Page 2 of Cold as Ice

“Did you tell her you were traded?” There were no niceties, no how are you just right to the point.

“No Dad, I didn’t.”

“She doesn’t know you’re back in town? You just announced her presence to the press after all these years and she doesn’t even know? Son.” He sighed into the phone. “You’re going to need her new number. Do you have a pen?” His words stunned me for a split second.

“Why do you have her number?” I growled into the phone.

“Because she gave it to me when your mother was ill, in case we had any questions that she could help with. Just because she is mad at you doesn’t mean she cut us all off. June, where’s Ginny’s number?” I heard him yell. He must have moved the phone away from his mouth, because it sounded like he was in a tunnel. “Do you have a pen?” He rattled off the number, and I scribbled it onto a piece of paper.

“Thanks dad. Tell mom I said hi, I will be there shortly, I just need to pack up.” I ended the call and stared at the number. What should I do with it? Ignore it until she gets a hold of me? If it was that easy to get her number, she should be able to get mine just as easily. I hadn’t changed my number, so she probably still had it.

I dialled the number and waited. It rang and rang before the voice mail kicked in.“Hey it’s Virginia. I’m on the ice or sleeping, so please leave a message and I will get back to you.”Her voice still sent a thrill through me. I had forgotten how much I missed it.

“Hey, Gin. We need to talk. I am heading to Mom and Dad’s if you need to get a hold of me or want to come over. Anyway, talk soon.” I ended the call and stared at the phone, willing her to call back right away, but it remained silent. Tossing the phone on the bed, I walked around the room and packed my things up. It didn’t take long. I had been here less than twelve hours after my late flight in last night. It was the reason I didn’t go to my parents and stayed here instead.

Empty building after empty building greeted me as the car I was in drove through town. I hadn’t realized how much had closed in the last few years. The general store was gone. Fish’s pharmacy looked like it had closed ages ago and the ladies’ boutique was dark on that block as well. With the city being only forty-five minutes away, it seemed like it had swallowed the town. It used to be vibrant and buzzing with people, but now it looked tired and on the verge of collapse.

The rink loomed at the end of Main Street. It looked the same, a grey building with an arched roof. They had attached a new building to it, and I assumed it was the sports medicine facility that Ginny was in charge of. We drove by and rounded the corner. I was taken back to my childhood when I saw the two-story homes, the tree-lined street and Christmas lights everywhere in early December. Living so close to the rink meant I was there every waking hour unless I was at school.

Pulling up to my childhood home, I had immediate regrets about not booking into the hotel for longer. The door swung open and my dad rushed out. “There you are. We’ve been waiting.” He hugged me as soon as I got out of the car. My father had been the one to drive me all over for games and practices and for the first time, I noticed, he looked tired. I thought he was invincible. The last time he looked like this was when I broke my leg in my second season. I was doing this to him. Great, something else was my fault. He looked “Let me grab your bags. Head on into the house.” He moved to the back of the car and grabbed my suitcases out of the trunk and shooed me up the walk to my mother’s waiting arms.

“Welcome home. Oh look at you, I can’t believe you’re here. Come to the sofa.” She put her hand on my back as she guided to the living room. “Sit and I will get you a coffee.” She rushed off and dad walked into the room and sat across from me in his chair. The same reclining chair he had sat in for twenty years. The entire house was like a time capsule of my career. Old trophies in the china cabinet, hockey cards propped up against them. My older sister Rachel had been a barrel racer and her ribbons and buckles took up her own side and my sister Leah’s dance trophies filled the other.

Rachel was married to Jeff, and they had two boys. My nephews, Dylan and Wyatt, kept them busy, but Leah was still single. “Hey dad, what’s Leah up to?” I asked as I looked from her stuff to dad.

The sound of the paper flicking as he opened it took me back to every night of my childhood. He sat there reading his paper until he was done. You couldn’t even get more than one-word answers out of him. “Oh, you know, just living her best life, or that’s what she says, anyway. I think she was going to check on Ginny. Your mother spilled the news of the trade earlier this afternoon and we didn’t want her alone when you made things public.” He lowered the newspaper and looked at me. “You’re going to have to see her son. The decision to come back here was one your mother, and I thought was odd.” My father’s stare could have made the most hardened criminal confess, or that’s what I thought as a kid, and quite frankly I still did.

“Yeah, I know dad but I have to get this figured out one way or the other.” Grabbing my phone, I scrolled through social media. But it didn’t help because I was bombarded by news of my trade. “Dad, how is she?” I looked at the floor, unable to make eye contact with him.

He tossed the paper to the table beside him and crossed his arms. “She’s good, I think. Ginny keeps busy at the facility. Between her work and the skating kids, she’s not really around much.” He folded his hands in his lap and contemplated something for a moment. “Son, she faced a lot of backlash when she came home, and she dealt with it gracefully and admitted she was the reason for the separation. So she threw herself into the after school skating program for the kids. The parents of those kids didn’t want to be seen in public with her, but they sure sent their kids through her program.” My blood ran cold, finding out how hard it was for her when she came back. I thought that after all this time, people would have forgotten it. But in true small town style, everyone had and elephant's memory. “We’ve tried to get her help to run programs, but she is determined to run everything herself. I think it’s so she doesn’t have to face how lonely she is.” His eyes fluttered down to his hands, and he stopped talking.

Flipping my phone around in my hands, I let his words about Ginny being lonely echo in my mind. We had let this go on too long. It hadn’t been fair to either of us to live in the limbo of being separated. Tossing the phone aside, I stood and hopped into the kitchen.

The back door flew open. “Hey, ass hole how’ve you been?” Staring into the face of my younger sister, she still grinned like she was five. Hopping up on the counter beside me, she popped a grape in her mouth. Her long dark hair was curled and in a high ponytail, makeup impeccably done and still annoying.

“Dad said you saw Ginny. Did she say anything?” I said, leaning on the counter across from her.

“Kids, if you can’t get along, you can both go to your rooms,” my mother said without turning around or barely acknowledging we were in the same room as her.

“I don’t even live here anymore,” Leah said, staring at the back of mom’s head.

“Neither do I,” I scoffed. She turned to look at both of us.

Pointing the knife she was holding at Leah, she said, “you’re here almost every night eating.” Turning to me, she still had an iron grip on the weapon. “And you, sounds like you’re here for a while, until you find a place to live, so technically you live here again.” She turned back to whisk the eggs she had cracked into a bowl. “What are your plans for Christmas, you two?” She set the knife down and looked between us with her hand on her hip.

“Well, I will be here,” Leah said. “Where else would I be?”

“You never know these days, child.” Mom shifted her eyes to me. “I’m assuming you will still get your few days off over the holidays?”

“I would think so. I hope to find out more tomorrow. But just count on me being here.” I grabbed a piece of bacon and narrowly missed being slapped with the spatula she had picked up.

“Well, this is a strange turn of events. I get to see you before your wife sees you,” Leah said as she hopped off the counter. “Should I tell her you said hi when I see her tonight? We were going out to get a drink. She needs one, that’s for sure.” He raised her brows and smiled.

“Don’t you say anything about me to Ginny. I will talk to her on my own,” I barked, as I felt anger rise in me. She had always been a troublemaker, and I didn’t need her help.

She held up her hands, and my mother slammed her wooden spoon on the counter. “I’m leaving, and I won’t say anything. Geeze.” Leah left the room without anymore conversation.

“It doesn’t matter how old you two are, you have to fight, don’t you?” Mom shook her head and went back to the stove. She was short but feisty, there was no doubt she could still paddle me with that spoon if she wanted to. Not that she ever had, but the threat was always there.

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