Page 17 of Ice Melts

She nudged him with her knee. "C’mon, Jenkins. Give me some words of reassurance here."

He exhaled, shaking his head. "Sarah, I’d skate through a blizzard to see you."

Her breath caught slightly.

He grinned, nudging her back. "You’re stuck with me, Cooper. No matter where we end up."

Sarah studied him for a long second, like she was debating something.

Then she sighed dramatically, falling back into the snow. "Well, if I have to be stuck with you, I guess there are worse things."

Travis laughed, but something inside him ached.

Because he wanted more.

He just wasn’t sure if she did too.

And so, like every other time, he swallowed it down.

Because almost was safer than losing her altogether.

She relived the memory, this time imagining what went through Travis’ mind.

Wishful thinking.

Scratching to a stop, she turned to the ice in front of her neighbors. Time to shake this indulgence. She’d begin her skate around the lake. It was five miles of smooth ice. She’d stay near shore and make her way. Maybe by the time she returned, she’d have her head on straight again.

Her snort came out in a puff of white air. She was pathetic. But she couldn’t help it. She’d tried and tried. Travis was there to stay in one or another casting tendrils about in her thoughts.

The lake was gorgeous. The bottom was sometimes sandy with wave ripples, sometimes full of vegetation and sometimes an occasional old tire or Styrofoam cup littered the sand. No fish were visible. She’d never seen a fish through the ice. The many ice huts with flags on top were proof that others caught fish during the winter but she couldn’t imagine where they were or what they did in this frigid water.

When her thighs began to ache at around the halfway point, she began to reconsider her inflammatory articles. Was it doing any good really?

Hard to say. She’d heard that the last coach had put some of his players on leave for the next game. That said something even if only a slap on the wrist.

And she’d obviously not reached Travis at all. He never called, or even acknowledged her any more. So much for trying to get his attention.

She was gaining much more derision than respect in the journalism world, or at least in the sports world.

Maybe it was time to use her investigative reporting skills on something different.

The sun came out. The air was still icy but felt fresh on her skin. She put all heavy thoughts aside and focused on her chance to be out on the ice.

Before she could go ten more feet, her phone dinged with an incoming text. “Can I call you?”Travis.

She nearly choked on the sudden heart pounding in her throat. Her hands shook as she slowed to a stop, considering. She could ignore it until later. Her read receipts weren’t on. He wouldn’t know when she saw it. But that was just putting off the inevitable. They were going to speak to one another. They had a trip to Italy planned. It was Tatum’s idea and the idea scared and excited her at the same time. She had some serious concerns Travis hated her at this point, but she was not going to turn down the Dolomites.

Her phone dinged again. “I want to talk Italy.”

She breathed out nice and slowly, trying to calm her voice, her heart, her breath, her stomach…everything needed calming. What did that mean? Was he going to cancel? Had she finally pushed him too far?

She swallowed the lump in her throat with some amount of paint, placed a hand at her heart and then called him.

It rang five times. She almost clicked the phone off but then his familiar deep voice said, “Hey, Sarah.”

She closed her eyes. “Hey Trav.”

There was a longer than necessary pause. She cleared her throat but before she could make up something to say, he laughed. “It’s been awhile.”

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