids were loved, what she’d be taking them from if she decided to be a little shit. It’s kind of my olive branch, well, that was my intention anyway, before I knew she had no say. She seemed quite eager to attend. I guess I should have thought about that a bit more.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not our problem anymore.”

I look her over, wondering if my sister ever needed an olive branch with Cecy and me before, and I can’t think of a single time. “Why did you react that way?”

She sighs, wrapping one hand around her elbow. “It used to be me you’d drop everything for, then for a while it was her, but then you got busy, you started building a life outside of the little bubble we built as kids.”

My sister looks up from the floor, eyes watering when they land on Cecilia before she blinks and looks at me. “It destroyed me to watch her slowly shut down, Mav. I didn’t know what to do about it, and then she left. She left me here. But you did too, and you were still in town. I think that made it worse. You lost each other, and then you both lost yourselves. I didn’t understand it back then. I didn’t know there was more between you two. But when I saw you guys kissing, the only thing I could think of was that I didn’t want to go through that again if things didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry, Lana. There’s a lot that both of us have had to work through. Some of it I didn’t even know until a few months ago.”

I clear my throat. Admitting my own failures is hard on a good day, but admitting them to my sister sucks. “I’ve been seeing a therapist, and he’s been helping me realize that I run from one problem to the next because as long as I’m fixing something, I’m useful to people. And if I’m useful, they won’t leave… like Dad did.”

“Oh shit, Mav.” Her arms are around my waist before I can blink. “I didn’t know Dad, but I’m sure you’re nothing like him. You give up so much of yourself for everyone else, and it makes sense, but it’s okay to do things just for you, you know?”

I wrap my arms around her shoulders, pulling her tightly to my chest. “I know, and this is for me, her, and these kids. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, Lan. I hope one day you can forgive us both for making you feel that way, but I also hope we can squash whatever this is. That’s between you and Cess, though. I can’t make her forgive you.”

“She already did, Mav.” Her voice cracks against me. “She always does, even when I don’t deserve it.”

“She does, but that doesn’t mean you can take her for granted.”

“I won’t.”

“Okay,” I say, pulling away as Cecilia’s head of black hair walks past, arms empty of the little nugget she had moments ago. “Go enjoy yourself, yeah?”

“Thanks, Mav.”

I nod, not wanting to lose sight of my woman as she makes her way to where Tom is. She shakes his hand and startles briefly when she sees Sheila next to him. I wish I could say it shocked me when she holds her hand out for the woman I already know she doesn’t like, but it doesn’t. That’s just Cecy.

She doesn’t linger, quickly moving on to another group of adults, some I recognize as parents from Lily’s hockey team, some from school. She shakes the hand of every single one of them, even though I know she isn’t comfortable with that.

Eventually, she walks past me, winking as she drags her hand across my chest before she grabs a glass off the kitchen island and taps against the side with a small spoon. “Excuse me, everyone,” she says as she climbs up on a barstool with her brother’s help, Markus’ hand holding steady to her elbow the whole way.