On Thin Ice Read online

  “Morning, Daddy.” She kissed him on the cheek and sat down next to him.

  “Sorry I wasn’t there when you got there.”

  “Thanks to Maggie, your apology for that is accepted. But I left his ass there, so don’t look for him.” Malory shifted her eyes away from her father as Maggie set down a cup of coffee before her. She wrapped her hands around the cup to warm them.

  “You know, a lot has changed since you were here last.”

  “I was here in June, Daddy. It’s not like I left and never came back.”

  “I know. I know.” He adjusted on his seat. “You look better.”

  “Thank you. I just needed some rest. Moving that far was a lot of work. I’m hoping to look at some places today and see if I can find somewhere to live.”

  “You can live with me as long as you’d like. You know that.”

  Malory turned her head toward her father. “Thank you. I appreciate that. But I need to have my own place. You’ll thank me when you see how disorganized I am.”

  “Sorry about that too. Seems you inherited that from me and not your mother. She was one tidy woman.”

  “She’s been gone a very long time to even think about that.” She looked up at Maggie, who, even though she was working, would shift her eyes back to them from time to time. “So what’s going on with you and Ms. Douglas?”

  “Us?” He lifted his head and looked toward Maggie. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”

  “You seem awfully friendly.”

  “We’ve been friends for a long time.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

  He shifted again. “Wil, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  But she was pretty sure she did.

  The air in the restaurant shifted as the door opened. Malory lifted her head to see him walk through the door. She thought he’d looked like a god buried under hockey gear, but now, standing in the doorway, the light of the morning glowing behind him, she was sure he was a god. His dark hair fell just to his jaw, and dark glasses covered his eyes. Even his heavy coat couldn’t disguise that tall, lean, hard body that lurked beneath its warmth.

  He walked past her, leaving only the scent of fresh soap in his wake. He first kissed his mother on the cheek, and then shook hands with her father before taking the stool next to her.

  “Thanks for the ride, Wil. Most kind of you.” He smiled at his mother as she set the cup of coffee down in front of him. “Thanks, Ma.”

  “You know, I don’t find any reason to be kind to you.”

  He nodded. “I figured that.”

  “Just because I’m back here doesn’t mean I’m going to have anything to do with you. What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you live somewhere else? Anywhere else?”

  “Geeze, Wil, sorry to disappoint.” He lifted his chin and buried those dark eyes into her. “I live here.”

  Her heart jumped into her throat. That wasn’t part of her recovery plan. Things in her life hadn’t gone the way she’d wanted them too. Mistakes had been made and she needed to steer clear of temptations like Christopher Douglas. She was back in Aspen Creek to forget her past and move on. Now here she was sitting next to the gorgeous man she’d tried so hard to forget, and he wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

  “Daddy, I think I’m going to head back to the house and get started on finding a place.”

  “What about breakfast?”

  “I’m suddenly not too hungry.” She kissed her father on the cheek. “Ms. Doug—” she started, but Maggie narrowed her eyes at her. “Maggie,” she corrected and Maggie nodded. “Would you mind if I came by later? There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

  “I’d love to have your company. I close up at three. Come by then.”

  “Okay,” she said and slid her gloves back over her hands.

  Malory stood, zipped up her coat, and started toward the door.

  “What? No good-bye kiss for me?” At the sound of Christopher’s voice, she stopped. Malory didn’t look back at him. She kept still, took a deep breath, and then walked out the door.

  “What’s with her?” Christopher turned toward her father.

  “I think she’s sick or something. She’s slept for three days straight,” Harvey said. “She came back alone, you know.”

  Christopher nodded. “Well, I’m getting that good-bye kiss.” He ripped his jacket off the back of his stool and strode for the door.

  Maggie hurried to the counter, and she and Harvey watched as Christopher stopped Malory at her Jeep. He spun her around into her arms and crushed his mouth to hers. Maggie laughed as Malory’s fists started pounding at his chest, but soon the pounding stopped.

  “It looks like it’s going to be an interesting Christmas.”

  Harvey nodded. “It sure does.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Christopher was ignoring Malory’s protests and having the best time doing so. Her lips were so soft, and even with her body buried beneath the big white puffy coat, having her pressed against him had his heart pumping hard.

  Teeth scraped, tongues danced, and he continued his exploration of her mouth.

  She stopped hitting him, and now she was kissing him.

  When she finally pulled her mouth from his, he kept her wrapped up in his arms. The white stocking cap she wore over her long dark hair gave her that youthful look he remembered. He saw sadness in those dark brown eyes, and that worried him. Not enough to stop him from trying his luck with another kiss.

  Christopher bent down again but this time she pushed him back, hard.

  “What was that for?” Her voice broke through the cloud of breath between them.

  “You didn’t give me a good-bye kiss.”

  “You have done that twice in the last hour. Is that how you make friends?” The cold—or was it the heat of their kiss?—flushed her cheeks with a shade of pink that made him want to nibble them.

  “We are friends.”

  “Were,” she reminded him.

  “My mistake.” He took a step back, reached around her, and opened the door to her Jeep. “How long are you going to keep this truck?”

  “As long as it runs,” she said, climbing in and strapping her seatbelt.

  “How long are you going to hold the grudge?”

  “As long as you’re still breathing.” She pulled the door from his hands and slammed it. She started the engine and backed out, missing his foot only because he jumped out of the way.

  Christopher slid on his sunglasses and he watched her drive away. Oh, he’d missed her. It was so worth it to have returned to Aspen Creek and to have had her return too. But she was hurting, and that didn’t set well with him. Something was wrong with her, and he was going to find the underlying cause of it. He was sure along the way he’d get in a few more kisses, and he figured he’d end up with a fist in the jaw for good measure at least once.

  He laughed. Oh, man, she could kiss! She could do many things well if his memory served, and it usually did.

  Christopher walked back into the restaurant and took Malory’s seat next to Harvey. His mother replaced his coffee cup with another that steamed. He took it in his hands and lifted it to his lips.

  “She didn’t seem too responsive,” Harvey said keeping his eyes focused on his eggs.

  “She’s just got that thing she’s still mad at me over.”

  Harvey nodded. “You know Wil. She holds grudges.”

  “It’s time she let go of it.” He chewed on his lip and set the coffee back on the counter without taking a sip. “Why is she here alone?”

  He reached for a spoon and fished ice out of the glass of water that sat in front of Harvey. He stirred it into the coffee and watched it melt while he waited for Harvey to answer.

  “Her marriage fell apart,” Harvey finally said, softly, as though he didn’t want anyone to hear.

  “Oh.” The sadness in her eyes suddenly sank into his belly. When he’d seen her at the rink, he hadn’t even considered t
he fact that she was married. He knew all too well that she was. His mother had drilled that into his head for years. The need to pull her to him and kiss her senseless had won over before any logic had even entered his head.

  He looked out the window to the glaring snow-covered streets. People came and went through the door of the restaurant, and somewhere beyond that door Wil was fuming because he’d been so insensitive. Then again, he’d always been too insensitive when it came to Wil.

  They were both living in the same small town again. Just like it had been in their youth, he was involved in the day-to-day life of her father, and he assumed that by the end of the day she’d be involved with his mother. He smiled as he lifted his coffee back to his lips. He wondered if she had any idea about how involved her father and his mother were. Well, that was for Harvey to disclose. But no matter how he looked at it, sooner or later their lives were going to cross and they’d be involved with each other. He just couldn’t help but hope for it to be very involved.

  “You done kissing girls in my parking lot?” Maggie stood in front of her son with her hands fisted on her hips.

  “I don’t know. Do you have any that haven’t been kissed I should know about?”

  “Mabel would be happy to have some lip-lock time.” Maggie nodded to the table against the wall.

  Christopher turned to see Mabel Grace, Aspen Creek’s oldest prowling cougar. She winked at him and he gave her a smile and a nod. He turned his head back toward his mother and laughed. “Old news. Kissed her yesterday.”

  “Smart ass.” She swatted him on the side of the head. “Are you going to eat or what?”

  “Yeah, I’ll eat.”

  “Good. Then you can go find Wil and apologize for being a horse’s ass,” she said, turning and walking back to the kitchen.

  Harvey shook his head as he wadded his napkin and tossed it onto the empty plate. “She’s got your number.”

  “Yeah, it’s a wonder I came back here.”

  “Where else can you get food like this?” he said on a laugh as he stood and placed his hand on Christopher’s shoulder. “That part for the Zamboni got here late yesterday. I’ll head back and get it fixed. I’ve got scheduled ice time starting at two. Full ice practices at six and seven.”

  “Tell you what. You get the figure skaters in and out, and I’ll see to the hockey practices and lock up.”

  “It’s good to have you as a partner.”

  “I hope you’ll always feel that way.”

  “Can’t think of a reason not to.”

  “What will you say when I tell you I’m going to make Wil talk to me and sooner or later I’m going to convince her to marry me?”

  Harvey laughed a rolling deep laugh and slapped him on the back. “You know, I think you did get knocked on your head a few too many times. But I’d say if you survive it, you’ll have my blessing.”

  He laid money down next to his plate and Christopher noted it was double what the bill would have been. He caught Maggie’s eye and blew her a kiss. He was sure he did it so no one else in the restaurant would see, but he noticed.

  “See ya round, slick,” Harvey said, still laughing as he walked out of the restaurant.

  “What got him laughing so hard?” Maggie asked as she set a plate of pancakes down in front of him.

  “I told him I was going to marry Wil.”

  His mother didn’t laugh. In fact, he thought she looked a bit concerned.

  He looked her over. “You don’t like that idea?”

  “I like it an awful lot, but I watched what was going on outside. I don’t think she’s too open to the topic.”

  “Not yet. But she will be.”

  “Hey.” She covered his hand as he tried to cut his first bite of pancake. “I don’t know all about why she’s back. Don’t you go breaking her heart and hurting her. You hear?” He nodded. “You already screwed up pretty big. You and your stupid ego.”

  He was finding it hard to enjoy his favorite breakfast with his own mother calling him out. He didn’t think he was such a bad guy, but Wil thought so, and by the sounds of it so did his mother. He set his fork down on the plate.

  Over the years, he’d moved a lot. He’d played in Minnesota, Calgary, New York, and Texas. He had at least three relationships in each of those places, not to mention the non-relationships. Then there was the one relationship he’d trashed. He shook his head in disgust when he realized it had been over his stupid ego, as his mother had put it.

  He rested his elbows on the counter and buried his head in his hands. He could still see her. Wil, in her blue-green prom dress and her hair piled in curls atop her head.

  Tatum Bradley was easy and that had been all it was. But it had cost him his very dearest friend that night when he drove away from the high school with Tatum sitting next to him in his truck.

  His mouth had gone dry. It had been a lot of years since he’d felt the urge to cry, but he wasn’t sure he wasn’t going to break down sitting right there at the counter of his mother’s restaurant.

  It was as vivid as the kiss he’d planted on her that morning, their last conversation the day before they both left for college. He’d found her at the ice arena and backed her into a corner. His six-foot-four had nothing on her five-foot-five frame. He could have pinned her down if he had to, but she didn’t run from him that day. She never looked at him either.

  From his pocket, he pulled a necklace with a Saint Christopher medal on it and clasped it around her neck. She kept her eyes closed through the entire process.

  “Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers. He’ll keep you safe when you go to California,” he told her, wishing she’d look at him. She didn’t. “It’s a play on words too,” he continued nervously. “You know, like I’m watching out for you.”

  She turned her shoulder to him and faced the corner where she stood. He could see her shoulders shake and he knew he’d made her cry.

  He struggled for words. “Bye, Wil.” Burning with shame, he turned and walked away.

  But he turned one last time to watch her as he walked from the rink. She lifted the medal and looked at it. She ran her fingers over it. She was crying. They weren’t just soft tears that fell, her whole body shuddered, and she slid to the floor in that very corner and sobbed. She’d lifted her knees to her chest, and that was how he left her that day.

  “You look lost in thought.” His mother returned to him, and her gaze drilled into him. “You feeling okay?”

  “Yeah. Hey, I gotta go help Harvey with that part.” He stood and reached across the counter to kiss his mother. “I’m locking up the arena tonight, so I’ll pass on dinner if that’s okay.”

  “That’s fine. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah.” He slid his arms through his coat and then looked up at his mother, who kept her eye on him. “Tell Wil I’m glad she’s home when she comes to see you.”

  “I’ll let her know.”

  As productive as she’d hoped for her day to be, it hadn’t been. Malory fell into the oversized chair in her bedroom and gave in to exhaustion. She’d been so steamed over Christopher kissing her that she’d only driven by the few rental places she’d found in the paper. Her mood had been so foul that she’d dared not make one phone call. News in the town spread quickly enough that if one property owner knew the crazy lady with the red Jeep was looking for a place to live, they’d call another and another. Soon she’d be blacklisted and never rent in that town again.

  Obviously Christopher had done more than piss her off and make her mood unreliable. He’d made her crazy too. She shook her head.

  She needed ice cream and wondered if her father had any in the freezer.

  Standing with the freezer door open, she surveyed the contents and realized it was just another thing to add to her disappointing day. The only thing in the freezer was a Hungry Man dinner, toaster waffles, and a fish—she thought.

  Malory closed the freezer and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from the
junk drawer and began making a list of essentials to pick up at the store. Maybe her father could use a few home-cooked meals. Heaven knew what he’d been living on.

  By the time she was done searching cupboards, the pantry, the refrigerator, and one more time through the freezer, she’d made her list. It was extensive and might have to be broken down into multiple trips. She continued to analyze it.

  Breakfast didn’t seem to be too big a deal to her dad. He seemed happy, if not too cozy, having breakfast with Maggie.

  She crossed off a few of the items she’d had in mind for breakfast.

  He’d be at the arena for lunch, she supposed. There was a little kitchenette there, but nothing too big. Some deli meat to make sandwiches would be best.

  She crossed of a few more things and added the deli meats.

  After a few more minutes, her list had dwindled to a more manageable size. She looked at the Colorado Avalanche clock that hung on the wall and figured she’d just stop by the store after she met with Maggie.

  Malory pulled her hair into a tail at the base of her neck and then tugged on the stocking cap, which she figured would get plenty of use this winter. She’d had some fun on her drive to Aspen Creek when she’d stopped in Grand Junction and done some shopping. She hadn’t realized just how long she’d lived in California until she’d hit that first shock of cold air somewhere in Utah. Grand Junction was always warmer than Aspen Creek, and she knew it would be her last chance to purchase something warm, and perhaps something that had a little style too.

  Funds were okay for now, but that would change. She’d splurged on the coat, gloves, and a ridiculously expensive pair of UGG boots with tassels. She wasn’t even sure what use they’d be in the Rocky Mountain snow, but she deserved them, she told herself. But, because she was very practical too, she also purchased a good set of sturdy, waterproof boots.