On Thin Ice

Epilogue

I had always felt like my life had never truly been mine. I used to play a part, living in the background and unable to dig myself out of depths I had found myself falling into. That all began to change when I moved in with my father.

The months had been long as I tried to find my place, but in the end I did.

Now, the day after my high school graduation, I had to move onto a new chapter. One that would hopefully improve on the last.

Josh was driving the two of us home from the place Mindy had cater our graduation party. She had sent us to get the food because, for some reason, she still had things she was cooking for the party while Dad set up tables and chairs outside.

"We're going to have left overs for weeks," Josh said when we got home and started bringing the food to the back yard.

"Mindy will pawn most of it off on people I'm sure," I replied as he held the gate open for me.

Dad had already set up the food tables so we could set the trays down and grab the rest from the car. Mindy watched us from the kitchen window, sending a wave our way.

After putting the food down, Dad enlisted our help in setting up chairs around the yard, and not long after, Fox came strolling into the backyard. He had a backwards baseball cap placed on his head, his hair curling out of the bottom.

"Need some help?" Fox asked with a grin as he made his way over, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me in for a brief kiss.

"Enough of that," Josh complained, shoving Fox as he walked by.

Fox sent an amused glance Josh's way before placing another kiss on my lips, earning a look of disgust from my brother.

"I can give you a kiss too, Josh, if you're jealous," Fox teased, grabbing the chairs from my hand and setting them up near the others.

"No," I immediately denied, shaking my head.

"I wouldn't want one from you," Josh retorted, rolling his eyes. "You look ridiculous, you need a haircut."

"Your brother thinks my hair looks sexy," Fox replied just as Dad came back outside.

I didn't say anything because it was true; I did think his hair looked sexy.

"I think your hair looks nice," Dad added with a grin.

"Thanks Dan," Fox said, looking over at Josh with a boastful expression. Josh just rolled his eyes and didn't say anything.

We continued setting up everything outside for a while, Mindy and Ava bringing out more food once it was done cooking. Mindy had been worried all week that we wouldn't have enough food for her ginormous family and all of mine and Josh's friends. I was convinced she had gone overboard.

"Fox, your family is coming, right?" Mindy asked after all of us were back inside, waiting for guests to arrive.

"Yeah, they'll all be here," he answered with a nod, taking a sip of lemonade.

"Perfect. I need to talk to Vanessa about our yoga class," Mindy replied.

Mindy and Vanessa had gotten close over the course of mine and Fox's relationship. The two women would often spend time together as what started as doing things with Fawn and Ava, then transformed into a friendship between the two of them.

We had a little bit until guests were due to arrive, so Fox and I sneaked up to my room. Well, there wasn't much sneaking involved because we had been caught by Dad who was sure to remind us to keep the door open, though he knew we wouldn't.