Page 18 of Ice Melts

“Yes, it has.” She started skating to calm her nerves nad give her focus.

“Wait. Do I hear ice out there? Where are you?”

She shook her head. “It’s uncanny how you can hear ice.”

“Well, is it?”

“Yes. I’m on Porter lake right across the lake from the house right now.”

“No way. You’re in Detroit? At thje lake!”

“I’m on it as we speak, it’s frozen. No snow.”

“I’ll be there in an hour.”

Her breath caught. “Wait, what?”

“I’m here too!” He laughed. “You don’t mind? I mean, if you do, I’ll stay out of your way, but I’m not missing the lake frozen solid before a snow.”

Her smile stretched across her face, her cheeks stiff from the cold. “I get it. I mean, I’d like that. I’ll meet you out on the ice.”

“You’ll be out there another hour?”

“Well, I gotta get the rest of the way around.”

“I’ll come bearing a thermos.”

“Mmm. Perfect.”

He hung up and she kept smiling. Things seemed so much like they used to be. Just two friends and the lake. She picked up her pace. It wouldn’t take a full hour to get back home, but she wanted to use the bathroom real quick. And make things look a bit more homey. Maybe they could order in.

She shook her head, already chastising herself. This was not the start of anything. This was two friends on the lake…and maybe not even the two friends part. How could Travis feel anything but dislike for her at this point?

She breathed out those thoughts and let her smile return. No matter what, this spontaneous trip to the lake house had just become that much better. And really, what she wanted was some reconciliation. Could they just be at peace with one another?

She pressed her mouth together. Not if she kept exposing hockey players.

Her mind circled around and around questioning all her life choices until she had to stop. One coincidental visit to the lake house before they’d even had a conversation could not be the impetus to change everything in her life.

The ruminating thoughts would have to stop. But couldn’t he help her? Didn’t he also want the players to be better? To do better? Drug use couldn’t be good for anyone…She told herself to stop. Again.

With a laugh, she spun and then twirled around to skate backward. If skating on a beautiful lake with clear glass like ice for as far as she could see would not distract her, then nothing could.

She studied the homes along this side of the lake. They were much smaller and more closely packed together. Occasionally she saw a curl of smoke coming out of a chimney, a light on here or there, but for the most part, everything seemed deserted.

Up ahead, a truck backed out onto the ice. A fully assembled ice hut stood up in the back. She shook her head. That was a cold hobby.

Every now and then a ping echoed across the ice as she went over. As a young girl, she’d been certain those were cracks, and she’d scurried off the ice, worried she would fall through. But now it felt like music. So many of her associated memories camefrom the feel of the cold on her skin, the smell of the air in winter, the sounds of ice, and the sensation of gliding across a smooth surface.

During winters when it snowed, they would shovel a rink and drag the hose out there. The extra layer of water froze right away. Two goals came out. Hockey was the focus of everyone’s afternoons.

Up ahead, the inlet to the lake from a local tributary seemed wet. She adjusted her direction and made her way more directly across the lake instead of continuing at its edge.

She knew Travis had beat her to the house because a thick column of smoke rose from the chimney and two goals sat out on the ice. Their speaker rested on the dock, a long extension cord heading back up to the house, music playing.

She smiled.

His skates were waiting at the end of the dock, leaning against each other.

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