Girls Only! (3 page)

At least she had
one
friend in town!

The shops on the edge of Alpine Lake were the poorest excuse for a mall Livvy had ever seen. She found herself buying school supplies at a drugstore, of all places!

When she’d checked off her list and paid for her supplies, she wandered over to another shop—the Cloth Mill. There she searched through bolts of bright-colored fabric and packages of sparkly sequins.

“May I help you?” a cheerful clerk asked.

“Just looking, thanks.”

The woman chuckled a bit, her turquoise bracelet jangling. “Please, feel free to look around. And take all the time you need. We have plenty of markdowns this weekend.”

“Okay, I’ll look.”

Pausing, the clerk asked, “Are you from the Midwest somewhere?”

“Chicago,” she said proudly.

The woman clicked her fingers. “I thought so!”

“Really?” Livvy was surprised. “Do I have an accent?”

“I never would’ve guessed, except that I have some cousins who live back there. You sound just like them.”

Livvy felt completely comfortable telling the clerk that she and her father had just moved to Alpine Lake. “It’s a first for me . . . moving someplace new.”

“Well, let me be the first to welcome you to the prettiest place on earth.”

Easy for her to say
. Livvy forced a smile.

“Why so glum? Our town’s full of wonderful folks, you’ll see.”

“I’m sure it is.” Quickly, she filled the clerk in on her biggest worry. “It’s just that I’m an ice skater . . . without a coach.”

“Oh, that
is
a problem.” The woman’s eyes were kind and sincere. “You’ll just have to practice on the mall skating rink, I guess.”

“There’s a rink
here?
”

The woman nodded emphatically. “Go see for yourself.” She gave easy directions. “You can’t miss it.”

Normally, Livvy never would have confided in a stranger like this, but the clerk had such an honest face. Like her own mother’s. And there was something endearing about the way the woman’s eyes focused right on her, tears glistening in the corners when Livvy told of her mother’s recent death.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.”

The more they talked, the more Livvy liked the
well-dressed clerk. She soon discovered that the sunny Mrs. Newton was a regular volunteer at the middle school.

“Then I’ll be seeing you again,” Livvy said before leaving.

“Oh, you’ll see me, all right!”

Livvy couldn’t help but feel encouraged. Grandma Hudson had told her that “small-town folks are some of the friendliest around.”

She hoped Grandma was right about
all
the people here as she headed off to check out the skating rink. Along the way, she noticed several other girls shopping with their moms.

Sighing, she hated the thought of trying to survive middle school and beyond without Mom. She tried not to gawk but felt super envious and sad. Very sad.

Livvy scurried off, leaving the girls and their mothers behind. She located the mall rink quickly. It was situated in the middle of the small emporium. Tall trees with twinkling white lights dotted the area around the rink.

“Super stuff,” she said to herself.

Walking all the way around, she remembered every ice skating event she and her mom had attended. Always together. With everything in her, she hoped someday she could get back on track with skating. She’d have to go through the hassle of finding a new coach to regain what
she’d already lost. By not training every single day, she could lose some of the long-practiced, perfected spirals, spins, and jumps.

Every day!

It would take forever to get back her agility and strength. In more ways than one, Livvy’s dreams were on ice. . . .

Dreams on Ice

Chapter Five

“But, Dad, you
promised
!”

Her father looked up from a pile of lumber and sanding tools in what had been their living room. He surveyed the mess. “Sorry, Liv. I didn’t realize this project would take so long. Can we surprise your pen pal another weekend?”

“Like when?
Next
Sunday?”

“That’s a good possibility.”

His answer was too uncertain. Here they were, only one hour’s drive away from her pen pal! They’d checked out the distance on the map. And now her dad was changing his mind and calling off the trip.

She slumped onto the bottom step, its wood stripped bare of stain. “I was living for today . . . to finally meet
Jenna,” she said softly. “I don’t know anyone around here.”

“You know
me
.” Her father’s face was caked with sawdust, almost comically so.

But she refused to laugh. He’d let her down, and she felt like pouting or worse. “This town is so boring.”

“Well, if you want something exciting to do,
here
.” He held out the sander. “I could use a little help.”

He had a point. So she spent her entire afternoon helping with her dad’s latest art project—remodeling their horrid house! Livvy sanded woodwork—baseboards and trim around doorways—till she thought her arm would keep vibrating by itself. Even after the sander was turned off!

When it was time for supper, she talked her dad into driving them to the mall for burgers. “There’s a skating rink in the middle of the shops,” she said. It was the first she’d breathed a word of her discovery.

“There’s a skating rink in a boring town like this?” he teased.

Livvy wished he would show some real excitement. For a change. “There are skaters everywhere in this world,” she insisted. “
Everywhere
. You can’t get away from rinks and skaters . . . no matter where we live.”

He shrugged. Clearly, he wasn’t interested.

But Livvy had an idea. She would take her skates
along and try out the ice, and her dad would watch. He’d have to!

She wouldn’t say a thing about her plan. Not one word.

While her dad shaved and showered, she hid her skate bag in the backseat of the car. Super cool! This was the moment she’d been waiting for.

An hour later, Livvy and her dad were waiting in line at the only fast-food place in town. “What’re you gonna order?” she asked, hoping that his appetite might be returning to normal.

“Probably a milk shake.”

“Daddy! You’ve been working hard all day. You need something
real
to eat.”

He chortled. “Real, eh?”

“You know what I mean. I don’t want you to fade away to nothing. Please, won’t you eat a sandwich?”

His cheeks flinched, and for the first time in weeks he put his arm around her. “I’ll think about it, kiddo.”

When they got up to the window, she was pleased to hear her dad order a cheeseburger and fries. Her hopes were high for a similar response to her personal skating revue. If she could just divert his attention long enough to retrieve her skates from the car, lace up, and claim center ice.

That’s when she thought of talkative Mrs. Newton at
the fabric shop. “Can we window shop a little?” she asked as they located a table for two.

Her father groaned at the request. “You know how shopping affects me.” He began to massage his temples. “I feel a migraine coming on.”

“We’ll just look, I promise.”

He shook his head as if to say, “This is hopeless.” “Honest, Dad. I won’t buy a thing!”

She waited, but he said no more. Encouraged, she assumed that his silence was a yes. She could hardly wait. “The Cloth Mill’s nearby. It’s a fabric shop.”

“Fabric?”

“You know, to make outfits.”

He frowned. “What outfits?”

“New school clothes, for one.” She didn’t dare mention skating costumes. Not yet.

Nodding, he continued to nibble on his cheeseburger.

Livvy didn’t want to distract him from his food. But she
did
want to get him thinking about the Cloth Mill. She could only hope that Mrs. Newton was working tonight.

“I could use some new tops for school,” she said. “I made a couple last fall. Mom and I—”

“We can
afford
to buy ready-made clothing,” he interrupted.

“But, Dad, I—”

“There’s no need for you to sew.” His voice cracked, and when he reached to crumple their trash, Livvy saw that his hand was shaking.

So her plan was shot.

She didn’t say a word about the fabric store again. And she didn’t bother to show him the skating rink, either.

Pointless!

Dreams on Ice

Chapter Six

Br-r-ring!

The clock alarm jangled her awake. Livvy slammed her hand down on the turn-off button.

Ah . . . peace. She was tempted to lie back and snooze. Instead, she sat up and stretched.

Five o’clock seemed horribly early in Colorado. She had been getting up before dawn ever since grade-school days. Why was it so hard today?

Leaning back on her pillows, she stared past the tall windows at the opposite end of her spacious room. Sheer yellow curtains allowed her to see out into the blackness, thanks to the faint porch light below.

She craned her neck forward, looking and wondering.
Why is it so dark here?

Getting up, she tiptoed to the stairs, heading to the
third floor. Soon it would be the studio loft. Once her dad finished the main part of the house, he planned to do some major work on his artist’s getaway. Private and quaint, it was the ideal spot for his creativity.

She noticed his wall clock, the shape of an easel. Listening, she could hear its gentle clicking.

5:07
A.M.
Same time as her clock.

Hurrying back to her room, she stood at the window. A dense cloud cover was the reason for the darkness. It was impossible for the sun to shine through. The weather matched her mood. This was to be her first skating day in Podunk town. A skating session on her own. Could she pull it off?

The mini mall was nearly deserted, except for a few early-morning walkers. Mostly older people, she guessed.

While doing her stretching exercises, she caught sight of two women. They looked closer to her mother’s age than the others and chattered almost as fast as her cockatiel. But they didn’t notice Livvy near the rink. They never paused to say “Good morning.”

“Hello,” she called just to see if they’d wave or greet her. They turned only briefly and smiled but kept going, their arms moving almost as fast as their trim legs.

“Looks like Mrs. Newton was only half right about
the people here,” she mumbled as she stepped onto the ice.

Slowly, Livvy’s legs began to warm up. She focused on the perimeters of the rink, eyeing it for size. Then around and around she skated. The delicate smoothness under her blades made her homesick for Elena . . . for her skating pals in Chicago. But she had to get the feel of this rink. Not Olympic size, but better than nothing.

The festive white lights in the trees surrounding the rink blurred as she sped up. Before ever attempting a jump, she practiced a long spiral, followed by a couple of sit spins.

I still have it
, she thought.
I know I do!

She remembered the thrill of competing at regionals as a novice last November. Her mother had made the trip to Michigan even though the chemo treatments had left her terribly weak. They’d hugged hard after Livvy’s free-skate program. And Elena was there, all smiles, waiting for the judges’ scoring.

The announcer’s words rang in her ears. “Second place goes to Olivia Hudson from Illinois.”

Super cool! She was on her way.

“This one’s for you,”
she’d told her mom.

“No . . . no
. You
deserve every bit of it, kiddo.”
Tears of joy streamed down her mother’s cheeks.

“Mom, please don’t cry.”
Livvy had to fight back her own tears.

Please don’t cry
. . . .

The gentle swoosh of her skates brought her back to the present. She would allow herself only a twenty-minute workout today. Wisely, she knew she’d have to take things slowly. Steady too.

But Elena would be proud. Livvy was actually pacing herself . . . and without a coach!

In no time, though, her legs began to feel like rubber. Time to quit. No sense pushing herself too hard, especially on the first day of the school year. Besides, she had three long blocks to walk home.

Tired and a bit winded from the high altitude, Livvy hurried down the sidewalk toward the gray-and-white Victorian. The sun was making its first appearance as she walked the final block. Long pink wisps brushed the sky, as if an artist had splashed them up there.

“I believe in you, Livvy. . . .”

The memory of her mother’s words encouraged her. And she slipped into the house unnoticed.

Quietly, she showered, put on fresh clothes, and headed for the kitchen. There she found a pitcher of orange juice already mixed and ready to drink. “Dad’s up?” she said, smiling. “No way.”

A bit hungry from her early morning skate, she plopped two pieces of wheat bread into the toaster. Then she packed her lunch for school. She still hadn’t gotten over the shock at seeing the teensy-weensy middle school.
Even Dad had agreed it was peewee size when they’d gone to enroll her.

The building was as small as Livvy’s grade school back home. In fact, Principal Seeley’s office couldn’t have been larger than a shoe box—at least her mom would’ve described it that way.

She forced a laugh, mostly to squash her fears. And she wondered about her locker partner, hoping whoever it was might be as friendly as Mrs. Newton at the Cloth Mill.

More worries filled her head.
Will the kids accept me?
she wondered.
Can a wanna-be Olympic skater fit in here?

“Ready or not, here I come!” she announced to the bread as it flew up out of the toaster.

She heard footsteps. “Morning, Livvy.”

“You’re up early.”

Sleepily, he opened the refrigerator. “Another long day ahead,” he said, pulling out a quart of milk.

“More sanding and stuff?”

His eyes lit up. “Little by little, I’ll make this house livable.”

She couldn’t help but grin. “We’re
living
in it, aren’t we?” Wiggling her fingers at him, she said, “Gotta run. The bus’ll be here soon.”