AllFreeNovel
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I crossed to the island and frowned. Technically, the cake probably served four. It was about four inches across. But tonight was for celebrating. What better way to do that than overindulge in ice cream? “Sure. Why not live life on the edge.”
Cody snorted. He turned and drew one of the chef knives out of the knife block and proceeded to slice the cake in half. “Plate or bowl?”
I scooted around behind him and grabbed bowls from the cupboard. “Ice cream equals bowl.”
“Sure. But cake equals plate.”
I shook my head. “Ice cream trumps cake. Always.”
He laughed. “So if you have ice cream served on top of a piece of cake, you—”
“Use a bowl. Duh.” I frowned at him. “You’d put it on a plate?”
Cody shrugged and picked up the fork I put next to his bowl. “I don’t consider that a failing. Why are you using a fork if you’re eating out of a bowl?”
“Seriously?”
“To use your words, duh.” He winked. “Bowls require spoons.”
“You know where they are. Or, you could live on the edge.” I stabbed my fork into the ice cream cake and wiggled off a bite that had some of both parts. “Mmm.”
I carried it over to the kitchen table and sat.
Cody followed. He sat beside me instead of across and scooted his chair so his leg pressed against mine. “Tell me about your apartment contenders.”
“Hang on.” I pushed back my chair and stood, then hurried into the living room to gather the printed sheets I’d been making notes on. I went back to the kitchen and set them beside Cody’s elbow. “Here.”
“You printed them?”
I shrugged. “I think better on paper. I know our generation is supposed to be all about the technology, but there are some things paper does better.”
He snickered. “You keep telling yourself that.”
I gave his arm a light slap before tapping the top sheet of paper. “This is the complex Austin and Kayla are in now. I could probably get their exact apartment if I wanted, but they have some ground floor units available too, and those have a little garden space instead of a balcony.”
“You garden?”
“Well, no. But I could.” I frowned. I didn’t do a lot with the tiny backyard of the townhouse, but that didn’t mean I was never going to.
“Uh-huh.” Cody tipped his head to the side. “It’s safer not to have a ground floor entrance.”
“You sound like my brother.”
“We both love you.” Cody waited until I met his gaze, then held it. “You know that, right?”
His intense eye contact continued to do things to my insides that I wasn’t sure how to handle. Especially after he’d proven how quickly he could—and would—shut me out when he was dealing with his own problems.
I bit my lip. “I love both of you, too.”
Tiny lines formed between his eyebrows. “The same way?”
Ugh. Was he really going to push this right now? We’d said the “L” word before. And I meant it.
I sighed and looked away. “No. But I’m not sure how smart that is.”
“What do you mean?”
“You pushed me away and shut me out.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them. I didn’t love the slight whine—the younger sister whine—that was there, but I couldn’t stop it, either. I paced to the other side of the kitchen, unable to sit still. “I don’t want to be your fair-weather girlfriend. If I’m in this—if we’re in this—then it’s a two-way street. I share my problems, you share yours. You don’t shut me down and build walls because you’re…I don’t know what you thought you were doing. Protecting me?”
