He Married His Childhood Sweetheart for Her Prank, I'm Nobody's Mistress, EVER novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Dock

Emme's POV

I texted Rodney one line: The cabin. Dock. Four o'clock. Come alone.

He was there at ten to four.

The Ashworth cabin hadn't changed.

The porch light was on, the same cedar siding, the same long dock running out into the lake.

The lake had skinned over with thin ice along the shore, grey and tight.

Declan waited in the car at the top of the drive.

I'd asked him to, and he had gone quiet and done it.

Rodney stood at the end of the dock with his hands in his coat.

He heard my boots on the boards and didn't turn.

"I haven't been out here in four years," he said.

"Neither have I."

"You shouldn't be near the water."

"I know. You've told me for four years." I stopped a few feet away. "You always step in front of me when we're near ice. Did you think I didn't notice?"

"I thought you liked it."

"I thought it was love."

He flinched.

I looked at the dark patch past the point.

It was only forty yards away, and it was still open, a grey-black hole in the white.

"I'm going to ask you one question," I said. "I want the answer without the part where you protect anyone."

"Emme..."

"What did you see?"

He turned.

His face was wet, and he didn't wipe it.

"I saw her put her hands on your back," he said.

The wind came across the lake and moved my hair.

"And?"

"You went in. Tobin ran. I was standing next to Declan, and I couldn't move my feet."

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