Page 21 of Secrets on Ice

“And?” Cassidy raises a brow at me.

“You’re seriously considering moving here?” I ask her.

“I don’t know, but I’m also not sure if I want to go home and face being around the two of them. We live in a small town, everyone knows us. Looking at people’s pitying faces as we try to start over there, yeah, no thanks,” Cassidy explains. She’s right, this story would be fueling the town’s gossip for years to come.

“You don’t have to make any decisions tonight, but you ladies have options,” Jo tells us.

And maybe she is right.

“We told the boys we would contact them in a week. Do you think that is enough time to get our lives sorted?” Cassidy asks.

“No.” I chuckle.

“You don’t have to make a decision in a week either. You don’t owe your husbands a thing, they did this to you both. You take as much time as you both need to work it out,” Jo says adamantly.

I knock back the rest of my champagne. She’s right, we don’t have to make decisions right now, but we also can’t mope all day on the couch like we have today.

“Some days you’re going to laugh, and some days you’re going to cry. That is grief,” Jo explains.

“Also, we’ve made assumptions that the two of you are not getting back together with your husbands, and we don’t want to make that decision for you. There is no judgment if you do want to reconcile,” Collette adds.

“I can’t stand to look at him.” Cassidy sneers.

“It’s fresh. But maybe after counseling? Many marriages can be saved after a partner cheats,” Collette explains.

Cassidy shakes her head. “I know, but I deserve more. I’m not what my husband wants, clearly, so why would I hang onto a life that doesn’t exist anymore? We can never go back, the damage is done. Do I still love him? Yes, because I’ve been in love with him for what feels like a lifetime, but he also destroyed that love. Our relationship was far from perfect. We had been struggling with our marriage for a while, and I guess those problems now make sense.”

“I’m sorry,” Jo says.

“Every marriage will go through ups and downs, that’s life, but we had always been able to get through it together, but I guess … he didn’t want to do it together anymore.”

“You girls deserve so much more,” Collette states.

“We do, and we will get there, but it’s going to take time,” I tell her.

“And more champagne.” She giggles, reaching for another bottle.

5

EMBER

By eight in the morning, the apartment is chaos. Suitcases line the hallway, Jo is checking passports for the third time, Emmett is trying to figure out which bag has his headphones, and Sully is drinking coffee while watching everyone else run around. Cassidy and I sit at the kitchen island with our own coffees, observing it all.

“Are you sure you packed your charger?” Jo asks Emmett.

“Yes.”

“Your actual phone charger?” Jo asks him.

“Yes.”

“Not your watch charger?”

Emmett stops. Jo closes her eyes. “I’ll get it,” he mutters, disappearing down the hallway.

Sully smirks into his coffee. “This is why I travel alone.”

“You forgot your passport going to Toronto once,” Jo reminds him.