Fresh Ice (39 page)

With a loud whooping cry, Benny pushed Cat off his lap, leaped out of his chair, and, taking her by the hand, ran out the door without saying goodbye.

“Um, are they coming back?” Mikayla watched as Benny’s car skidded out of the parking lot.

Quinn laughed out loud. “Probably not. Remind me to burn the mattress and the couch, when we get home.”

“So, Mom, where are you going?”

Izzy shrugged. “Here, there. We’re going to visit some of Quinn’s family.”

“Mend some fences.”

“We don’t know if everything is going to have a happy ending,” Izzy closed her eyes, trying to shut out the image of her parents, “but we are going to spend the next several weeks trying.”

The girls left the coffee shop an hour later after the conversation and coffee had run out. Izzy locked the front door behind them, and turned out the lights while Quinn waited for her on the stairs.

Backlit by the hall light, Izzy could only see Quinn as a dark outline. She knew he was watching her, as he always did. He watched over her, and that simple thought was enough to make her tingle.

As she crossed the darkened coffee shop to his waiting embrace, Izzy knew she was skating on a sheet of unending, perfect ice, toward a partner who would never let her fall. She didn’t need any applause or judge’s score to tell her everything was perfect.

I have to thank Linda Schmalz, my dear critique partner, who made me tear this book down to the foundations and build it back the right way. Thank you to Kelly Moran, whose critiques gave me “fresh eyes” on the project. (And I still haven’t stopped laughing about that.)
Thank you to Kelly, also, for the magnificent cover art!

Thank you to my cousin Jill Frick, who insisted I have a hockey player in one of my books. Thank you to former NHL star Jeremy Roenick, for answering the phone and giving me Quinn Murray. Thank you to my coworker and friend, TJ Noll who only thinks he grossed me out with his tales of shoulder dislocations.

Thank you to the New Minstrel Revue, whose song “Thank You for Asking” inspired more pages of the book than I can count. For more information on this fantastic, talented, group of musicians,
http://www.jbradleycollier.com/pages/newminstrel.html
.

Thank you also, to Amy and the rest of the team at 52 Novels, for the gentle guidance through the mysterious waters of e-publishing!

Finally, I’m a writer, but I’m also a mother and the research I did for this book touched my mother’s heart. For more information about how you can support the magnificent charities mentioned in this book, here are the web addresses:

Aubri Brown Club
http://www.theaubribrownclub.org/

Make-A-Wish
http://www.wish.org/

SARAH is a lifelong Upper Midwest girl who lives with her husband, her two children, and her four rescue cats in Wisconsin. When not writing, Sarah follows both the NFL and the NHL religiously, searches for restaurants with great soup, and attends Rick Springfield concerts. “Fresh Ice” is her third novel.

“Dream in Color”

ASIN: B003I84N04

ISBN-10: 1601545622

ISBN-13: 978-1601545626

Ramona Simms is in a rut, her life at a standstill. She is single and over the hill according to her overbearing mother. Her job is beyond tedious and the boss is a tyrant. Instead of a husband, Ramona comes home to a dog with gas. The closest candidate for Prince Charming is Neil, the guy from around the corner and someone she’s known her whole life. When Ramona discovers her childhood rock heartthrob Jesse Alexander is coming out of retirement for a summer tour, she decides to change her life to reach for the dream of love and music. Can Ramona turn her nightmare into the stuff of dreams, and make those dreams a reality?

“Lies in Chance”

ASIN: B0056VBVH4

ISBN-10: 1463695187

ISBN-13: 978-1463695187

Shara Brandt doesn’t know how she wound up, beaten and exhausted, on a creek bank behind a school in rural Rock Harbor. She has no idea who murdered her grandmother. What she does know is she has one chance to learn the truth about Lydia’s murder, to clear her own name, and to be safe from a past that haunts her. That chance is to live a borrowed life under the alias “Bethany Elias.”

Emotionally bruised after his ugly divorce, Bryan Jacobs doesn’t believe in trusting anyone with his heart. He certainly doesn’t trust the newcomer, Bethany. He is convinced she could be the heiress wanted for murder. Most of all, he doesn’t trust the faint stirring of something deep in his soul each time he sees her.

It is their search for truth that will bond them or shatter them, but only if they are willing to take a chance.