Breaking the Ice (24 page)

‘
The very same. Mabel tells me on one particularly bad day, involving a bust up with the conductor of a children’s choir and one of the judges of a dog show, you had three pieces of this stuff. On that recommendation I can’t wait to taste it,’ Jimmy spoke, opening the lid of the box and letting the aroma escape.

‘
Goodness, let me have it. I missed breakfast,’ Samantha said, reaching for the pudding.

‘
I take it you’re not having a good day,’ Jimmy remarked.

‘
I’ve been busy. I’ve sorted out the new menus and ordered the stock, I’ve dealt with some of the backlog of administration that Dave left behind, Tyrone’s been on the phone and he’s almost finished the website and then I’ve been staring at this piece of paper. This is supposed to sum up everything the council needs to know to make them save the hall and all it represents is what desperate trouble I’m in,’ Samantha remarked as she spooned cheesecake into her mouth.

‘
It’s still two days away,’ Jimmy spoke, sinking his teeth into a baguette.

‘
Two days! Exactly! Only two days and look at it - look at me!’ Samantha exclaimed.

‘
Relax, it’ll be fine,’ Jimmy stated.

‘
Relax! Yes I have plenty of time to do that! I’m trying to run the hall, change the hall, save the hall and on top of the hall stuff, my sister wants a guy she’s only known a week to move in with us,’ Samantha told him, her breathing becoming erratic.

‘
Whoa! Go Jeremy,’ Jimmy commented, putting down his food.

‘
Yes, Jeremy. Jeremy she has known for five minutes. It isn’t about him being very irritating and leaving his shoes in the middle of the hallway, it’s about her and how she always jumps headlong into things without thinking about them,’ Samantha continued.

‘
And what would be the alternative? That she moves out?’

‘
Yes and she knows that I couldn’t afford all the bills and expenses on my own - even more so when I make a complete pig’s ear of this speech, the council close down the hall and I lose my job,’ Samantha informed him as she finished off the cheesecake.

‘
Well, from what you’ve told me about Cleo, which is quite a lot, the whole idea will probably have been forgotten by next week. She’ll probably even be with a new guy,’ Jimmy suggested.

‘
I don’t know why I’m telling you all this,’ Samantha said and she picked up Jimmy’s portion of cheesecake and began to eat it.

‘
Because I’m a good listener. Come on, put the cake down. Let’s go and do some skating,’ Jimmy spoke and he took the pudding from one hand and grabbed the fork from the other.

‘
I can’t, I have a
tonne
of things to do and besides won’t the other skaters be practicing on the rink?’ Samantha asked, checking her watch.

‘
Rehearsal’s at three and I think you need to do something to take your mind off things. By the way, I’ve fed Gobby, he sniffed me out and came scratching at my dressing room door earlier. Mabel let me have cottage pie,’ Jimmy told her.

‘
Oh no, not cottage pie. He doesn’t like cottage pie, he doesn’t like anything with mince in,’ Samantha exclaimed, standing up.

‘
Really? Well he wolfed it down, licked the bowl clean and then had seconds,’ Jimmy informed.

‘
He’ll probably be sick, and he’ll probably do it outside the front doors. He always does it there, and I’ll have to clean it up because Jane’s allergic to other people’s vomit and Felicity has a no vomit clause in her contract and then it will smell, probably for a week and…’ Samantha began.

‘
He’ll be fine, Sam. Come on, take a break, come and skate,’ Jimmy urged.

Samantha
let out a sigh, picked up the portion of cheesecake from the desk and spooned the remainder into her mouth.

T
wenty minutes later the two of them were skating round the ice rink, practicing the routine Jimmy had taught her.

‘
You really are a good skater you know and a real quick learner,’ Jimmy remarked as they moved around the ice.

‘
I’m not good, not like Dana. She’s a wonderful skater, I never get bored of watching her in the show,’ Samantha remarked.

‘
She could have been very successful. I mean we were successful as a partnership for a while, but after the world championships and the fall, she’s never really trusted me again, not one hundred percent,’ Jimmy answered.

‘
What happened?’ Samantha wanted to know.

‘
Well, we had a difficult move at the end of our routine and she just didn’t get her feet in the right position. I picked her up, her blade cut my chin open and she fell and hit her head on the ice. She had ten stitches, I had six,’ Jimmy explained, pointing to his scar.

‘
Oh, dear,’ Samantha stated.

‘
She refuses to do any lifts or spins with me where there’s an ankle hold now. Anyone else partnering her and she’ll do anything - she just doesn’t trust me,’ Jimmy spoke.

‘
Then why does she skate with you at all?’ Samantha queried as they changed direction on the ice.

‘
Because we were famous as a couple and that was where our success was. People expect to see us together. I know if it was down to her she’d never skate with me again,’ Jimmy explained.

Samantha span around on one leg and then came to a halt, slightly out of breath.

‘
That was really good! But the way to really find out if you know the steps is to do it blindfolded,’ Jimmy informed her.

‘
Yeah OK, very funny,’ Samantha replied.

‘
I’m serious,’ Jimmy told her.

‘
I can barely stay on my feet, I can’t skate with a blindfold on,’ Samantha told him.

‘
Do you trust me?’ Jimmy asked her.

‘
What sort of a question is that?’ Samantha responded a cough rising in her chest.

‘
A straight one. Come on, I won’t let you injure yourself,’ Jimmy assured her and he took off his sweater, leaving his top half covered by a tight t-shirt.

It was blue
! Oh goodness it was blue again! It was a nice, light blue colour which really complemented the lovely hair and clung to his body perfectly,
emphasising
its perfection.

‘
I trust that you wouldn’t deliberately injure me, but you don’t have any control over me injuring myself,’ Samantha told him, trying not to stare at his chest through the very thin material.

‘
I know you can do this,’ Jimmy told her and he put the sweatshirt over her eyes and tied it together at the back of her head.

‘
I can’t do it. Are you crazy?! Where’ve you gone? Don’t leave me here like this,’ Samantha shrieked suddenly
realising
Jimmy was being serious when the sweatshirt was tied across her eyes.

She was back feeling
five years old again, playing Blind Man’s Buff. She hated that game, once she had fallen over and stuck the pin in Cleo’s arm at Lucy Jackson’s party.

‘
I’m just going to restart the music,’ Jimmy said as he skated over to the edge of the rink and skipped off of it towards the show’s mixing desk.

Samantha felt stupid. She was standing in the middle of an ice rink with a sweatshirt over her face, she had a hundred and one things she should be doing, a speech she had to deliver to the council in two days and the realistic prospect that she could lose both her job and her home. Not to mention the one thousand eight hundred Berry Fruits tubs in the freezer. She was hopeful of selling a good batch tonight though as there were a couple of coach parties in and coach parties never failed to have ice cream. Something to do with the effect of the throat drying air conditioning on the journey there.

Jimmy returned to her and took hold of her hands as the music began. Skating and not having a clue where you were in relation to your surroundings was the oddest sensation. Samantha was sure that at any moment she was going to collide with the hoarding around the edge of the rink. But she was concentrating so hard to remember the steps and how to position herself for the lifts and turns, she hardly had time to panic. Jimmy was true to his word. He held her firmly, and when they were apart she could sense he was still close and she knew he wouldn’t let her fall.

The routine seemed to be a lot longer than two and a half minutes when you couldn’t see. Her face was starting to feel hot as she breathed heavily onto the fleecy
, sweatshirt material and she couldn’t tell at all whether she was in the middle or at the edge of the rink. She held Jimmy’s hand and they changed direction and then she held his arms as he lifted her up for a spin. She landed the move, turned around and stopped in her end position leaning back into Jimmy’s arms, thankful he really was there to catch her.

As he held her she began to laugh. It had been the most ridiculous, yet exhilarating thrill she had ever experienced. She was completely out of breath when she stood up straight, still laughing happily, amazed that she had done it without breaking any bones.

‘
Take your blindfold off,’ Jimmy instructed her.

‘
That was actually fun, very scary, but fun, I…’

Samantha stopped talking the second she removed the blindfold. Jimmy was stood beside her, bare-chested. The t-shirt he’d been wearing was covering his eyes. He had blindfolded himself.

‘
Oh my goodness! No! You did not just do that? Are you totally mad? You picked me up and threw me in the air and you couldn’t see?!’ Samantha exclaimed, clamping her hands to her mouth as she watched him take the top from his eyes.

‘
I told you you could do it,’ Jimmy spoke softly, smiling at her shock.

‘
That must have been contravening every rule in the ice skating code of conduct,’ Samantha said to him.

‘
You trusted me,’ Jimmy stated.

He reached out his hand and took hold of hers. A shiver ran through Samantha’s whole body as he touched her. What was he doing? He had taken her hand so many times when they skated, but this felt different. She couldn’t explain why. He was looking at her with the Minstrel eyes, unmoving.

‘
Nice to see you practicing. You never want to when I suggest it.’

The loud comment from Dana, as she appeared on the ice, startled Samantha. She stepped backwards, forgot she was on skates and fell to the ice with a bump.

Jimmy hurriedly bent down to help her up, as one by one the show’s skaters came onto the rink for their rehearsal.

‘
Are you OK?’ Jimmy queried as he helped her to her feet.

‘
Yes, yes I’m fine. I’d better get back, I’ll see you,’ Samantha spoke hurriedly and she sped off across the ice as rapidly as she could, her heart hammering in her chest.

Seventeen

When Samantha opened up the front door that evening she immediately fell over Jeremy’s brogues.

‘
Oh hello Sam. Sorry, I shouldn’t have left those there - I was just going,’ Jeremy spoke as he greeted her in the hallway and removed the shoes from the floor.

‘
No sex on the table today, that’s good,’ Samantha retorted as she brushed past him and continued up the hall towards the kitchen.

She heard the front door close as Jeremy left and she went over to the kettle.

‘
Jeremy’s gone,’ Cleo announced as she entered the kitchen from upstairs.

‘
I know, I almost twisted my ankle again trying to avoid the shoes,’ Samantha responded as she filled the kettle with water.

‘
He isn’t going to be moving in,’ Cleo stated rather somberly.

‘
So you’re going to be moving in with him? Fine, you better tell him or one of your estate agent friends to put the house on the market,’ Samantha snapped.

‘
No, I’m not moving in with him either,’ Cleo replied.

Samantha put down the kettle and turned to face her sister.

‘
Is everything OK? You haven’t broken up have you?’ Samantha asked, changing her tone as she saw that Cleo was upset.

‘
No, everything’s fine. You were right that’s all. You’re always right, it’s too soon,’ Cleo said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

‘
Do you want a herbal tea?’ Samantha offered.

‘
Thanks,’ Cleo accepted.

‘
Listen, I’m sorry if I went a bit over the top this morning. I’m just panicking a bit about the Civic Hall. I do like Jeremy, yes his shoes are big and irritating but he’s certainly not the worst you’ve brought home. That accolade most definitely goes to Byron, the ZZ Top loving librarian,’ Samantha stated.

Cleo couldn’t help but laugh at her sister.

‘
And, I didn’t want you to rush into anything and get yourself hurt,’ Samantha added seriously.

‘
I know and you were right. I mean what do you really learn about someone in a week? He could be an axe murderer or someone who likes S Club 7 for all I know,’ Cleo remarked.

‘
I don’t think he’s an axe murderer but you’re going to have to ask him about S Club 7. You know the rules of the house, he simply can’t be allowed to have ever owned or downloaded an S Club 7 song,’ Samantha replied.

Cleo smiled and then her face clouded over again.