Iced Read Online Free PDF Page A

fourteen-year-old Greg and fifteen-year-old Patrick, were playing video games. They look so young, Regan thought. They were both good-looking kids. She wondered how many girls their age were staring at their bedroom walls at that very moment, nursing broken hearts over these two, deriving whatever comfort they could from their favorite passages about romantic misery.
    The boys smiled up at her, their slightly self-conscious expressions a contradiction to the rows of earrings they were sporting. God, I feel old, Regan thought.
    Kendra was passing out champagne. “Regan?”
    “Thanks, Kendra.” Regan took a sip, feeling the bubbles tickle her nose. “Louis wants you to be sure and be at his party. He’s really excited about it.”
    “We have our tickets,” Sam said. “Just what Aspen needs, another nightspot. I hope he doesn’t fall on his face.”
    “If he does, they’ll have to cart him off to the funny farm,” Regan commented. “He’ll never recover.”
    “Opening a restaurant is a high-risk venture,” Sam said.
    “Yeah, like producing a Broadway play.” Kendra laughed.
    “My business might not be the most exciting,” Luke said, “but I’m happy to say it has the lowest failure rate of any business in this great land of ours.”
    “We’re all happy for you, dear,” Nora told him.
    “Seriously, Louis is lucky he landed the benefit party for the Rescue Aspen’s Past Association,” Kendra said. “I hear the competition for it was fierce. He managed to butter up the committee.”
    “He told me he really wants to make his place a part of the Aspen ideal,” Regan said.
    “What’s that?” Luke asked. “Sounds like New Age mumbo-jumbo.”
    “Dad.” Regan rolled her eyes. “It’s serious. Aspen doesn’t want to get over developed. Because it’s become so popular, they’re having a real struggle to keep a small-town flavor. Louis is going to be displaying the works of local artists in his restaurant, and he’s also promised to sponsor weekly literary gatherings in the back room.”
    Greg looked at Regan and yawned.
    The old generation gap rears its ugly head, Regan thought.
    “What do they do at those gatherings?” Sam asked.
    “Everyone gets up and reads what they’ve prepared. It could be a short story, it could be a poem. Some people might bring a guitar and sing a song.”
    “I’ll stay home and watch my toenails grow that night,” Luke drawled.
    “Dad, you’re impossible!” Regan reached out for a champagne refill.
    “It’s a throwback to the old coffee houses,” Kendra said enthusiastically. “Nora, you’ll have to go and read them one of your stories. You’ll scare the pants off them.”
    Nora put down her glass and dramatically cleared her throat. “It was a dark and stormy night...”
    Sam laughed. “The wind was blowing hard against the windowpanes...”
    “A shot rang out . . .” Nora continued.
    “And I got called into work,” Luke muttered.
    Kendra’s laugh was a deep, hearty, pleasing sound. Regan looked at her and smiled, glad to see that she seemed totally relaxed. In her mid-forties, Kendra was a fine actress whose entire career up until now had been in television. Regan knew that Kendra had confided to Nora that she was nervous about her Broadway debut.
    “Okay, folks,” the pilot said. “We’ve been cleared for takeoff. Be sure your seat belts are fastened.”
    As Kendra buckled herself in, she said, “Next stop Aspen and the smiling face of our caretaker, Eben...”

5
    Aspen
    Sunday, December 25
    L OUIS WAS FILLED with a sense of nervous wellbeing. Things were going well. There wasn’t a single empty table for the Christmas brunch.
    The place was bustling as waiters took orders and refilled coffee cups and champagne glasses, diners greeted each other with air kisses, and children clutched their favorite toys, which had been opened just hours before. Christmas music played softly in the background, and outside, a light snow was