Fresh Ice (10 page)

“No, let me just say this, and then you can walk right back out of my life for another couple of decades and I’ll be okay. But this meeting, this weird random meeting, I can’t let this moment pass by without telling you everything.”

“Okay.” Izzy really didn’t like the intense light in his eyes, but she was unable to look away.

“Izzy, that night I left, I was shattered. I thought for sure I would never be able to put together the pieces again. And then, this song came to me. I started writing it. I wrote about lost love. I was an idiot kid, but all this stuff just poured out of me. And in the end, I had a whole stack of shattering love songs no one wanted, until I ran into some guys who wanted to round out a folk album with something other than another sailing song. Suddenly I’m making women cry at Renaissance Fairs, like I’m really a talented poet.”

“Oh, but Collier, you are!”

“No, I had a broken heart I carried around with me for nearly twenty years. I’ve written songs for ten albums. Every single one was about a girl I knew, a girl I loved, every one of them a sad song, something that would guarantee sympathy and big tips at the fair. But I always wondered, deep down, I always wondered if I would ever be able to write a happy love song, something joyful, about you.”

“Col…”

He put a finger to her lips. “I knew the night I left you would never be happy with Jason. There was just too much wrong. But Izzy, in my heart, I knew if you and I could just find each other again, I could make you happy. And now here you are, and that idiot kid inside me can’t help hoping I get the chance to at least try.”

Izzy was speechless. They sat, for several moments, staring at the river as other couples strolled past.

“Please say something.” His voice was still, nearly a whisper.

Izzy wiped a tear from her eye and smiled. “Collier, I think that’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“So you’ll stay here in Nashville?”

Izzy shook her head. “Col, I don’t know if I’m ready for anything, you know, romantic. I think my reality might not live up to your expectations.”

The smile on Collier’s face was faint, but sweet. “I don’t expect anything. I just needed to tell you how I feel, and you can do whatever you want with that
information. You have no idea how long I’ve carried that around.” He looked over her shoulder to the lights of the Old Spaghetti Factory. “But if I could persuade you at all, if moving in with that woman is your reality, how bad could moving back to Nashville be?”

“Okay, okay Col, you’ve sold me.” She laughed at the stars as he swept her into his arms and spun in a full circle. Dizzy when he set her on her feet, Izzy gripped his arm. “Okay. I think I need to go home now. I have a lot to figure out before tomorrow.”

“What’s to figure out?”

“What I’m going to say to Adele.”

Collier grimaced. “You want back up? I can bail on the guys for a day or two.”

She put a hand on his arm. “No this I have to do on my own. I have a lot to do on my own.” She flagged down a cab. “I will be here when you get back.”

“Promise?” The single word dripped with hope and uncertainty.

“I promise.”

“I’m not going to lie. That woman scares me a little.” He opened the cab door for her. “Wait.” He pulled a card out of his wallet. “These are all my numbers. Call me, for anything.”

“Thanks.” She hugged him, reveling in the feeling of home she had in his arms. “Col, I’m so glad we ran in to each other.”

“Ironically, at Second Chance’s.” He smiled, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “I have a good feeling. You might just find the life you deserve here.”

With you?
Izzy stopped the train of thought.
Romance is the last thing on my mind. Learning to stand on my own two feet for the first time ever, that’s my focus.

Collier closed the cab door. She gave the cabbie the address of her hotel, and glanced out the back window. He waved at her. She waved back.
Then again, maybe there is a happy ending here for me.

***

Quinn wandered the river walk, as he did many nights after being with Serena. It was rare, while the clubs pumped out all genres of music and liquor, anyone else would be out. Tonight, especially, he enjoyed the solitude.

There was something about the river, the way it was always moving, but was always there, that comforted him. Tonight, with the moonlight dancing on it like broken stars, Quinn wished he could lose himself in the shining ripples of water.
She left Chance’s with the sad singer. She’s probably known him forever, and, she’ll fall in love with him.

Why didn’t I try harder to find her the other night? Why didn’t I fight through that crowd? It was my chance, and I blew it.

He jammed his hands deep in his pockets.
Really, what hope did I have? I mean, come on. She’s Isabella Landry. Sure, time has passed. But she is who she is. She still has people here who know her, and probably love her. For all I know, she made this trip to meet with him.

Her face flashed through his mind. The spotlight on her face, and her…looking at him.
No, there was something there. There was a connection.

Why am I going over this? I was the focal point of everyone in the place, and she was probably just trying to figure out why I looked familiar. She probably realized I was the idiot at her husband’s funeral, and then she put me out of her mind. There’s no use trying to make that moment more than it was.

I’m hopeless.

Ahead of him, a cab pulled to the curb, and a woman paused at the door.
It’s her.

The man she was with said something to her. Then he kissed her on the forehead. She got in the cab and rolled past Quinn, who stared at the retreating cab until the tail lights turned out of his view.

He kissed on the forehead and put her in a cab? That’s not quite the passion that would bring a woman back to the South.

Too bad for you, Singer Guy.

Izzy sipped her iced tea and tried to ignore the chatter floating around her like cottonwood pollen. Jenna and Mikayla carried on a loud discussion about what they would wear on the first day of classes. Izzy knew it was a hilarious conversation, simply by looking at Adele’s disapproving glare. Sean, probably thinking about the long day’s drive he had ahead of him in the morning, was quieter than normal, which only emphasized Izzy’s own lack of participation.

I have to stay focused. I have to think of exactly the right words to somehow make this decision seem right for everyone involved, including Adele.

“Ladies, I hate to break up your chit chat,” Sean pushed his chair back from the table, “but we have a long drive tomorrow and us oldsters need our sleep.”

Adele looked at her watch. “Oh you are right, Sean. Okay, girls, give me a hug.” She stood and held her arms out wide. Jenna and Mikayla stood and positioned themselves into her iron embrace. Izzy knew, from the girls’ body language, that this hug was not soft and motherly.

If she’s hard and unyielding with the girls, what’s she going to be like with me when I flat out defy her?

“Come on Izzy,” Adele could have been summoning a dog to her side. “Let’s go.”

“No.”

The word was out before Izzy had time to second guess herself. It hung in the air lik
e the glow of an unexpected bolt of lighting.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?” Adele put her hands on her hips, a fighter, waiting for the bell.

Sean and the girls froze in their positions. Only their eyes moved back and forth from Adele to Izzy.

“I said no, I’m not coming with you.” Izzy struggled to keep a fearful waver out of her tone.

Adele’s expression clouded. “I see. So you’re having a few moments with the girls before you turn in?”

“No. I mean I’m not coming back to Wisconsin. I’m staying in Nashville.”

Sean and the girls slipped back to seating positions and waited.

“You’re staying here?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not coming back?”

“No.” Izzy shook her head for emphasis.

“What do you intend to do?”

“I guess I’ll do what people do. I’ll find a place to live, a place to work. There’s nothing for me back in Wisconsin. The house is foreclosed, my job won’t support me.”

“Oh, and there are so many opportunities here? What kind of job do you think you’ll get here? There isn’t much of a market for a former figure skater with no education and bad credit.”

Adele’s words stung like a slap to the face. Izzy blinked, and glanced at Jenna, whose expression of fury steeled Izzy’s resolve. “My daughter is here. I have, or will have, enough money to get a modest place.”

“How do you have any money?” Adele waited a beat. “Unless that man you were with paid you. Just how good are you that you can snag a dirty musician and suddenly have enough money to make a major move like this?”

“Mom!” Mikayla shouted. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“No Mikayla, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Remember yesterday when she was so sick she couldn’t help you move? Well, I found her out with a man, and they looked like they were headed to bed.”

“All right Aunt Iz!” Mikayla cheered.

“Adele, shut up.” Izzy kept her voice low. Fear was gone, replaced by righteous anger. “I was not headed to bed with a man. Collier was my best friend growing up. We happened to meet yesterday purely by chance. We talked, we had dinner. And then he put me in a cab and I went back to the hotel. Alone.” She glanced at Jenna, who gave her an uncertain smile.

“Well at least you can’t ruin him like you ruined Jason. He’s already homeless.”

Izzy staggered back at the force of this unexpected blow. “I didn’t ruin anything for Jason.”

“That’s not the way I remember it.”

“Adele, that’s enough,” Sean said quietly.

“No, Sean, this is a long time coming. My brother had everything going to him until her father bribed him to skate with her and then she trapped him with a pregnancy.”

“Your brother was a grown man who got a young girl pregnant.” Sean’s face turned a shade of red Izzy had never seen on him.

“Yes, and had she gotten the abortion like we all told her she should have, he wouldn’t have been exiled in shame.”

“Mother…shut the hell up!” Mikayla put her arm around Jenna. “Do you listen to anything that falls out of that gaping pie hole of yours or do you just say every damn word that comes to your head?” Mikayla eased a stunned looking Jenna out of the booth. “You are one foul bitch. For your information, Aunt Izzy won the lottery. Not a million bucks, but certainly enough to tell your queen bitch ass to go to hell.”

“Mikayla! Language!”

“Whatever.” Mikayla hugged Sean, who was now also standing. “Sorry Dad. Have a safe trip back. Come on Jenna.”

Without another word, the girls walked out.

“Do you see what you did?” Adele turned on Izzy, her eyes blazing.

“What I did? What I did? I didn’t do anything to you.” Izzy took three steps toward the door.

“Everything you owe me, and this is how you repay me?”

Izzy paused, her hand hovering over the knob. The idea of owing Adele anything froze her. “What on earth could I possibly owe you?”

“If it weren’t for us, you and Jason would have been on the street.”

“Adele, Jason more than paid for that and you know it.”

Adele whirled her viper eyes on Sean. “Shut up Sean! That was nothing! That was a pittance! We gave them a life, we gave them livelihood!”

“They paid for that. Izzy’s more than paid her share.”

Izzy stared at Sean, his intense glare of defiance surprising her. Sean never stood up to Adele.
What does he mean, we paid for it?

“It wasn’t enough given the years I’ve had to put up with this!”

Izzy’s glance whipped back to Sean as she waited for a spirited rebuttal, but the look was gone, replaced by his usual slack expression of defeat.
I’m on my own against her again.
Izzy squared her shoulders. “Well, Adele, I’m so very sorry you’ve had to put up with me all these years. So I guess I’m taking that huge task away from you. Whatever will you do with all the time you’ll have, now that you can’t think up ways to blame me for everything?” She didn’t wait for a response, and given the purple hue to Adele’s face, it was doubtful the one she got would have been pleasant. She whipped the door open and charged through it, rage speeding her steps.

Once out on the street, the warm night air did little to calm her. She started up the street with a vague notion of tracking down Jenna. She didn’t realize she was nearly running until she crashed into another pedestrian and fell down.

“Hey, where’s the fire?” The tall man held out his hand.

“Thank you. I’m so sorry…oh, it’s you…” Her knees went weak as she looked into the clear, beautiful eyes of the mystery man from Jason’s funeral.

He smiled, and kept his hand on her arm. “Yes it is.”

“I’m so sorry. I mean, you’re the guy from the other night, the one who introduced the bands. Quinn…something.”
Why am I blanking on his last name?