Home Ice (35 page)

* * *

The day of Izzy’s return came right on schedule. It was a balmy day and the sun shone down through the bright blue sky. Any trace of the late summer storm was gone.

Izzy turned her key in the lock and walked into the dark interior of her condo. The air was stale and smelled of not-so-fresh take-out food. She dropped her luggage in the foyer and flicked on the silver linear torchiere in the living room.

“Ally?”

No answer.

She went across the room and opened up the drapes to let the sun shine in.

That’s better. This view was not meant to be covered up
. It cost way too much.

The light of day revealed the disarray of her house. A stack of mail toppled over on the glass top of the dining room with a chestnut wood base. Four days worth of mugs was piled in the kitchen sink and the TV was turned on to the ESPN network.

Jeez, it’s depressing in here.

“Al-ly! I’m home,” she tried again, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” The musical tone in her voice echoed to the vaulted ceilings.

Still no answer.

Izzy went down the hall continuing her game of hide and seek. Finally, she found Ally in the master bedroom still in bed.

Surprise. Surprise.

“Oh, sweetie, it’s two in the afternoon.” Izzy pulled open the drapes next to the bed.

Ally mumbled an inaudible hello, then groaned and plopped her head back down on the pillow. Her eyes were puffy and her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days. Taking a wild guess, Izzy figured it had been exactly four days since it had seen a brush.

“Oy.” Izzy sat down next to her on the bed.

Ally shoved the other pillow over her head and grumbled some more.

“I’m
home
.” Izzy stated loud enough to be heard under a pillow.

Ally finally managed to sit up and rub her crusty eyes. “You’re home,” Ally repeated. “You look nice. And you smell wonderful.”

Pierce had purchased a few items for Izzy in Las Vegas including clothes and a new fragrance.

“Thanks. I actually took a shower today unlike
some
people.” She reached over and smoothed Ally’s hair. “You haven’t left the house all week, have you?”

“I haven’t left the bed.” Ally strained with every word like it was too much work to even speak. She stretched her arms and yawned. “There was a storm.”

“Honey, that may be true, but there isn’t a cloud in the sky now. Come on, let’s get you up and in the shower. We’ve got lots to do and lots to talk about.” Izzy started barking orders at the sloth who resembled her best friend.

When Ally finally got out of the bed, Izzy noticed she was wearing her Razors jersey. Izzy sighed, but didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she listened to make sure Ally actually turned on the shower and got into it and then went back into the living room to bring her luggage to the bedroom. On her way, she saw the light flashing on the answering machine. She pushed the green play button.

“Uh, hey Izzy, it’s Ben. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Ally…”

Great.

Izzy hauled her suitcases into the bedroom. She had left with only two and brought back four. Pierce liked to buy her things. Expensive, sparkly things. And she wasn’t about to argue. Hey, she was dating a billionaire. Why not let him lavish her with all things Swarovski and Gucci? It was her time to shine and Pierce was happy to provide the diamonds.

Ally came out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel. She was dressed plainly in a tee shirt and jeans, but they were clean and she was awake.

“Wow, you really do look great, Iz.”

Ally was pleasantly surprised at her friend’s appearance. Izzy was wearing a tailored white suit that contrasted against her tanned skin. Her blouse covered her cleavage for one of the first times in her life. Her look was stylish, yet sophisticated. It was a look that was at the opposite end of the spectrum as her pre-Pierce wardrobe of mini skirts and spaghetti straps.

And Izzy looked…happy. The glow she had always worked so diligently to create with cosmetics was there naturally now. Her relationship with Pierce looked good on her.

“Thanks.” Izzy smiled. “You look…better.”

Trying to become human again, Ally thanked her and ran a brush through her hair.

Remembering the message on her machine, Izzy glared at Ally sternly and put her hands on her hips. “Stop blocking him out.”

“What are you talking about?” Ally was caught off guard by her sudden change in tone and set down the brush.

“The message, Ally. Why didn’t you pick up when he called? You’re meant to be together, but yet you keep pushing him away. Hell, I pictured the two of you living in the suburbs with five kids by now.”

“Jeez, welcome back, best friend. It‘s complicated. And since when did you become Miss Relationship?” Ally asked defensively.

“I’ve kissed a lot of frogs, Ally, and I know the Princes don’t come around very often, if at all. I’m not going to stand by and let you sink this relationship. And besides, even Gram knew Ben was the one for you.”

“Don’t you dare bring Gram into this!” Ally’s eyes swelled up and she sat on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sor--,” Izzy started to apologize, and then thought otherwise, “--no, I’m not sorry. Gram wouldn’t have wanted you to wallow around like this in your own filth and self-pitying depression.” She sat down next to Ally. “I know it’s hard and you’re grieving, but I can’t stand by and watch you whither away. You’re too beautiful and special and smart.” She squeezed Ally’s arm, willing her to understand.

Ally lifted her head and looked over at her with big blue watery eyes. “Really? You think I’m beautiful and smart?”

“And special.” Izzy smiled. “But not in a Special Ed kind of way either.”

Ally tried to suppress a laugh and it came out a distorted grunt. “Don’t quit your day job. You’re not as funny as you think you are.” Ally wiped her nose on her sleeve.

“You’re going to be okay, Ally. You need to believe that.”

“I doubt that. It’s always just been me and Gram and then Ben comes along and it was so nice to have him by my side, helping me, supporting me and just being there. It was stupid of me to get used to having him, a
man
, there for me.
So stupid
.”

“Maybe it’s time that you were there for him,” Izzy said.

“God, Izzy. Sometimes you can be so damn…”

“Right?”

“Ugh,” Ally snorted and ran her fingers through her damp hair, not giving Izzy the satisfaction of agreeing with her. “You’re a real pain in the ass.”

“I know. But at least I look good doing it.”

“Speaking of day job. Do you even work anymore? Or are you a professional jet-setter socialite these days?”

“Shut up, smart ass. I do it all.”

“So, how was your trip?” Ally quickly changed the subject. Her dilemma with Ben wasn’t going to be solved that minute.

“It was fabulous in every way.” Izzy opened up one of her Louis Vuitton suitcases and started unpacking. She pulled out several binders of study material for her Brokers License that were loaded on top.

Shit.

She wasn’t supposed to unpack these in front of Ally. She didn’t want her to find out yet. Not like this. Now it was too late.

“Wow, Iz. I wouldn’t necessarily call this light reading!” Ally weighed the hefty stack in her hands and started flipping through the binders. “Real Estate Principals, Business Economics, Broker Management…” Her voice trailed off when her eyes caught the state seal on the bottom of the page. It was the same on all of the binders.

Ally read it out loud in a whisper. “Nevada State Real Estate Exam and Broker License.”

Izzy didn’t have to look up to know that Ally’s jaw had hit the floor.

“
Nevada
?” Ally breathed the word out like a balloon being deflated.

She was now officially empty. Void of all things. Not just air, but love and family and Ben and now her best friend.

Nevada.

Ally dropped the heavy binders on the bed where they landed with a thud.

“Ally,” Izzy paused and tried to find the right words. There were none. She had agonized about this the entire trip home. Any way she said it, it came out sounding incredibly selfish. “There’s something I have to tell you.” She continued pulling clothes from the suitcase, trying to keep her hands busy.

“Yeah, I would say so.” Ally already knew what she was going to say and her stomach twisted into a knot. She held her breath and nodded for Izzy to continue.

Out with it.

“Pierce asked me to move in with him.”

Ally grimaced. The Band-Aide holding Ally together was ripped off in one fluid sentence.

“
What
?” Ally was outraged. “You two have only known each other for a few freakin’ months!”

“He wants me to travel with him and be his companion. We’re getting married.”

Band-Aide number two.

“Have you completely lost your mind? Izzy, he’s old enough to be your father. Maybe even your grandfather and now you’re talking about marriage and companionship? I thought this was another one of your phases!” she shouted, each word louder than the last. Then she paused and flung her arms in the air. “Oh, I get it. It’s about the money. God, what’s with you people and money?” she asked, referring to Ben as well.

It wasn’t true. She knew that. But she was frantically grabbing for ammunition. Then again, maybe it was true. This was happening too damn often to be a lousy coincidence.

“It’s not about the money,” Izzy argued. “It’s not about age or any of those things. Pierce makes me feel safe and secure and loved. Ally, no man has ever made me feel like this before.” She reached for Ally’s hand, but Ally yanked it away. Izzy grabbed for it again and held on anyway. “He will take good care of me and that’s a helluva lot more than I can say about anyone else I’ve ever been with. Do you remember when we were ten and we built a fort in your room out of the dining room chairs and Gram’s old Afghan blanket? We would snuggle in and pretend we were waiting for our Prince Charming to come rescue us from the castle.

“Ally, Pierce
is
my Prince Charming. He is. I know it because I can feel it all the way down to my Manolo’s.” Izzy put her arm around Ally’s waist and pulled her close. “Sweetie, I love him. I’m happy when I’m with him. And besides, he appreciates me and all my high maintenance glory.”

A faint smile formed through Ally’s trembling lips and Izzy was happy to finally see her smile.

Although Ally felt blindsided, she recognized the sincerity in Izzy’s words. How could she deny Izzy’s fairytale come true?

“When did all of this happen?” Ally gasped. “I had no idea it was getting this serious. Did I miss something? Where
was
I when this was going on?”

“Well,” Izzy patted her hand, “You’ve were pretty busy with your own blooming romance.”

“Right. It bloomed and then died a horrible, painful, excruciating death.” Ally scrubbed her hands over her face.

“That’s because you stopped watering it and moved it out of the sunlight.”

“Oh, Izzy.” Ally squeezed her tight. “Can you blame me for wanting to keep you here all to myself? I love you, sweetie.”

“Yeah, I’m not so bad. I love you too even though you’re about as stubborn as a freakin‘ mule.”

Ally sniffled. “When are you moving?”

“I told Pierce as soon as I get my best friend off her ass and back on track.”

“But that’s not going to happen,” she wined and more tears stung the back of her eyes. “Everything’s falling apart and I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“You have a great future in store for you, not to mention a man who loves you.”

“Yeah, a man who is currently 1,300 miles away.”

“I don’t care if he’s on the planet Neptune, Al, you need to make things right and get on with life. It’s passing you by and you won’t even open your eyes to see it.” Izzy stood up and pulled Ally to her feet.

It’s passing you by.

“That’s what Gram said to me.” Ally whispered.

“Well, she was a wise woman and she was right. No more standing still.”

No more standing still.

“Oh, God. I need to sit down.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

New Beginnings

Training camp had arrived and Ben couldn‘t wait to start the new season. Opening night was in just three short weeks.

After he was fitted for new skates, Ben looked around at his new locker room in awe. Newly remodeled, the Denver Blizzards’ 200,000 square-foot practice facility offered four UNHL-sized rinks, a weight room, sauna, pool table and video room for the players.

The first day of training camp wasn’t a day for on-ice activities. Instead it was a time for medical and physical testing, consisting of X-rays, blood, heart and strength testing. There was also a lot of administrative stuff, so everyone was especially enthused for the day after when they would finally be back on the ice.

The next day, the veterans and regulars joined the rookies on the ice for the first full day of training camp. After that, the training camp roster was broken up into squads for a scrimmage. There was a contagious energy of excitement in the building and on the rink. The players were finally back on the ice shooting, skating, and slamming each other into the boards. Everyone had big grins on their faces during the conditioning skate.

Hockey was back.

At the end of the day, Ben was sitting in the players’ lounge chatting with some of his teammates when his cell phone rang.

“Well, would you look at who’s calling me,” Ben said into his phone. “It’s Dom Devereaux. It’s good to hear from you.”

“Of course it is,” Dom said smugly. “How are things in the CO? How’s the hometown hero?”

“Things are good. It’s nice to be somewhere where you can’t fry an egg on the sidewalk in August. I’m actually getting ready to go house hunting.”

To pick out another bachelor pad.

Once upon a time, Ben had imagined Ally going with him to look at houses, but that wasn’t going to be the case. He had been dreading it, but he couldn’t stand being cramped in his apartment any longer. It had been good in a pinch, but Ben needed room to stretch out and he didn’t like not having a yard for Moose. Also, he wanted a kitchen where he could actually have the dishwasher and the fridge open at the same time. Not like he was Emeril Lagasse in need of a gourmet kitchen, but Ben felt like Sasquatch living in a dollhouse.

It was also time to put down some roots in Denver. Not to mention the fact that he hated playing ‘avoid the neighbor’. Lately, Courtney seemed to be everywhere. Every time the elevator doors opened, Ben said a silent prayer that she wasn’t behind door number one. He didn’t think he was strong enough to see her in another one of those tight sweaters. When he went downstairs for a stint in the weight room, there was Courtney on the treadmill. When he went across the street for coffee, she was there ordering a latte. When he walked through the lobby, there she was checking her mail.

Dom’s voice brought Ben back to the present. “Yeah, you sound thoroughly overjoyed about it. What’s up?” Dom had known Ben long enough to know that Ben was holding back.

“Ally and I kind of broke up, so…” Ben trailed off, knowing full well that Dom hated any resemblance of heart to heart conversations.

Dom groaned. “Dude, forget about her and get yourself some new pussy. You are The Shit right now, man. You’re on SportsCenter more than me for Christ’s sake. Take advantage of that.”

Ben smiled at how Dom’s competitive streak extended off the ice.

“Benny, you can have any girl you want.”

“Yeah,” Ben said halfheartedly to appease him.

It wasn’t like Ben hadn’t tried to move on. So far, he’d shared a bitter serving of Chinese food with his scrumptious neighbor and he’d rejected his new teammate’s sister’s best friend. Not bad for a few weeks in town.

“So, Mr. SportsCenter, what do you think of Las Vegas?” Dom asked.

“As a city or a TV show?” Ben replied with a smirk.

“As a home base. Or, get this Benny, think of it more as a pimp pad. No…Pimp Headquarters. Yeah. Pimp HQ.”

“I think I’m going to stick with the Mile-High City. What’s going on?”

“Benny, are you sitting down? I just signed with the Las Vegas Greenbacks!”

* * *

It was trash day and green and black cans littered the curbs. Izzy drove herself somewhere she didn’t think she would ever see again. Dom’s house. But she had to do the right thing. She was starting to feel a little guilty about taking his mirror and was on her way to return it. She was, of course, the better person and the mirror didn’t even match her décor. Or, her taste, for that matter. Dom’s taste was ornate and gaudy. Gaudy. She couldn’t even say that about his women. They were just plain cheap.

She felt weird driving up to his house, but was glad that this chapter in her life was about to be closed and over with. She had Pierce in her life now.

When Izzy pulled into the driveway, she noticed a car parked out front with a delivery sign propped on top of it. Pappy’s Pizza.

Oh good. Just in time for lunch. I’ll just drop this hideous mirror off, grab a slice, and be on my way to my new Dominator-free wonderful life.

Izzy hauled the mirror up to the door and rang the bell. Out of habit, she fluffed her hair, knowing she already looked extra fabulous today. Dom was going to miss out on all this fabulousness from here on out.

Ten seconds later, Dom answered the door in his red silk robe. Whether he intended the resemblance, or not, he looked like Hugh Hefner’s younger, taller and more athletic prodigy.

“Hi,” she said simply. Not volunteering any information, she hoped to make
him
feel like the uncomfortable one for once. It looked to be working already.

“Izzy….Hey.” His voice was gravelly and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “What’re you doin’ here?”

He was surprised to see her. After what happened the last time he saw her, he didn’t think he’d ever see her again. Especially not on his doorstep.
Unless
, she came back for one more taste of Dom. Yeah, that must be it. She had come running back to him. They always came back for more. He was like Lay’s potato chips.

Izzy pushed passed him and into the house, using the mirror as a shield. “I just came by to give you your mirror back.” She turned and held the mirror out to him as a very large and ostentatious peace offering.

He stood across from her a little hunched over, sort of resembling an ape. Then, as if to cement the image, he scratched at his balls.

Jesus, Pierce would never be so vulgar and disgusting.

But Dom also looked like something else. Tired. Really tired. Dark circles were starting to emerge from under his icy eyes. They had lost some of their fierceness and his slouching shoulders made him appear uncharacteristically defeated.

“Thanks.” He shrugged, took the mirror from her and leaned it up against the wall. “Hey babe, I’m sorry about what happened between us.”

Izzy was surprised by how genuine he sounded. Apologies were not the Dominic way.

“Me too.”

Just like old times, he started to reach for her and she took a step back from him in return. She wasn’t here for
that
.

“It’s not how I wanted things to end between us,” he revealed. Now, that last part wasn’t completely genuine. Ideally, he would’ve preferred to end things by never calling her again. “You look…great. Different, but still sexy as hell.”

Lazily, he looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her best attribute. Her breasts. Something about her was different, though, and he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. Her attributes weren’t hanging out of her blouse, that was for sure, and that was very unfortunate to say the least. He was pretty sure she hadn’t changed her hair and her clothes were a little less revealing, but what was it?

Then he saw it in her eyes. He knew a thing or three about satisfying women, but this was
different
. She looked one hundred percent
happy
. And he knew it had nothing to do with him.

“Thank you.” She looked back at him, locking him in her memory. His dark eyelashes fanned around his ice blue eyes. They hadn’t changed.
He
hadn’t changed and she knew he never would. In a way, she felt sorry for him. She briefly wondered if he would ever find what it was he was looking for. Like she had. Then, she quickly flicked the thought away. She had a new man and a new life to think about. But, oh, it was hard to forget the time she and Dom had spent together.

She was still physically attracted to Dom. He still had that raw, sexy maleness about him. It didn’t help that his silk robe fell just about mid-thigh. Those wonderfully muscular thighs that had slapped against her own on more than one sweaty occasion.

“I’m getting married,” she blurted.

He took a step back like he had been slapped in the face. That was the last thing he expected her to say. “Oh.”

“To Pierce Spencer. You might have heard of him.”
He’s successful at his living without even breaking a sweat
.

She watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down when he swallowed. “Wow.” He blinked. “Well, congratulations.”

“Thank you, Dom.”

She felt a tug at her heartstrings. It was miniscule, but a tug nonetheless. He looked so vulnerable standing there all alone in his three million dollar mansion. So strong and virile wearing only a silk robe and his five o‘clock shadow.

“I’m moving to Vegas,” Dom said, scratching at the stubble on his face.

“Good for you.”

It sounded like the perfect place for a guy like him, but Izzy wondered if Las Vegas would be a big enough city for the likes of Dominic Devereaux. It would suit him, though. When she thought about it, Izzy couldn’t imagine Dom living anywhere else. He would be able to cycle through women and not have
to sleep with the same one twice. The women in Vegas might last him a few years. Who would have thought they would end up living in the same city when all was said and done?

They stood in silence while the seconds ticked away on the living room clock. A dog barked somewhere in his neighborhood. A plane flew overhead.

Izzy shifted her feet. “I…”

A woman’s voice came from down the hall breaking through the quiet. “Dominic? Come back to bed!”

Awk-
ward
.

Izzy wanted to be shocked, but she wasn’t even fazed by it anymore. She shook her head as if to shake off the trance he held her in.

Dominic ignored the woman’s voice and scratched his head. “Thanks for bringing the mirror back.”

“Goodbye Dom.”

Enjoy your pap smear pizza.

Izzy turned on her stilettos and marched out of Dom’s machismo home feeling six feet tall.

She climbed into her fabulous car, cranked up the stereo and gunned the engine.