Page 3 of Ice Melts

“You know it.”

She hung up the phone and then it immediately rang again. But when she saw who was calling, she couldn’t pick up. Her best friend Tatum would want to talk about the latest buzz she just created.

Instead, Sarah pulled up a picture of Tatum on her phone. She loved her even more than someone could love a sister if that was possible. They had done everything together their whole lives, even now, they were close enough she knew what perfume was still Tatum’s favorite. She knew what restaurants she haunted and she knew the minute she went out on a date. But she didn’t pick up the call.

Sarah couldn’t talk to her about work. There was something about her best friend that brought out brutal honesty, and Sarah much preferred viewing herself as a saintly sort of person saving the athletic world from drug overdose.

While that might be partly true, what she was really doing, was hoping for a little attention from one hockey player in particular, pure and simple. And what Tatum didn’t know about her secret lifetime crush on her brother wouldn’t ever hurt her. Sarah was going to make sure of it.

So she didn’t pick up the phone, not yet.

Surely Tatum had seen the press. Surely Travis had seen the press.

Tatum’s brother Travis was her secret crush. The one thing Tatum didn’t and could never know about Sarah Cooper was that she was fatally and forever in love with her twin brother Travis, and there was nothing anyone in the world could do about it. Nothing that Sarah was willing to do about it. And therefore she was stuck hating hockey players while secretly in love with one of the best more famous and talented players in this decade. Travis Jenkins played for the Seahorns and was basically the best thing that ever happened to hockey. He was amazing on the ice. Whether defense or offense or somewhere in between, he did what needed to be done. He was the top draft pick and remained the most sought-after player in the NHL. The one thing he did not yet have, was a Stanley Cup. And Sarah suspected this was his year.

The main reason Sarah had kept her secret so thoroughly for all these years? Travis could get any woman he wanted. And Tatum had been used by enough women trying to get a chance with Travis. Sarah would not ever be that woman. And…well…they couldn’t know because he’d broken her heart once already. She closed her phone and placed it face down on the seat bedside her.

It was not a true heart break. It had been prom. And it was a long time ago. But she’d agreed to go with him because they both didn’t have dates. Only, then, he’d gotten himself a date and blew her off like it didn’t matter.

But it had mattered. She’d been counting the night as her one chance with him, to go from friends to more. She’d used half her savings on a dress. And she’d ended up not having a date at all.

When Tatum had found out, she’d reamed out Travis. He’d come over and apologized after prom, but she’d promised him and Tatum that she had no feelings for the guy and never would.

And she’d stuck by that lie for at least a decade now.

The other reason? Hockey players were a dangerous breed to date. They had too many women, too much fame, way too much money and no real need for anything steady in the romance department.

No way was she going to be hurt by Travis again, or by any other hockey player in the meantime.

CHAPTER TWO

Travis slammed his laptop shut. Everyone was talking about some new Sarah accusation. Clubs. Drinking. Drugs. Yes, it was all terrible. But it was a few players, not all the players, not him. And he felt guilty by association. What was wrong with Sarah anyway? Why the personal vendetta against one sport? There was no way he could not take it personally. They were friends. She obviously knew he’d read it. Every gossip column, every hit at the sport’s credibility hit him in the gut like she’d sucker punched him. They’d played together as kids! She was his sister’s best friend. He had almost taken her to prom. He pinched the top of his nose. Why did people pinch the bridge of their noses? It wasn’t helping. Then he stood, too much energy to walk off.

An attack on hockey was an attack on the whole sport and an attack on him. It brought down his own credibility.

A small voice inside tried to whisper something about it being the actual hockey players themselves that were doing drugs and frequenting bando parties, but he pushed it aside. He’d never been to any of those and doubted they were prevalent. Just because one guy did it, didn’t mean they all did.And even if so, they definitely didn’t need to be shouted about in the press, showing the worst possible angles and scenarios. He paced his room. A soft knock interrupted. “Travis?” His sister Tatum’s hesitant voice softened something inside that was ready for a fight.

“Come on in.” He fell back on his bed, arms behind his head.

She laid beside him on his other pillow like they used to do. “There are no cracks in your ceiling.”

“If you look closely next to the molding there might be one.”

He felt her smile next to him.

They used to follow the cracks in the ceiling as kids, they’d watch the lines from the dry wall tape and carve paths across from one corner to another.

She sighed. “Nothing is simple anymore.”

He waited for her to keep talking to give him some context, but she just lay in silence.

“So I’m clear, are we talking about Mom’s cancer? Your finals? new boyfriend? Nails? Hair? Or Sarah’s latest article.”

She laughed. “Well, when you put it like that, I guess all of it. Finals suck. I can’t believe I’m going back for a Masters. I feel like the oldest person in college. I need a mani-pedi like you would not believe. I don’t want to talk about Mom, but she’s tired.” She was quiet for a few seconds until he almost asked again. Then she said softly, “I think I came in here to talk about you and Sarah.”

“Me and Sarah?”Together? That was something he would never admit to anyone.

“Yeah. I mean. Why have you never dated?”

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