Love on Ice (Cannon City Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

probably just have coffee.”
    Jay pulled out onto the highway. He noticed her fingers were laced together tightly and her knuckles turned white. He needed to think of a way to get her to relax. “Where are you from, Kate?”
    She turned her head to look at him. “I’m pretty much from all over the place.”
    “Was your family military?”
  “No, not military.” She stared ahead out the front window. “I was born in Portland, Oregon. Are you from Canon City?”
    “Yep, born and raised. A long time ago, I was with a junior hockey team up in Washington State. We played a few times down in Portland. It seemed like a nice town.”
    “How come you don’t play anymore?”
    “I banged my knee up pretty bad when I was nineteen. A few surgeries later the team released me and no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t get the strength back.”
    “How long have you owned the rink?”
    “About five years.”
    “It looks like good, hard ice. You’ve done a good job with it.”
    “Hard ice? How do you know about types of ice?”
    “I don’t know, I must have read it somewhere,” she said.
    He nodded and watched the road. “Well, hopefully, now, since you busted my thief, I’ll have a little more money on the books. Lunch isn’t really enough to thank you. You said you skate. How about some free ice time.” He smiled at her.
    “That’s not necessary. I haven’t skated for a long time, but thank you. How long have you coached the kid’s team?”
    Jay did most of the talking on their way to the brewery. He thought it was funny how she kept the focus of the conversation on him, but at least she talked.
    ****
    They ordered their meals and Kate sipped her coffee. She thought Jay worked very hard to make her feel comfortable and it did give her a relaxed moment but she flipped that switch off quickly. She didn’t know how long she would stay in Canon City and didn’t want to hurt anyone along the way.
    “So, Kate, if your family wasn’t military, why did you move ‘round so much?” he asked.
    Kate felt frozen for a second, unsure how to answer him. “It was jobs, mostly.” She looked into her coffee cup. “I mean, it wasn’t my family that moved, it was me and I moved to find jobs.”
    “Why?”
    She looked at him and didn’t know what to say that didn’t make her sound like an idiot. “I know you don’t like lying and I don’t want to lie to you, but...I’d rather not talk about it.”
    She watched him sit back in his chair and take a sip of his beer. The litany about her being nuts for accepting his lunch invite, started in her head again. Jay seemed really nice and, of course, he wanted her information, but there was so much she wouldn’t ever talk about. It became difficult to tell him anything.
    “Where do I know you from? It’s going to drive me crazy, but I’ve seen you before,” he said.
    “I don’t think we’ve ever met. I’ve never been to a hockey game and this is my first time in Canon City. Maybe it was in another life or something.”
    He laughed. “Okay, why do you hang out at skating rinks? You’re not watching the kids for some evil reason?” He grinned at her.
    She knew he was teasing, but felt her eyebrows pull down. “No, no perverted reason, I promise. It’s just fun to watch them learn new moves. There are times I want to strangle the coaches and parents, but it’s none of my business, so I just watch.”
    “I hear you on that parent thing. They can be a pain. Have you ever taught skating?”
    She looked at him. “No. You’re a good coach with your hockey team.”
    “You think so?” He smiled.
    “Yeah, you’re very patient with the kids and don’t make them feel like they’re stupid. There are two boys that seem to always be fighting, though.”
    “Sam and Tommy. They’re brothers and haven’t accepted each other yet. It’s high competition time around those two. Next year Sam, he’s the older boy, may move up to the squirt division and I think it will