Page 8 of Thin Ice

“And what would you have done?”

“Been someone for you to talk to who isn’t someone you pay. A friend for you to lean on.”

“Fair point.” I wet my lips. “Regardless, I see you’re feeling bad, but don’t. This isn’t your fault, and it’s not Noah’s fault, either. I act like everything is fine.”

“Just like you act like you’ve had an orgasm.”

I can’t help it, I laugh. Because she’s right. If I didn’t know if I was having an orgasm, I wasn’t. I was acting, faking it for the sake of both me and Noah.

I wet my lips. “It’s not that big of a deal; it’s just an orgasm.”

Stevie slaps her hands on the table so hard I jump. “Quinn, my sweet Quinn. Orgasms are not just orgasms. A good one can change a life, make or break a relationship, heal your fucking soul!”

For a moment, I think she’s joking, but judging by how heated her words are, I know she’s being serious. “I can say I’ve never felt that way about orgasms.”

She scoots forward, her eyes brightening like a lightbulb has lit up inside her mind. “Quinn.”

“Stevie.”

She grips my shoulders. “Do you want things to be different with Noah?”

“Of course I do,” I say.

“And do you think he can evolve?”

“Evolve?”

“I mean, people are who they are—you can’t change them—but they can evolve. Grow. Do you think Noah would be willing to with you?”

Without answering, I pull out the phone that’s been stashed in my purse all night and find what I expected: multiple messages and missed calls from Noah. The latest message is a plea to come home and talk.

If my husband and I have one thing in common, it’s that we hate having tension between us. It’s why we don’t argue, why I’ve made sure we don’t. Both of us being people pleasers doesn’t help, either.

A new message comes in before I can put my phone away, and the contact name I used for him the first day I met him makes me smile despite everything.

LORD OF THE RINK:

Sunshine, please. Just let me know you’re okay. I need to at least know you’re safe. I even tried to call Lucas, but he didn’t pick up.

Warmth pools in my belly that he called Lucas, that despite the depression he’s sunken into, he was able to do that to try to find me. He may be different from the man I married, but he still loves me. And he did put in effort when he could have just waited for me to come home.

ME:

I’m safe. I’ll see you in the morning.

I hit send and look up from my phone to find Stevie grinning at me.

“I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Yes,” I reply easily.

“Okay. Now stay with me, because what I’m about to say next might be out of your comfort zone. Noah’s, too.”

I sit up a bit straighter. “Go on.”

Stevie leans in. “Lucas and I went to this retreat in California last year.”

“Wait—I think I remember you saying something about that. A couples retreat, right?”