Yes. She’d deleted the video immediately after watching it. Travis didn’t need to know everything.
“We’re all out there sliding around on ice,” she said, trying not to whimper as he applied the ice pack to her wrist. It felt a lot better on her wrist than it had on her butt.
“Talk about rotten luck.”
“I guess I should have quit while I was ahead.” She took a sip of the hot chocolate. Homemade was so much better. She wished she were home at that very moment, sitting on the couch, drinking some.
“You poor kid,” he said. He put an arm around her shoulder and snugged her up against him. “Here you organized this whole thing and now you’re the one who’s sidelined.”
“At least everyone else is having fun,” she said. “And it could have been worse. I could have broken my head.”
He kissed the side of that head. “You’re a trooper.”
She didn’t have much choice. She wasn’t about to end the party for Arianna and Sophie, who’d ridden with them. Or for anyone else.
“I’ll be fine,” she said.
“Once we get back, I’m taking you to the emergency room to have that x-rayed. We need to make sure it’s not broken.”
Sunny didn’t know about her wrist, but her heart was. Molly had gotten some great pictures on her phone. There were some funny ones of her splayed on the ice in various embarrassing positions. But then had come the video. There she was, klutzing her way along, and then there came Bella, aiming for her like a cruise missile.
The little beast. Ooh, she’d like nothing better than to...
She stopped her thoughts before they could turn rancid. Bella was a kid—a resentful, foolish kid—but a kid all the same. Sunny was the adult here.
But she should tell Travis. Bella needed to be punished. Kids needed to suffer the consequences of their actions. They needed to be disciplined. They needed to feel badly when they did something wrong.
Sunny took a long deep breath. If she told Travis, it would be one more black mark in her and Bella’s relationship. Maybe sometimes what kids needed more than punishment was a gentle poke to the conscience. Maybe if she let it go and forgave Bella, it would help activate that conscience that Sunny knew was still alive somewhere under all the snottiness. And show Bella that they didn’t have to be enemies.
The skaters were returning to the bleachers and both kids and adults were taking off their skates.
“That was fun,” said Paisley.
“Yes, it was,” said Ava. “And Mom, you didn’t even have to use your pillow.”
Molly chuckled. “I surprised myself.”
Sunny realized she was supposed to have taken pictures. Between her pain and her mental anguish, she’d fallen down on the job.
“I’m sorry. I blew it. I should have taken a video of you,” she said to Molly.
“Don’t worry, I got some pictures on my phone,” Ava told her.
“Good,” Molly said. “Send ’em to me. I want proof that I braved the ice.” Her kindly smile turned cold as she looked at Bella and said, “I got a lot of pictures of you kids, too. Some of them were real interesting.”
Bella paled and looked at Sunny like a deer in the headlights.
Sunny cocked an eyebrow at her, and her face turned as red as Santa’s suit. She dropped her phone in her purse. “You got so many. I probably won’t keep all of them. I don’t think I should. Do you, Bella?”
Bella bit her lower lip and got busy putting on her sneakers.
The ferry ride home was filled with excited chatter, fueled by a sugar buzz thanks to the candy Sunny had brought for everyone. Bella never fessed up or apologized, but she did say a subdued thank-you when Sunny and Travis dropped her and Dylan off at their mom’s before proceeding on to the emergency room.
Did that count as progress? Sunny hoped so. Too late to do anything if it didn’t. She’d already deleted the evidence.
Sophie bounded into the house, excited to share all about her ice-skating adventure with her Grammy. Mia was on the couch, crocheting a granny square blanket she’d recently started in shades of pink and lavender—Sophie’s current favorite colors.
“I only fell three times,” she announced, plopping on the couch next to Mia.
