Page 1 of Breaking the Ice

1

“Hello… Bec?”

“Hey babe.”

Samantha Evans wiped her nose on a tissue, inordinately pleased her sister was home at the exact time her life had decided to fall apart.

“Are you crying? What’s wrong? You never cry. Hang on for a sec?—”

Hot tears welled in Sam’s eyes again as Bec yelled at her girls to turn the television down. General protesting could be heard but Bec overruled it all with threats to cancel their much-coveted summer camp plans and the background noise dulled.

“Okay. Tell me what happened. And who do I need to beat up?”

Samantha could barely raise a smile at Bec’s don’t-mess-with-my-sister act. “I ran into Gary at a company function last night.”

“What was God-awful Gary doing at a high-flyers event? That’s a bit energetic for him.”

“He was there with a woman from a rival firm. They’re getting married.She’s pregnant.”

“I thought Gary didn’t believe in marriage and kids?”

“So did I.”

There was a moment of sisterly silence. “Okay… but Gary’s a rat who dumped you twelve months ago in the middle of the tax season and gave you lousy sex and we hatesss him… remember? Why are you crying over that loser now?”

“Because something strange happened last night. I suddenly realized I’m Sally.”

Bec’s sigh was loud in Sam’s ear. “Babe, you really gotta stop watching that movie. You are Sam. And it is just a movie.”

“No, see, Sally had a point.” Samantha’s voice wobbled. “It wasn’t that Gary didn’t want to get married and have kids, he just didn’t want to do it with me.”

“Okay, I don’t know who this is, but you better put me on to my sister right now,” Bec joked. “You know the single-minded, career girl hell-bent on a corner office?”

Samantha didn’t say anything, too depressed by her sister’s summation of her life.

“Since when is marriage and children part of your equation?”

“It’s not. They’re not,” she denied. “But then last night…” A hard ball of emotion lodged in Sam’s throat. “Why didn’t he want to marry me? What’s the matter with me, Bec?”

“Nothing’s the matter with you. You’ve just been a little too focused on your career to notice your appalling taste in men.”

“You’re right. I’m too career orientated. I get up, I go to work, I come home late, I feed Godzilla, I go to bed. God…” She groaned. “I’m so boring.”

“No, you work hard. Of course you’re tired at the end of the day.You’re… sensible.”

“I’m staid.”

“You’re reliable.”

Sam groaned inwardly. “Oh, God. I sound like a Volvo. I suck.”

“No, babe. Your life sucks. That’s different.”

Samantha could always count on Bec to tell it like it was and she sniffed at the truth in her sister’s words. Being a good girl all her life, studying hard, working frenetically, climbing the ladder, hadn’t left her much time for a life. For goodness’ sake, her two closest relationships were with an octogenarian bookshop owner and an obese fish!

Sure, she’d almost reached the pinnacle of her career, was financially secure and living the life of a young, urban, modern woman. Supposedly. She was exactly where she wanted to be… so why did it suddenly feel so lonely?

“Sounds to me like running into Gary tripped your clock. Your eggs have decided it’s time to fulfill their biological purpose.”

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