She hadn’t had a bad reaction, but I also didn’t stick around long enough to really get her reaction. I needed to take her home and try to forget some of the things I had told her that were currently whizzing around my mind. She probably thought I was some pathetic guy with mommy and daddy issues. I had wanted to impress her—show her a good time—but instead, I’d done this.

I wasn’t sure if I had scared her off or scared myself off, but either way, I was trying to keep my cool until she was safely dropped off at Giles and Mattie’s house.

As soon as she handed me her skates, I was already walking over to the rental hut and dropping them off with the teenaged worker.

“You ready?” I asked. “That was fun.”

I could tell I was talking too fast, but my facade of normalcy was hanging on by a thread. It was all I could do to keep from cracking.

“Oliver, hold on.”

Her voice sounded distant, and I slowed my pace to let her catch up. I chanced a look down at her to see her eyes wide with confusion.

“Why are you walking so fast?” Her anxious tone tugged at my chest, but I couldn’t bring myself to maintain eye contact.

“Sorry.” I ripped the beanie off my head to rake my hands through my hair. Heat burned through my body. It was like I was wearing my humiliation as an extra layer and it was suffocating me. “You ready to go?” I asked, a strange, fake smile glued to my face.

“Go?” Frankie repeated quietly. “We just got here.”

She looked beautiful tonight. Something I regretted not telling her earlier.

“We went ice-skating, we walked around. I should get you home before you find a way to get injured.” My attempt at teasing was weak, but I was fighting tooth and nail to keep it together.

Frankie’s look of disappointment faded into something else—something that looked a hell of a lot like defiance. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against one hip, jutting out her chin to stare up at me.

“I’m hungry,” she said.

“The food here probably sucks,” I insisted.

“I’m starving,” she repeated with added inflection. “Let’s get food.”

I opened and closed my mouth, unsure of what she was trying to do here. I had expected her to think I was acting a little strange but to go along with it. I had expected us to ride back down the gondola and pile into the car, where I could promptly use the radio as a distraction. I had expected to drop her off after a few more jokes. After that, I would keep my distance. I wouldn’t have dinner at Marie’s every night she worked, I wouldn’t send her flirty text messages or steal a kiss anytime I saw her in the lodge. We had treaded into dangerous territory and I needed to get out of this emotional quicksand before it swallowed me whole.