Fresh Ice (24 page)

“Oh, that. I’m pretty sure I made my demands clear.”

“I’m in.”

The surprise on her face was well worth his misgivings. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay, then.”

Quinn set down his coffee and pulled her close to him. He glanced around the empty restaurant and smiled. “You promise?” He brushed his lips across hers lightly.

The rush of anticipation washed away any doubts, and most conscious thought. “I promise.” She murmured, leaning closer to him.
Just kiss me again.

“Then we have a lot of work to do.” He laid a brisk kiss on her cheek and released her. “And I need something to eat.”

She took a deep breath, trying to get her heart rate back to normal. “You want grits with your eggs and mushrooms?”

“Thank you!”

Izzy gave the order to Carlo, who hadn’t stopped laughing. “We do have one problem.”

“No backing out. You promised.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a demanding figure skater. Watch me pout.”

Quinn drained his coffee and grinned. “Could you pout in front of my fireplace?”

What is this, banter? When most people learn to banter, I was learning to land on my outside edge.
“Um….okay.”
Oh yeah, I rock at banter.

“So what’s the problem?” Quinn picked up a fork and started in on the plate of eggs before Izzy set it down. “Sorry, I’m hungry.”

“We don’t have a coach.”

“Can’t you call up your old coach?”

“He’s dead.” Izzy ignored the tear welling in her eye.

He took a forkful of eggs and chewed thoughtfully. “Isn’t there anyone else?”

Izzy shook her head. “No one I would trust. Plus we don’t have a place to practice.”

“That’s not a problem. We can work out at the Bridgestone Center.”

“Quinn! We can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“How are you going to get permission, hold a charity event every other day?”

“You let me worry about that. You draw on your years and years of experience and put something together that doesn’t involve me breaking you in half. You can do that, easy. I mean, look at what I have to do. I have to learn to figure skate, I have to arrange training times. And what is the upside for me?” His grin was wicked.

Izzy glanced behind her to make sure Carlo wasn’t listening. Carlo was out having a smoke. “You’ll get to put your hands all over me?”

His voice was matter of fact. “I’ll be in skates and you’ll be in clothes. That doesn’t count.”

“Fine, how about this: I’ll help with all the boring stuff, the mailing, the emails, the phone calls. I could be your secretary.”

Quinn swallowed another mouthful of eggs and mushrooms. “Okay, I could use a secretary. I’ll pay you a salary so you can stop working here for awhile.”

Izzy bit her lip. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do. This is going to be a full time job. There’s too much to deal with between practice and all the paperwork you’re going to be slogging through.”

“It’s tempting, but I can’t,” she sighed, “I have health insurance through this job. For Jenna and me.” She watched his face contort in four directions.
This has never been an issue for him.

“Quit your job.”

“What?”

“Quit your job. Come work for me.”

“Quinn…”

“I’m serious. I don’t just need someone for this event, I need someone full time. I’ll handle your insurance, everything.”

She shook her head. “You don’t even know what is involved.”

“No, but I know I like the idea of chasing you around the desk.”

Izzy laughed out loud. “Stop. I’ll keep my cushy gig here for now.”

“How are you going to manage everything?”

Izzy didn’t understand her reluctance, but the need to keep her job was overwhelming. “I’ll manage. I’ll take some day shifts. It’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.” Quinn pushed his empty plate aside. “Let’s go get to work.”

Izzy laughed. “It’s not even midnight. I have six hours left on my shift.”

“See, if you worked for me, you wouldn’t have just said that, and we’d be headed back to my place to look over entertainment contracts in front of an electronic fireplace.”

“You paint a picture loaded with mixed signals.”

“Don’t judge me, I’ve be
en on a plane for almost twenty-four hours. I’m going to go home and fire off some emails to a few key people, letting them know I have a gold star secret weapon for this thing and they’d better come through with some massive bucks. Then, I’m going to take a shower because I’m starting to smell like a sardine rolled in jet fumes. Then, I’ll probably sink into some sort of sleep deprivation coma. Then I’ll come here, get you, and make breakfast for you at my place.” He seemed to sense the misgivings she knew crossed her face like a banner. “And I promise; I will be as hands off as you wish.” He smiled. “I think you’ll find, however, that working with me on a project like this isn’t quite as exciting and romantic as it sounds.”

“Just wait until you start skating with me. It’s nothing like it seems on TV.”

“You’ll probably start to hate me.”

“You’ll hate me more.”

“Do your worst.” He arched an eyebrow.

She leaned in close. “I can slice and dice parts of your body with a skate blade. What have you got?”

He shot backwards in his seat, his eyes glowing with a mix of surprise and fear.

Izzy laughed.
I’m starting to get the hang of this banter thing.

Dawn broke over the Nashville skyline as Quinn rolled his car into the Waffle House parking lot. Through the window he caught her eye. She motioned to him to wait in the car, and Quinn found himself observing Izzy’s work world very closely.

Two waitresses, probably those coming to relieve her, walked in. Behind them, a grimy man slunk around the side of the restaurant to the side door. Instantly alert and suspicious, Quinn studied the man’s every move.

Izzy opened the side door and stepped into the man’s line of sight. A hand on the car door handle, Quinn readied himself to spring to her defense.

To Quinn’s surprise, Izzy greeted the man, as dirty as he was, with a smile and hug. She handed him a large covered cup, and a brown bag. The man hugged her again, and walked away, pulling strips of bacon out of the bag and eating them like potato chips.

I should be ashamed of myself.

Everyone praises me for my charity work. Meanwhile, she’s the one doing the most good for the most people because she’s doing it directly, quietly, and without getting anything in return.

Deep down, Quinn was far more ashamed of his reaction to the man’s appearance.
I’m sure I’ve looked far worse, and I’ve never had to do without. I just assumed that because he’s poor, homeless, whatever, he’s also dangerous…

Izzy approached the car, a bright smile shining for him.
I don’t deserve one second of her time.

“Hey, why so glum?” She climbed into the car.

“I was just thinking.”

“Well stop because you are in danger of your face freezing that way.” She pushed his shoulder.

“You’re sort of amazing, you know?”

“Oh yes, you’re just overwhelmed by my intoxicating scent of bacon and coffee. I’m thinking of bottling it.”

“I’m serious.”

Her smile faded slowly. “I wish you wouldn’t be; you’re sort of freaking me out.”

“No, I just watched what you did right there. You know, with that guy.”

“What, with Toothless Jim? Oh, he comes around every morning. We bag up the whole strips of bacon and sausages that people don’t eat. It’s sort of a shame to toss it and he’s such a nice guy. Just a little down on his luck.”

“We? So all the waitresses do it?”

Izzy lowered her eyes and blushed. “Okay. I don’t know that all the girls do it. I know I do. He’s between homes right now, you know?”

“No, I don’t.” Quinn surprised himself with his complete honesty. “I’ve never been in that position. And you act like it’s no big deal, you just hand him some food and coffee and hug him.”

“It’s nothing.”

“No.” Quinn shook his head. “It’s everything. You’re the best person I know.”

“Oh stop it.” She nudged his shoulder again. “You do all those huge charity things, you raise all kinds of money for really great causes. You have no idea how many lives you touch. Me, I just handed a guy a bag of garbage, if you really think about it.”

But you do it with a pure heart. You’re not trying to buy back your soul.

“Okay, stop with that face. You promised to feed me. I have just enough energy for food, then you have to take me home and tuck me into bed.”

He grinned, his good humor restored by her irresistible good mood. “And can I watch you sleep?”

“Only if you’re well behaved.”

Quinn looked heavenward and swore to be as well behaved as possible.

***

His apartment fairly dripped with the aroma of fresh baked goods and bacon.

“Now I know, you’re thinking, ‘we just came from a place where I sling eggs and bacon all night long.’ I’m sure you’re wondering how on earth I managed to cook this amazing meal and pick you up without leaving the stove on and risking the entire building to fire.”

Izzy grinned and handed him her jacket. “I actually wasn’t wondering that at all. But now that you mention it…”

He hung her jacket in the closet. “I’ll tell you my big secret. My cleaning lady also cooks.”

“I didn’t know you had a cleaning lady.”

Quinn chuckled. “Okay, you caught me. I don’t have a cleaning lady. The lady next door was kind enough to check on things for me while I went to get you from work.”

“Everything smells so good.”

“Here, sit down please,” he pulled out a chair for her and then pushed her closer to the table when she sat down. “I’ll go get breakfast.”

He emerged from the kitchen with the casserole and Izzy applauded. “That looks wonderful!”

“It’s a recipe my mother used to make on Sundays. She put it in the oven before she herded all of us to church and then it was done by the time we got back.” He cut the casserole into squares and served her a piece. “I hope you don’t mind, I added the mushrooms.”

She leaned over the plate and inhaled. “No, it smells heavenly. But your mother never worried about it burning or anything?”

Quinn sat across from her and grinned at the memory. “Our minister was pretty much a clockwork sort of guy. Church was fifty-seven minutes long come hell or high water. The only time it went wrong was the day we had a guest minister who got a little over zealous in his sermon.”

“What happened?”

“We ate breakfast out that morning and my mother double checked the preaching schedule from then on.”

Izzy laughed as Quinn poured her a glass of orange juice. “Parents, ri
ght?”

“Yeah, it’s funny what you think of when you think about your parents. Like I don’t think I’ve been in a church since the day I left home for college, but I can still remember the smell of perfume my mom wore every Sunday.” He took a bite of casserole.
Oh good, it turned out.
“So what about you?”

“Well,” she swallowed a bit and paused. “I’ve decided
I’m going to see them. My parents.”

Quinn sat back in his chair and waited for her to continue. She sipped some juice and set the glass on the table in slow motion. Quinn bit his lip, fighting his natural impatience. Finally, he couldn’t stay silent. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ve been here a few months. It’s time. Well, Collier thinks it’s time…”

One of these days I’m going to hunt Singer Guy down and throttle him for butting into her life like this. Why should he care a bit if she never talks to her parents again?

Why do I care if she does?

Because if she connects to her former life without me where does that leave me?

That’s a very selfish way to think.

I’m putting all my energy into not bending her over this table and giving her the ravishing of her life. I’ve got no energy left to be a better person on any other level.

“Why open everything up like that?”

She stared at him, her expression reflecting the confusion he felt hearing his own words.
Of course she needs to see her parents. I just don’t like her listening to Collier.

“I think Jenna needs to meet her grandparents.” Izzy’s voice was low and tight. “I think she needs to at least connect a little bit with her family.”

Quinn shook his head. “I don’t see the point.”
Why can’t I shut up?

“I guess you wouldn’t.” Her words were framed by the angry set of her jaw. “After all, when did you see anyone in your family?”

Her words halted his argumentative thinking. Okay. Stop. Back up.
“So when are you going to go see them?”