Fresh Ice (33 page)

She put her arms around him and squeezed. “I can’t understand what it must be like for you.” Her heart ached in her chest for him that he had to endure something so wonderful being ripped out from under him and taken away so tragically.

He buried his face in her neck and inhaled the sweet fragrance of her skin.
“Now that you’re here again, the last thing I want to do is sleep, but I’m so tired.”

“Me, too
,” she said and stroked his hair.

“I promise I’ll let you go in the morning.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Does that mean you’ll stay?
”

“I don’t have anywhere
else to go.”

“What if you did?”

“I’d still stay.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Five-Holes & Stilettos

The next morning when Dwight went to the front office to check out of the motel, he was in for another surprise.

“You headed north?” The clerk asked.

Dwight’s normal response would’ve been “What the fuck business is it of yours?” but he’d had such a good weekend with his whore that he simply answered, “Yeah.”

“Not today, you
ain’t.” The clerk nodded to the TV in the corner turned to the local news.

Footage of a gnarly looking grassfire flashed on the grainy screen. “The Grapevine is closed to all northbound traffic due to a
six hundred acre brush fire,” the news anchor said. “Sparks from a semi-truck accident sparked the fire and both northbound lanes have been shut down until further notice.”

Dwight whistled through his teeth. “I’ll be damned. I guess we’ll be
stayin’ then. Put me down for two more nights,” he added as an afterthought.

He had a good thing
goin’ with that prostitute and he wasn’t quite ready for it to end anyway.

Sarah would still be in Red Valley when he got there, he was sure of it.

* * *

When Coach Baker told Nathan he was starting again that night
in the game against the Orlando Everblades, Nathan knew it was time to rethink his routine. The rituals he’d depended on to keep focused weren’t doing a damn bit of good. Never in a million years would an athlete think about changing up his routine, especially after the season had already started, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And Nathan was desperate to prove himself.

He used to chat with the guys in the locker room and chirp during games and
trash talk his opponents. He never took the game quite so seriously and had more fun on the ice. He also didn’t treat every game as a “do or die” situation like he did now.

Come to think of it, up until two years ago, he used to do a lot of things differently. Along with everything else in his life, his routine had changed for the worse. Now he was spending too much time inside his own head.

Tonight, all that would change.

At practice, Nathan was fantastic but once the fans filed into the building
for the actual game he couldn’t play worth beans. Go figure. Something had to happen to change that, too.

Nathan arrived at the
NorCal Center so early he was the first player there. First, he went down to the ice and sat on the bench. The Zamboni made laps around the ice until Dale finally pulled to a stop.

First, Nathan would change the topic of his conversations with Dale. Up until today, they’d only ever chatted about the game and only the game.

“You have any kids, Dale?” Nathan asked.

Dale grinned and the proud look on his face spoke volumes.
“A daughter. With a grandbaby on the way. She’s due any day now.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks. She’s having a boy.”

“That’s great.”

“What about you? Any little ones?”

“No. I have a nephew though. He’s two.”

Dale whistled through his teeth. “They’re a handful at that age.”

“Oh, yeah,” Nathan agreed.
“Cute but ornery.”

“They sure are. Well, I’d better get back to work. Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks.”

Dale started to leave and then turned back around. “Just have fun tonight, Nathan. Don’t worry so much. You can’t stop every puck. If one goes in, just focus on the next shot.”

“Thanks, Dale.” Nathan said and he meant it. That was exactly what Nathan was going to do.

When Nathan headed back to the locker room, a group of his teammates were playing Hacky Sack in the corridor. It was a loud and lively game and one that Nathan consistently avoided.

Much to the surprise of his teammates, Nathan joined in. He desperately needed to instill confidence in his teammates that he could perform to the best of his ability in the net. And that meant becoming a part of the team on and
off
the ice.

Cody kicked the little beanbag to Nathan and Pete and Jesse took turns passing the Hacky Sack to each other. Nathan played for a few minutes and when he saved the sack from touching the floor using some fancy footwork, the guys cheered
him on. He balanced the Hacky Sack on his foot and kicked it to Cody.

He slapped the guys on either side of him on the back and grinned over his shoulder on his
way to the locker room.

It felt good to change things up a bit. Chatting with Dale and joking around with his teammates allowed Nathan to stay loosened up. He’d kept such a tight grip on everything that he’d forgotten the most important part of hockey.
Having fun. And if he wasn’t going to enjoy playing hockey than what was the point?

Armed with the skills to shutout the
Everblades and the knowledge that Sarah would be there when he got home, anything was possible. The old Nathan Connors was back, baby.

* * *

Inside the locker room, Jace McQuaid sat at his stall taping up his sticks. He looked up at Nathan, nodded and turned his attention back on his sticks.

The guys really did respect Nathan’s tendency to keep to
himself.

“How’s
Seb?” Nathan asked Jace and took a seat at his own stall. He’d heard that Sebby had an appendectomy but hadn’t had a chance to call him yet to see how he was doing.

Jace
looked up and seemed surprised Nathan was talking to him. “Good,” he answered. “I went to visit him this morning at the hospital and he seemed okay. I think he’s already starting to climb the walls though.”

“Didn’t he have his
Hooders
girl there to keep him company?” Nathan joked.

Jace
grinned. “Actually, when I went into his room there was a perky blonde with him. She definitely wasn’t that beaut from the calendar.”

Nathan grinned and shook his head. That was typical
Sebby behavior.

“You know, Leblanc is trying to get his
one hundredth career goal tonight,” Jace told Nathan.

“Good to know.”

“We don’t want it to be against you.”

“It won’t be.”

“Yeah,” JD chimed in from across the room. “We’ll keep him out of our zone.”

Nathan smiled. Maybe becoming a part of this team wouldn’t be too hard after all.

* * *

At the salon,
Sarah sat in Destiny’s chair so Destiny could practice updos on her hair. They were waiting for Destiny’s client to arrive with her friends to get their hair done before a bachelorette party. A few minutes earlier, the bride-to-be had called to tell Destiny she and her friends were running late.

Abigail had gone home early with morning sickness and Peach was in the break
room watching the Razors game on TV. So, with no other clients for the day, Destiny experimented with hairstyles while they waited. They were doing the hair for the bridal party the next day and Destiny had a few ideas for updos for the bridesmaids.

“
Here are the photos the bride brought me for the big day tomorrow,” Destiny said and handed Sarah a few pictures that had been ripped from a magazine.

“These are beautiful,”
Sarah said. She sat still while Destiny curled, brushed and pinned her hair.

Then
Destiny proceeded to curl and pin some more until she achieved the exact look she wanted. “I thought we could do a little twist here and tuck the veil here,” she said and held Sarah a hand mirror.

Sarah held up
the mirror and looked at the style from the back. “I like it. We should be able to do something like this, no problem.”

“Cool. Thanks so much for agreeing to come in tomorrow and help me out. The bride sprang another bridesmaid on me at the last minute
so I’m totally grateful.”

“Sure. I
think it will be fun.”

Destiny
whirled Sarah around to face the mirror. “What do you think about the front?”

Sarah
looked in the mirror and blinked. Destiny had elegantly arranged her hair on top of her head and a few tendrils framed her face. “It’s beautiful.”

“I
know,
right
?” Destiny looked at Sarah from every angle and smiled at her own work. “Wow, Sarah, you really look amazing with your hair up.” Destiny started humming
Here Comes the Bride
.

“Thank
s.” Sarah tested how secure the pins were by turning her head from side to side. “I think it will stay secure throughout the reception, too.”

“
Good. We’ll do something similar for the flower girls and just pin in some extra flowers.”

Sarah looked in the mirror again and made mental notes of the style so she could replicate it the next day. “This looks even better than the picture, Destiny.”

“Thanks. I have a ton of ideas because my mom is always showing me bridal magazines
even though I don’t have a boyfriend
.”

Kim scrunched her nose up like she had a habit of doing when something displeased her.
“I can’t believe you still live with your parents, Destiny. What are you, like, twenty-nine?”

“
Twenty-
three
,” she corrected. “And they’re hardly ever home anyway. They’re always traveling in their giant RV. This month they went to Yosemite or Yellowstone or some place.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go with them
,” Kim said sarcastically.

Destiny stuck out her tongue. “I need to stay here to make money so I can buy more shoes, silly.”

“Like the ones you bought at lunch?” Kim asked.

Destiny grinned and pulled a shopping bag from the cabinet at her station. She slid the box from the bag and carefully removed the lid. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

Sarah looked at the red velvet stilettos with a mix of curiosity and disinterest. “They’re very pretty,” she told Destiny.

Kim
took one look and lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “I have those
exact
ones in black.”

Destiny ignored Kim’s smugness and turned to Sarah.
“What do you think, Sarah? They’ll be perfect to wear to the club with a minidress, don’t ya think?”

“Very cute,” Sarah agreed
and chuckled to herself. Like she had any clue about club fashions!

“Try ‘
em on,” Destiny told Sarah.

Sarah found herself scrunching her nose up just like Kim.

“Just put them on and see how they feel.”

“I don’t know
...I’ve never worn heels before.”

Kim scoffed.
“You mean to tell me you never played dress-up in your mom’s closet?” she asked.

The only time Sarah had spent in her mom’s closet as a kid was when she was locked inside of it. “Uh…no,” she answered.

Destiny jumped in before Kim could turn her nose up at Sarah. “My mom was a hippie so she didn’t own any heels either. All I had to work with were hemp sandals and Birkenstocks. Now I’ve got these babies.” She took the shoes out of the box and set them in front of Sarah. “Give ‘em a test drive.”

Sarah
took off her flats and slipped her feet into the intimidating heels. Instantly she was raised up five inches off the ground. Her toes were squished and she felt off balance but when she looked down, her feet looked…sexy. A word that Sarah had never thought of herself as.

The height of the heels made her breast
s and her bottom thrust out. No wonder Destiny had so much confidence! The shoes made Sarah feel like a million bucks and with the fancy updo, she felt like she could take on the world.

The shoes were a little bit too big but
Sarah took a few steps forward, hanging on to the counter as she went, and soon got the hang of it. After a lap around the salon, she stepped out of them and back down to her normal height.

It
sure would be nice to be able to spend money on shoes she
wanted
and didn’t
need
. Oh, well. Someday. For now, she didn’t need silly notions like that in her head.