Page 80 of Ice King

It became obvious I hadn’t lost my underlying bitchy persona because when the late morning news carried a story about a murder in the Cascade Mountains surrounding the town, my thoughts turned venomous for a brief few seconds. I doubted my boss would approve of me killing off the clientele.

Unfortunately, I needed the job. The last thing I wanted to do was to touch the money I’d brought with me. That was my nest egg.

The tinkle of the bell over the door brought new customers and another smile.

And at least one friend waltzing into the shop. With the sun outside the huge plateglass window, I could only tell that Roxanne was leading the way with someone following her. Roxanne ripped off her sunglasses, her usual huge smile crowding her lovely face.

She’d tried to get me to talk or even to go out for lunch or dinner with her, but the time dealing with Ford and what had transpired had taken enough of a toll that all I wanted was to be a homebody.

The second I noticed Samantha was trailing behind her, I held my breath. If the sister was about to unleash on me, I didn’t think I could handle it.

“Hiya,” Roxanne said as she crowded the counter.

“Come for a coffee?” I asked, eyeing Samantha. Her expression didn’t indicate she was angry, but at this point, I appeared to be a very bad judge of character. She was Ford’s sister and I knew how close they were.

“I’d prefer wine, but apparently, you don’t sell that.” Roxanne shook her finger. “You’ve been avoiding my calls.”

“I’ve been busy. Now, what would you ladies enjoy? Come to find it out, I’m not a bad barista. At least I’m good at something.”

“There it is,” Roxanne added.

“There what is?” I tossed back.

She rolled her eyes in her dramatic flair, which I had to admit I’d missed very much. In ten days, the group had become my found family. Now I felt more alone than I had in a very long time.

“The attitude,” Samantha answered, jumping into the conversation.

“I don’t have an attitude. I’m just busy.”

“Yes, you do,” Roxanne confirmed. “Now, why don’t you make the three of us something festive and come sit down.”

“I’m working and there are customers.”

She turned her head, throwing her arms out since there was no one else in the place. “That’s an order. You’re not going to hide from us forever.”

“Fine.” I yanked three cups, making some crazy concoction that made no sense. When I brought the coffees to the table, both women were staring at me to the point I started sweating.

“Sit,” Samantha commanded and I could at least see some spunkiness in her eyes. Maybe she didn’t hate me for ruining her brother’s life as everyone else had done. “And I know what you’re thinking and no, I’m not angry with you, but I am furious with Ford and fed up with the two of you.”

“What did I do other than care?”

“You let him get away with being five years old,” she tossed back at me.

Well, she had a point there.

Even the media had acted as if at twenty-eight years old, he was completely washed up. Had they not seen him play? He was strong as an ox.

“Okay, I’m sitting. Did something happen to Ford? Did he not take care of himself and he’s in the hospital?” I shifted my gaze from one to the other, groaning as soon as I did. So much for pretending like I didn’t give a shit.

“I told you,” Roxanne said to Samantha.

“Same garbage as when I try and confront my brother. Although he runs like a deer in the headlights. Well,” Samantha chided, her nose wrinkling, “I’ve tried to talk to him, but he either remains behind locked doors or shoves me away when he comes into the office. He’s such a baby, acting like he’s going to quit playing hockey.”

“Shit. He’s believing the social media garbage,” I growled.

“Yeah, but he also lost a huge national sponsor. At least that’s what he told our dad.”

I slunk further into the seat, feeling even guiltier than before. “That’s terrible.” All my fault.