Heart Thaw by Liz Reinhardt Read Free Book Online Page B

points up with one index finger, then pulls the finger to his lips. Barbie winks and a little puff of topaz eyeshadow flies off her eyelid.
    “And who’s this lovely young thing?” she asks, and follows her question up with another wink and a poke to Trent’s ribs through his falling-apart orange apron.
    “Barbie, let me introduce Sadie.” Trent’s hand comes out of his pocket and glides along my back, coasts over the sliver of skin between the hem of my shirt and the waist of my jeans, and tightens on my hip.
    My entire body goes still, and every thought, every ounce of energy is focused on the press of his fingers against the jut of my hip. The words that come out of his mouth are icicle-laced, meant to jab straight through my heart.
    “She’s just my big sister’s best friend.”
    “Lucky you to have a sister with such gorgeous friends.” Her smile is negated by the narrow slide of her eyes.
    Just like practically every other woman on earth, Barbie champions Trent, and the fact that I’m not making obvious googly eyes at him raises her suspicion. If only Barbie knew…
    “Well, you kids look like you’re on a mission.” She smoothes her apron and adjusts her glasses. “Can I be of service?”
    “I hear you know where there’s a stash of green Christmas bulbs?” Trent leans over, so they’re eye to eye. “Sadie needs a Christmas miracle, and I knew exactly the angel who could make it happen.”
    Barbie giggles and pinches Trent’s cheek. “Stay right here. I know Dee has some in the back that didn’t officially get received in yet. I’ll grab them for you.”
    Trent puts both hands in front of him like he’s praying. “I owe you big. Seriously.”
    Barbie waves his words away and marches off, pushing her sleeves up as she goes.
    The fluorescent lights crackle. Trent’s hands hole up in his pockets, even though my brain is screaming for him to put them around my hips so insistently, I can’t believe he doesn’t hear my secret request.
    “Mom wants you to come over for dinner tonight,” I say to break the silence.
    He nods and doesn’t look at me. “I’ll be there after shift.”
    I note the little changes since the last time I saw Trent. He has five tiny silver hoops pierced through the cartilage at the top of both ears, plus two in his right eyebrow. His hair is so long, the ends graze the bottom of his jaw when the longest piece swings forward, and if he lets his five o’clock shadow grow in for another two or three days, he’ll have a full, dark beard. He has a wide silver ring on his thumb, and when he slides it up, I realize it’s covering a tiny tattoo.
    I grab his pinkie and pull his hand closer.
    “You got a new tattoo?”
    He raises his eyebrows and a frown tugs at the corners of his mouth.
    “Yep.”
    I pull the tip of my finger over it.
    “It looks kind of like a barcode.”
    “It’s, uh, it’s a comb.” The sharp angles of his cheekbones are pink. “I was pretty drunk, this friend of mine just got licensed, so it was basically a spur-of-the-moment thing.”
    “And you got a comb?” There are paint and ink stains all over his hand. I have to let go because I’ve already been holding on for too long. “Why?”
    He looks right at me, his green eyes snapping.
    “Stupidity. You know. What I do best.”
    “Trent, that’s not what I meant last night,” I begin. He pulls his hand back and puts the ring firmly over his strange tattoo. “I worry about you.”
    “It isn’t necessary.” He rocks on his heels. “I’m not a kid anymore. Or, if you’re going to worry about me, at least let me return the favor, alright? I didn’t fucking sleep last night, because I was half-convinced your corpse was rotting somewhere down by the tracks.”
    “Sorry.” I smile as sweetly as I can, Christmas-Eve-and-I’m-sorry-with-a-cherry-on-top sweet. “I’m fine. It was pretty stupid of me to walk there alone, but if it was stupid for me to do it, why isn’t it stupid for