Page 45 of Breaking the Ice
“Not yet, but I could get some.”
“Zach.” Ellie leans away from me so that she can turn her head and look at me. “You do not need to get wheelchair ramps for my mom.”
“I don’t need to do anything, Ellie. But I like to do things for my friends.”
She smiles sadly before saying, “I could never reciprocate.”
“You made me a caramel apple,” I remind her.
She scoffs. “Yeah, but that was easy.”
“And if you decided you want to visit my house in Malibu, it would be easy for me to have ramps installed.”
Ellie’s eyes narrow slightly before she says, “It’s like we don’t even live on the same planet.”
While I know she’s feeling a huge disparity in our lives, I feel the need to tell her, “It’s a good thing that we have the capability to travel to other planets then.”
“Maybe you and Elon Musk,” she jokes.
“I think the kind of world-hopping I’m talking about can be done by anyone. Even you.”
“I’ve never had a friend wealthy enough to have a beach house,” she says.
“You do now,” I tell her. Even if Ellie wants nothing more than friendship from me, I’ll consider myself lucky. Although, I truly hope she wants more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ellie
Sitting on this hammock with Zach’s arm around me is the most romantic thing that’s happened to me in five years. How sad is that? Especially because I’m probably the only one with romance on the mind.
If I don’t break the tension, I’m liable to beg him to run away with me. Which is why I announce, “It turns out my mom has a small brain bleed and they’re going to keep her at the hospital for a couple of days.”
“That’s scary, huh?” After a beat he adds, “But I suppose it’s better safe than sorry.”
“They might have to operate if it gets worse.”
Leaning against the hammock, Zach pulls me closer to his side. “We got her to the hospital early, Ellie. The doctors know what they’re doing.”
“Would you say that if it was your mom?” I ask.
He snorts. “Probably not. I’m just trying to keep you from worrying.”
“I could use a distraction,” I say before releasing an epic sigh.
Zach turns his head to look at me and his expression becomes serious. I start to worry, but then he says, “I have a distraction for you.”
The intensity of his gaze causes chills to erupt all over my body. “What’s that?”
His left eyebrow arches. “You may not be up for it.”
“How will I know if you don’t tell me what it is?”
“Ellie,” Zach groans like he’s in pain.
“Zach?”
“I would really like to kiss you, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”