Page 79 of Fractured Ice

"Thank you."

"Not bad weird. Just—" she tilts her head, "—something happened weird."

I open the refrigerator and look into it without any real intention. "The fair was fine."

"You said fine like it was the opposite of fine."

"The fair was—" I close the refrigerator. "Something happened."

Emma puts her phone face-down on the counter. This is her version of full attention. "Sit down."

"I'm fine standing."

"I can tell this is going to be good, and good gossip should always be told sitting down"

I sit down at the kitchen island across from her. Emma eats a spoonful of cereal and waits, which is one of the things I've come to appreciate about her. She doesn't fill silence with reassurance. She just waits.

"I think," I say, and stop.

"You think?"

"I think I might be—" I look at the counter. The granite is clean. Someone wiped it recently. "Developing feelings for Ethan."

Silence.

"Walker," I add, in case there's any ambiguity.

"I know which Ethan," Emma says. "I'm just letting that land." She eats another spoonful. "How long?"

"I don't know. I've been noticing things for a while and telling myself it was circumstantial. We're around each other constantly, which naturally⁠—"

"Sienna."

"What?"

"You're doing the thing where you explain your feelings instead of having them."

I look at her. "I'm not⁠—"

"You just called developing feelings for someone circumstantial. That's not a feeling, that's a legal defense."

I'm quiet for a moment.

"Tonight at the fair," I say. "Something happened and I—" I stop again, which is not like me. I don't stop in the middle of sentences. I've always known what I want to say. "I couldn't explain it away. I've been explaining things away for months and tonight I couldn't."

Emma nods slowly. "Okay," she says. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"That's what I'm trying to work out."

"Do you want my actual opinion?"

"You're going to give it either way."

"Yes," she agrees, smiling. "But I'm asking first because it's going to surprise you."

I look at her. Emma seems serious. "Go ahead."

"Sleep with him."