Love on Ice (Cannon City Series Book 2) (2 page)

Chapter Two

Five o’clock rolled around and Kate put on the stupid pale blue uniform dress she wore for work and her white sneakers. When she arrived at the diner, she dumped her jacket and purse in her locker and went to find out which section she’d work that night. The head waitress pointed and said Kate was behind the counter.

An older couple came in and sat mid-way down. She poured them a cup of coffee and took their order. After a while the dinner crowd started to come in and the counter only had a few stools left.

Kate heard the bell above the door and saw Jay Hager walk in. She looked at his dark hair and incredible eyes, and almost started to laugh. His height was impressive. He waved at Harry, the owner, in the kitchen and then he looked at her. Their eyes locked and she quickly walked to the other end of the counter to check on her customers. She refilled some coffee cups and passed out a couple of bills, then looked down at the other end. He’d sat down by the senior couple who’d just gotten up to leave. He talked to the man and then seemed to listen and laughed.

She saw Shar, the other waitress, walk past him and heard her say, “Hi, coach.”

“Hey, are you behind the counter tonight?” he asked.

“No, I’m doing tables. Kate will be with you in a second. Be patient.” She smiled at him and continued to check on her tables.

Kate felt a little jealous that Shar felt so comfortable in a room full of people. She wished she could stay here long enough to learn what that felt like.

After she poured another coffee, Kate got a couple of tickets ready and gave them to the customers. She knew she couldn’t ignore the coach and would just have to play it cool. She walked over and took her pad out of her apron pocket. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

He smiled up at her and looked at her name tag. “Yes, Kate. Could I get coffee with some creamer?”

She nodded and went to the coffee pot. She pulled a small cream pitcher out of the half-fridge and walked back to him. She turned a cup over and poured. “Are you ready to order?” She set the pot back on a burner and waited for him to answer.

“What are the specials tonight?”

“Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and a mushroom Swiss burger with fries.” She waited patiently.

“What about the soup?” He continued to smile at her and she started to get annoyed.

“Cream of broccoli and barley beef.”

“Hmm...I think the burger medium-well with French fries sounds good.”

She wrote it down. “Thank you, sir.” She put the ticket up on the wheel and spun it into the kitchen. Two orders waited and she reached for them. She walked to the end of the counter and delivered them to the customers. She went back half way to the window and looked at the other end of the counter toward the back. The people down there looked happy.

She could feel his eyes watch her as she moved. She wanted to go on a break, but started work less than an hour ago. She shook her head and did her best to ignore him, but then his burger arrived in the pass-through window. She reached for it and took it down to him.

She put the plate down in front of Jay. “Do you want ketchup?”

“Yes, please.” He picked up a fry and put it into his mouth. “Harry makes great fries, don’t you think?”

Kate reached under the counter and brought up a bottle of ketchup. “Sure,” she said and placed the bottle down. She turned and walked away from him.

She took care of the other customers and after a while, put on her good waitress face and walked up to him with the coffee pot. “Can I warm your coffee up?”

He swallowed the last bite of his burger and smiled again. “Yes, thank you. I wondered Kate, if I could buy you a cup of coffee at the rink tomorrow?”

She warmed up his coffee and wanted to get out of the diner. “No, thank you,” was all she could get out.

“You are planning to be over there in the morning, aren’t you?”

“No, I have to work tomorrow.” She turned away and helped another customer.

Just at that time - Kate couldn’t believe her luck - Harry walked up to her and in a mid-range voice said, “Since you’re off tomorrow, I thought you’d want your pay check.”
  Kate wanted to crawl under the counter. She didn’t have to turn around to know everyone in the vicinity heard. She felt the heat blaze in her cheeks. “Thank you,” she said and put the check into her pocket. She walked to the opposite end of the counter and took her pad out of her pocket. There were three bills to get prepared and one of them was Jay’s. She felt so crazy in the head that she’d lied to him, and been caught, that it made her hand shake as she got the bill ready. She took the other two bills to those customers first and then walked down to his station.

Jay looked up at her, but didn’t smile. “You could have just said
no.
”

“I did just say
no
. I’m sorry the rest was a lie.” She set the ticket next to his cup and started to walk away.

“Kate, you can still watch the classes. I won’t bother you,” he said and stood up.

She looked up at him and nodded. “Thank you,” she said as he turned to go up front to pay his bill.

She watched him leave and the usual little guilt bug that she’d been plagued with for years started to chew at her gut. She didn’t know him, but he wore an easy smile. Why should she feel guilty? It was best not to get involved with anyone. She didn’t even talk much to the other waitresses or customers. She looked around the diner and suddenly felt very alone. Her part of the planet looked small.

****

Jay drove his Jeep back to his house about ten miles away. When he pulled into the driveway he set the brake and turned the engine off.

He couldn’t turn his thoughts away from that woman, Kate, and it pissed him off she’d lied to him. Jay hated that more than getting his teeth worked on, and he’d been lied to more times than he cared to count in the last couple of years by women.

The last woman he’d been involved with could lie and convince him the sun looked blue. She’d played him and it wrecked his trust in humanity for a time. It happened several years ago and he wished he could get over it, but his trust button turned out to be a problem. Did the women he dated hold onto their own histories and use them against him?

He looked out the front windshield and shook his head. She carried herself well with a straight back and her head up, but he saw sadness and fear in her eyes. It grabbed his heart. He still felt like he knew her from somewhere.

Jay opened the Jeep’s door and pulled his duffle bag off the passenger seat. After he got into the house, turned the heat up and took his coat off, he went into his office and sat at his desk. His land line flashed. He turned on the speaker, pressed in a code and learned there were five messages. The first two were from his mom. She wanted him to come over for dinner soon. The third from the security man at the rink with nothing that couldn’t wait until tomorrow.

The fourth call was from Monica Everett, a mother of a ten-year-old figure skater.

“Hi, Jay. Sorry I missed you. I’ll try back later,” she said. He hit the erase button. The fifth call was from her again an hour later. “Hi again, Jay. I hoped to touch base with you. I had a really great time two weeks ago and can’t understand why you haven’t called. I can understand why you’d not want to get involved with someone with a kid. I just don’t understand why we couldn’t have some fun. I love dancing and think you’d make a great partner out on the dance floor. Anyway, give me a call. Bye.”

Jay hit the erase button again and sat behind his desk. He stared at the phone. Monica told him two weeks ago that a bunch of the parents of kids from the rink wanted to get together for dinner to discuss arrangements for a community rummage sale to raise funds for the hockey teams’ uniforms. When he’d gotten to the restaurant, she’d been the only parent there and didn’t want to discuss anything having to do with kids. She’d made excuses and said he’d probably misunderstood her. When someone says
a group of people are going out to dinner
how is it a misunderstanding? He’d asked himself that question a couple of times and figured she’d lied her way through the evening. He hated liars and wasn’t about to become involved with one.

That evening, because of her varied stories, he told her that he wasn’t interested. He did find it funny that Monica thought it was because of her daughter. Shelby was a cute, ten-year-old and could be a good little skater if her mom would back off.

Jay turned his computer on with every intention of doing bookkeeping, but got involved with a game - Ice Road to Hell. It wasn’t a great game, but it kept him occupied and he didn’t have to think about weird women anymore.

Chapter Three

The next week the first signs of fall began to appear. It got darker earlier and the leaves started to turn on some of the trees. The Aspen’s started to flutter golden in the afternoon sun.

Kate felt Canon City would be a good place to settle in for the winter and figured if she just kept to herself, everything would be fine. She’d leave town when spring hit anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

She decided to stay away from the rink that week and kept to her apartment. She spent a lot of time reading books from a used book store in a strip mall about a mile from where she lived. The current book turned out to be dull and she put it in a bag with several others. She’d make a trip down to the store and get another dozen or so to keep her occupied. She never bought a television. It just wasn’t practical to pack up if she needed to leave in a hurry.

On Friday evening, she worked the tables and Jay came into the diner. He sat in her area and she wondered why. She grabbed a small pitcher of cream from the refrigerator and a coffee pot and walked over to his table.

“I know I shouldn’t assume, but I thought you might want coffee tonight?” she asked and set the creamer down.

“You remembered. Yeah, coffee’s my drink of choice.” He smiled.

She turned the cup over and poured coffee. “The specials are turkey pot pie with a garden salad and meatloaf with baked potato and vegetables. The soups are minestrone and chicken noodle,” she told him.

Jay laughed. “Thank you. Meatloaf sounds good.”

She started to turn away, but he stopped her.

“You haven’t been by the rink at all this week. I hope what happened last time I was in here didn’t make you uncomfortable,” he said.

Kate looked down at the notepad in her hands. “I didn’t think it would be a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t want...that is, I thought maybe you’d be uncomfortable if I continued to come in and just sit and watch the skaters. I didn’t want to do that.” She shrugged and looked down at him. Jay really had nice, warm brown eyes and she thought for a second how easy it would be to get lost in them. But she knew if she were to get involved with anyone, all of her past baggage would make any man turn away from her. Warm brown eyes were nice to look at, but he’d probably lose interest in her, too.

He sat back on his chair and folded his hands on the table. “Well, I don’t have a problem with it, so if you want to come back in, go for it. The coffee stand needs your business.”

She nodded and laughed. “Thank you. Let me get your order in.” She turned and walked to the counter in a daze. He seemed so kind and she didn’t know how to take it.

The bell over the door jingled and she watched a man and woman come in. They looked around and when they saw Jay sat by himself, they walked over and joined him. Kate grabbed two menus and walked over to the table.

“Kate, this is Lark and Charlie Stone. I’ve known them going on forever. Guys, this is Kate,” Jay said and smiled, again.

“Hi, Kate. You’re new here,” the woman named Lark said. “How long have you been working for Harry?”

“Just a couple of weeks. What can I get you to drink?”

“Coffee’s fine. Are you from the area?” the man asked.

“No, I’m new to Canon City. I’ll go get the coffee.” She moved away from the table and heard Jay say something about
not talking much
. She figured he probably spoke about her, but tried not to get too wound up by it.

Lark and Charlie ordered the meatloaf, too and raved about Harry’s cooking. Kate hadn’t tried his meatloaf, but according to the three of them, it was the best in town.

After they left, she went to bus the table and found Jay had left her a ten dollar tip, which seemed way too much for a five dollar meal. She didn’t complain though and pocketed the money.

Chapter Four

That night, Kate couldn’t sleep. When she did doze off she got hit with a really bad dream. Her mother screamed at her about being an ungrateful bitch and wanting too much. Her platinum hair shone so bright, that Kate couldn’t see anything and then her mother slapped her across the face. When she woke up, tears rolled out of her eyes and she got out of bed.

In the bathroom, she rinsed her face and leaned over the sink. She’d sworn years ago she would never cry about her past again, but whenever these dreams occurred she weakened and the tears flowed. She hated that she let this happen and tried to control her emotions.

Kate walked into the living room, and thought about reading for a while. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was seven-thirty on a Saturday morning. She decided to get dressed and go for a walk. The traffic wouldn’t be too bad yet and it still would be nice and quiet. She put on a sweater and jeans, and laced her sneakers up. She made her way around the neighborhood and found the trail she’d followed several times before. It went toward a stream bed, up into another neighborhood and came out on the main road that would take her back to the diner and her street.

Morning was her favorite time of day. She didn’t mind working nights and would happily give up some sleep to watch the sun rise, although she’d missed it this morning. Canon City was a nice town, surrounded by mountains, trees and blue sky. Kate thought she could be comfortable here, but knew the time would come when the need to move on would come over her. It would settle in her bones until she did just that. She’d run for eight long years already and it’d become second nature.

At eight-thirty, she stood on the corner by the diner, which was open for breakfast. She knew the coffee cart would be open at the ice rink and couldn’t decide if she wanted to talk to the people she worked with or watch the little kids as they practiced with their coaches. She decided she didn’t really want to talk to anyone and headed for the rink.

There were a couple of moms ahead of her in the coffee line. She waited patiently and looked around the rink. To her right, sat a long skate rental counter and she saw the cashier hand a pair of skates over to a young girl who wore a skating outfit. She handed a twenty dollar bill up to him and walked away. Kate saw the guy stuff the money into his pocket.

She kept an eye on him and the next kid to come up was accompanied by her mom. The woman handed the cashier a credit card and he rang it up on the register. The woman signed and walked away. A few seconds later, another kid walked up with cash and the guy didn’t ring up the rental. Kate knew what he was doing.

“Excuse me, miss. Can I help you?”

She looked at the teenager who ran the coffee cart and smiled. “Sorry, Americana tall, please.”

Kate took her coffee to the bleachers and sat down. She warmed her hands with the cup and watched the youngsters out on the ice. She thought about the cashier at the rental counter and wondered what she should do. She knew he skimmed the cash from those kids. Jay seemed like a nice enough guy and she figured she should tell him what his employee was up to. It happened at restaurants she’d worked in over the years, employees stole cash from the registers. She’d never gotten involved before, and always felt guilty about not saying a word.

She looked around the arena and saw Jay off with a group of boys at the end of the ice. The kids were getting their skates on and prepared for their practice session.

She sighed, stood up and walked toward the group. As she got closer, she could hear him give his boys a pep talk. She stood by the rail and waited. One of the kids spotted her and tapped Jay on his arm.

“Mr. Hager, I think that lady wants to talk to you,” the kid said and pointed at her.

Jay turned around and she saw a crease form between his eyebrows. She smiled a little and nodded.

“I just need a minute,” Kate said.

“You guys get warmed up. We have a half hour before we’re on the ice, so stretch it out good.” He turned to her and motioned away from the kids with his hand.

She followed him to a set of benches and he turned to face her. “I just thought you’d want to know the guy at the skate rental counter is ripping you off.” She saw his eyes glance past her to the counter and then back. “I’ve seen it before. On some of the cash charges he doesn’t ring them up and pockets the cash. I feel like a tattle-tail, but while I waited in line for coffee he did it five or six times.”

“He’s only been here a couple of months, but I wondered why the charges were going down over there.” He put his hand under her elbow and led her to a stairwell. “Come with me.”

They went up to the balcony level and when they got to a cross hallway he turned left. They looked over the edge of the railing and after a few minutes, they saw the guy do it again.

“Damn. Would you stay right here for a second? I’ll be back.”

“Okay.” She watched him walk back to the stairs and heard his footfalls go down. She looked over the edge of the balcony and saw him head to the rental counter. He said something to the guy, who then followed Jay back to the stairs.

Kate heard his voice as they came up, but they must have turned down the other hallway. She tip-toed to the door for this section and could hear Jay ask the guy to empty his front pockets. The guy refused, but apparently was convinced to change his mind. Jay fired him and told him to get his ass off the property before he called the sheriff.

After a few minutes, Jay reappeared and they watched the crook leave the rink.

“That was nice of you to not call the cops,” she said and looked out at the skaters.

“You wouldn’t by chance need another job?”

“No, I’m busy enough.”

Jay nodded and smiled. “See, now you have to let me buy you lunch.”

“I think your offer was only for a cup of coffee.” She looked up at him.

“Hey, you just saved my bacon from getting ripped off anymore. I’ll tell the coffee cart you get free drinks for life. You’re my heroine and deserve more than coffee, which you seem to have anyway.”

“It doesn’t take much to impress you, does it?”

Jay leaned on the rail and crossed his arms. “Meet me back here at eleven-thirty?” he asked.

She looked up at him. “Today? I don’t know. I need to get some sleep and...”

“Aren’t you off work today?”  He glanced at her with an eyebrow raised.

“No, I really have to work tonight.” She laughed.

“You do need to eat before you go to work, right?”

She looked at him, again and felt warmth flood her chest. “Okay.” She turned and started down the stairs. She tossed her coffee cup in a garbage receptacle and left the building. She raged at herself all the way back to her apartment.
Why did she agree to have lunch with this guy?
Had she lost her mind?

She stood in the living-room for several minutes and tried not to hyperventilate. She hadn’t experienced a panic attack for a couple of years. Her brain yelled at her in a non-stop diatribe and she worked very hard to shut it up. One lunch with a stranger couldn’t cause any trouble. He didn’t know who she was, so there wasn’t a chance he’d be in touch with her mother.

“Idiot, it’s just lunch. Get your shit together and it will be over in no time,” she mumbled to herself and went into the bedroom.

Kate looked at the few pieces of clothing that hung sadly in the closet. She decided to take a shower and then wear the one decent pair of jeans she owned. What she’d wear on top was a whole issue of its own.

She let the hot water pound on her head and tried to figure out why she felt so nervous. She’d spent the last eight years staying away from relationships of any kind. Wherever she chose to crash land she didn’t get close to the people she worked with. What was it about this guy that made her agree to have lunch? She didn’t have an answer and hoped it was more than his brown eyes.

She dried her hair and put on a little make-up and then stood and stared at the closet again with her arms crossed over her chest. She finally went to the bureau, and pulled out her purple fleece turtle neck. She put on the jeans and grabbed a grey knit vest.

She looked at the clock by her bed and she saw it was only ten. “Great, I have an hour and a half to go insane. Just peachy.” She went out to the living room, sat on the couch and picked up her book.

****

Jay felt excited that Kate accepted his invite. In the past, if someone lied to him, it was difficult for him to forgive. There was something about this woman, though, that made him want to know more. She held a mystery in her eyes, which he found so beautiful. He still wondered if she wore contacts, though. And she’d caught his cashier stealing the cash from his till. That felt like a good way to reprieve herself in his eyes. Her lie wasn’t much compared to what she’d done for him.

After the kids finished their practice, he raced up to his office and got cleaned up. There was a black flannel shirt that hung from a coat stand and he decided, after he dusted it off, to put it on. He tucked it in and grabbed his coat.

He went back down the stairs and over to the rental counter. “Hey, Jerry. Thanks for covering today. I’ll get the job posted first thing. Can you come in tomorrow for a few hours?”

“Sure, coach, no problem. I can always use the extra bucks,” Jerry said. He was a great seventeen-year-old high school kid, who worked off and on at the rink. He’d played on one of the peewee teams a few years back and Jay knew he could trust the kid. It was a relief to know the till wouldn’t be robbed anymore.

Jay turned around and looked out at the rink. When he started to turn back to the counter, he saw Kate walk in through the front doors. He almost didn’t recognize her with her hair down. She looked beautiful and he felt himself pump up a little with excitement. He waved and met her half way by the benches.

“Hi, you look great,” he said and smiled.

“Thank you.”

He could tell she was a bit nervous and thought that was good since he was, too. “Have you decided where you’d like to have lunch?”

“I’ve only been in Canon City about a month. Other than McDonald’s and the diner I don’t know any other restaurants.”

“What kind of food do you like?” He moved toward the door and watched her walk next to him.

“I’ll eat pretty much anything. I’m not big on over-stuffed sandwiches, though.”

Jay felt a hand on his arm and stopped. He looked to his right and saw Monica, the woman who kept leaving him messages and was a known pain-in-the-ass liar.

“Excuse me, Jay. Do you have a minute?”

“Actually, we’re just heading out. Can we talk later?” Jay pulled his arm away from her and almost started to laugh when his mind turned to cooties. It was good to know that even though he was twenty-nine years old he could still think like a kid.

“This will only take a minute. I’m sure your friend won’t mind.”

He saw Monica give Kate a look and didn’t like it. He turned to Kate and sighed. “I’ll be right back.” She nodded and he saw her eyes squint at Monica.

They moved away and she turned to look up at him. “Who’s your new friend, Jay?”

He didn’t like the tone of her voice. “Doesn’t Shelby have a lesson this morning?” he asked and tried to keep it light.

“Yes, she’s on the ice now. I’m just wondering if you got any of my messages?” She moved closer to him.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Why didn’t you call back?”

“Look, Monica, if I gave you the wrong impression at that dinner, when I said I wasn’t interested, then I apologize.” Jay took a step back from her. “I’m not interested in dating you and can only think of you as someone I went with to high school. It has nothing to do with Shelby. She’s a great kid and I think you should focus on her.” He tried to move away from her, but she stepped in front of him and put her hand on his chest.

“Are you saying I’m a bad mother?” She frowned.

“No, I didn’t say that. I just don’t think we have very much in common and you’d get pretty bored with me.” He moved around her and smiled at Kate. He appreciated her patience.

“Jay, how can you say that when you won’t even give me a chance?” She grabbed his arm again.

He turned to her and wrapped his free hand around her wrist. He held it tight and felt like pushing her away. “Monica, you bamboozled me into thinking I’m going to a group dinner and tried very unsuccessfully to seduce me. I’m not interested and think we should put that night behind us.” He pushed her hand away and took a step back.

“So, I suppose you’re sleeping with her.” She turned her angry gaze to Kate. “I can offer you so much more, Jay. Please, just give me a chance,” Monica begged.

“Yeah, you can lie with the best of them. The answer is no, Monica. You have nothing I’m interested in getting to know.” Jay walked over to Kate. “Sorry about that, let’s get out of here.” He looked over his shoulder at Monica, who wore a deep frown on her face. He hoped that would be the end of it with her.

Chapter Five

They walked out of the ice rink building and Kate followed him to a dark blue Jeep. Jay opened the door for her and helped her up to the seat. While she closed the door, he ran around the vehicle and plunked himself into the driver’s seat. “There’s a place that serves all kinds of burgers, soups and salads. That kind of stuff. It’s up at the Gorge. It’s a brewing company and they have their own beers. Do you like beer?” He started the engine.

“Beer is fine, but since I have to work tonight I’ll probably just have coffee.”

Jay pulled out onto the highway. He noticed her fingers were laced together tightly and her knuckles turned white. He needed to think of a way to get her to relax. “Where are you from, Kate?”

She turned her head to look at him. “I’m pretty much from all over the place.”

“Was your family military?”
  “No, not military.” She stared ahead out the front window. “I was born in Portland, Oregon. Are you from Canon City?”

“Yep, born and raised. A long time ago, I was with a junior hockey team up in Washington State. We played a few times down in Portland. It seemed like a nice town.”

“How come you don’t play anymore?”

“I banged my knee up pretty bad when I was nineteen. A few surgeries later the team released me and no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t get the strength back.”

“How long have you owned the rink?”

“About five years.”

“It looks like good, hard ice. You’ve done a good job with it.”

“Hard ice? How do you know about types of ice?”

“I don’t know, I must have read it somewhere,” she said.

He nodded and watched the road. “Well, hopefully, now, since you busted my thief, I’ll have a little more money on the books. Lunch isn’t really enough to thank you. You said you skate. How about some free ice time.” He smiled at her.

“That’s not necessary. I haven’t skated for a long time, but thank you. How long have you coached the kid’s team?”

Jay did most of the talking on their way to the brewery. He thought it was funny how she kept the focus of the conversation on him, but at least she talked.

****

They ordered their meals and Kate sipped her coffee. She thought Jay worked very hard to make her feel comfortable and it did give her a relaxed moment but she flipped that switch off quickly. She didn’t know how long she would stay in Canon City and didn’t want to hurt anyone along the way.

“So, Kate, if your family wasn’t military, why did you move ‘round so much?” he asked.

Kate felt frozen for a second, unsure how to answer him. “It was jobs, mostly.” She looked into her coffee cup. “I mean, it wasn’t my family that moved, it was me and I moved to find jobs.”

“Why?”