Blind Ice (Razors Ice Book 5)

by Rachelle Vaughn

  “It’s a tough job market,” Wesley said on a sigh. “Everybody wants to design games.”

  “Yeah, but they don’t all have the skills that you do.”

  “No,” he said sadly. “They don’t. I’ve been trying to get in to MacDaddy for years.”

  “You know, I went to school with Colby McCauley,” Gabe said about the chairman and CEO of the gaming giant. All the bestselling video games came from the genius developers at MacDaddy and everyone in the industry wanted to work for them.

  Wesley’s eyes widened. “No way.”

  “Yeah. I still talk to him occasionally. He lives in Red Valley where MacDaddy is based out of.”

  Red Valley. Somehow every conversation led back to Julia.

  “Maybe I could put in a good word for you.”

  Wesley slid from his ergonomic chair and got down on his knees and pressed his palms together. “Would you? Would you, please?”

  “Yeah,” Gabe laughed. “No problem. Now get up off the floor. The sooner we nail this presentation, the sooner we get to unleash VINCE out onto the world.”

  * * *

  Julia spent the day working on her sonata and later playing catch with Shamus in the park. When Gabe called her that night, she was already in bed reading a book. Sleep wouldn’t claim her for a while yet and she liked to sprawl out with her animals on either side of her and relax until she drifted off to sleep.

  Gabe used to call in the mornings or afternoons and they’d chat about normal everyday things. She would listen to him talk about the programming he was developing and the people he worked with. Lately, he’d been calling later in the evenings, too, and his questions were of a more personal nature.

  Tonight he was determined to venture underneath her covers…

  “What do you wear to bed, Julia?”

  Julia felt a tingle travel from between her legs and up into her belly. “Usually just a tank top and shorts,” she answered honestly—and stubbornly. She wasn’t about to make up something skimpy and glamorous just because that was what he was hoping to hear.

  “Oh.”

  “What’s with the sudden interest in my wardrobe?” she asked with a smile, liking how husky his voice got whenever he asked her personal questions.

  “I don’t know. I guess I just want to be able to picture what you look like when you’re on the phone talking to me.”

  “Oh.”

  “I can hear Cassidy purring,” he said, wishing he was there with them. Julia had such a full life and here he was sitting at his desk staring at a blank computer screen. He supposed it was better than sitting in an empty apartment staring at bare walls and a kitchen counter with no coffeemaker.

  “She’s a ham when it comes to a good cheek scratch.”

  “I wish I were her right now.”

  “Why? You like your cheeks scratched, Gabe?”

  “Because then I’d be there with you.”

  Julia didn’t know how to respond to that. If he was with her right now, there was a very good chance that he wouldn’t like what he saw. She didn’t spend time doing her makeup and she didn’t obsess over bad hair days. It was better for both of them if they kept things long distance.

  “I love the sound of a cat purring,” she said, keeping their conversation on neutral ground. “It’s one of the most wonderful sounds in the world.”

  “I love how they can just turn it on and off like a little motor.”

  “Why don’t you have any pets, Gabe?”

  “I’m not home enough.”

  There was sadness in his voice and Julia didn’t know why. Why did he seem so alone amongst a city of almost three million?

  “Tell me about your apartment. What’s it like?”

  “Bare.” Cold, lonely. “I don’t spend much time there. You never told me about losing your sight.”

  Julia blinked. Boy, he sure knew how to turn the tables of conversation on her.

  As a rule, Julia didn’t talk much about her blindness. Her parents shrugged it off and shied away from the whole situation, avoiding being confronted by their youngest daughter’s “condition.” And Kate didn’t need to hear about what she already knew; she worked tirelessly to help keep everyone else’s eyes healthy.

  And Julia wasn’t all that comfortable talking about herself. She’d much rather listen to Gabe describe the sights of the bustling city to her.

  “Do you really want to hear about it?” she asked, making the subject sound as unappealing as possible. “It’s kind of boring.”

  “I want to know everything about you, Julia. And I’m sure it’s not the least bit boring.”

  She sighed. At least it would keep him from asking about her underwear. “Well, I think I was about three when I first had to start wearing glasses. Anyway, it was ever since I was really little. Gradually, my eyes got worse and worse and eventually things started getting shadowy.

  “The last thing I remember is watching a sunset with Kate. It was the summer after she graduated from high school. I was thirteen. She picked me a flower from the backyard. It was a pansy. One of those cute purple flowers with the big faces. It looked like someone had taken a tiny paintbrush and painted the face on it. I can remember holding it up real close to my eyes and studying every inch of that flower because I knew it wouldn’t be much longer before I wouldn’t be able to see at all.”

  Julia still had that pansy pressed inside the pages of one of her favorite books.

  “The next morning when I woke up, everything was black. I fumbled around for a while and then my parents heard of a good school for the blind in Red Valley and here I am. Kate decided to go to school at Cal State Red Valley to be nearby. I lived with her for a while and then she married What’s His Name. I got my own place so they could have their privacy—that and the fact that Carl was a complete control freak. But anyways… I do all right on my own. Veronica, my housekeeper, comes by a couple times a week and Kate is here practically every day to check on me. Not that she needs to.”

  “You’ve been through so much.”

  Julia shrugged even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Like I said, I do all right.”

  “I want to meet you. In person.”

  She swallowed, the warm fuzzy feeling dissipated. Why did he want to make things more complicated? Why couldn’t he just cherish their phone calls the way she did and leave well enough alone?

  “Someday,” she answered, not really believing the words.

  “Yeah.” And then after a moment, “I should probably let you get to sleep.”

  “It’s okay. You can stay on the line for a few more minutes.”

  “All right. Sweet dreams, Julia.”

  * * *

  Julia woke up from the most amazing dream. She’d been at the park with Kate, Shamus and Cassidy. And Gabe had even been there, too. He was handsome and smiling and had twirled her around in the sunlight and they’d fallen down, laughing, onto the lush green grass.

  Shamus had bounded over to join them, his coat yellow in the sunlight. And then Cassidy was there, eager to be included in the fun. She was an orange and white tabby and then her coloring became distorted like how colors sometimes appeared in a dream.

  Just after Julia had turned back to Gabe, his face came closer as if he was moving in for a kiss.

  Suddenly Julia woke up.

  She groaned and wished it didn’t have to end. Some dreams she didn’t want to wake up from.

  When she stretched her arms above her head, her hand bumped into the phone by her ear. She pressed it to her ear and listened. “Gabe?”

  “Yeah, I’m here,” he answered groggily.

  “Have you been on the line all night?” she laughed.

  “Yeah,” he said again, around a yawn this time. “I didn’t want to be the first to hang up.” His voice was laced with laughter as he was reminded of the old childhood game, “no, you hang up.”

  Julia finished her stretch and snuggled back under the covers. Shamus let out a grunt and she cou
ld feel Cassidy’s weight on her feet. For such a little cat, she sure put out a lot of heat. “Are you still at the office?”

  Gabe picked his head up from his desk and ripped the sticky note from his face. “I never went home.”

  “Did you get any sleep?” Julia wondered how a person could spend so much time at their place of work. Didn’t Gabe long for the comforts of home? Shouldn’t he make an effort to make it home at night and stretch out on his own bed to sleep instead of crashing at his office?

  “Some. I should probably run home and grab a quick shower before the morning conference,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. “We’re going to start discussing marketing strategies for VINCE. It’s all happening, Julia. Just like you said it would.”

  Reluctantly, they ended their marathon phone conversation and Julia was left with thoughts of Gabe in the shower.

  Chapter Six

  Pink

  Wednesdays were a half day for Kate and her staff. She had just finished up with her last patient of the day and was headed into her office to finish up some paperwork when Janis intercepted her.

  “You had a delivery.” There was a mixture of jealousy and curiosity in the CPO’s voice.

  “Thanks. You can take off as soon as everything’s cleaned up.”

  “Thank you.” Janis disappeared, anxious to call it a day.

  When Kate went into her office she was greeted by a bouquet of pink roses sitting on the desk. The unmistakable fragrance of roses perfumed the air.

  She sat down and spun the crystal vase around in a circle. Every bloom was perfect and smelled sweet and spicy. It had been ages since she’d received flowers, much less roses. She’d had them at her wedding as was customary, but Carl didn’t court her with them like he should have.

  These roses weren’t from her ex-husband.

  Kate found the card and removed it from the little envelope. The card read: “Dinner was delicious.”

  Delicious. Her cheeks flushed and she pressed a palm to her heated face.

  Just as Kate started to close her eyes and relive the events of the night before, Janis stuck her head into Kate’s office. “Jenny Shepard is here to see you. She said it’ll only take a minute.”

  “Sure. Send her in.”

  Janis nodded. “If you don’t need anything else, I’m taking off.”

  “I’m good. Have a nice evening.”

  Janis left and Jenny bounded through the door, trendy sunglasses perched on her head, holding her long hair behind her ears. “Ooh, pretty roses. They look expensive. My mom said I should make an appointment and that you’d probably be too busy to see me, but I had to come in and thank you. These contacts have literally changed my life, Dr. K.”

  All this came out in one breath and Kate waved her in to sit down. “Are they working out all right? No discomfort or irritation?”

  “Yeah. They’re great. It’s still totally weird touching my eyeball and I was scared to do it on my own at first, but it’s totally worth it. Boys are actually noticing me at school.”

  “That’s great to hear, Jenny.”

  “You wanna know the first thing I did when I left your office with ‘em on? I put sunglasses on! I’ve never been able to wear them before. Even though it was cloudy and I didn’t really need them, I just had to see what it was like to finally get to wear them.”

  Kate smiled. “I’m so glad they’re working out for you. Call me if you ever need anything.”

  “I will,” Jenny said and turned to leave. “Thanks again, Dr. K.,” she called over her shoulder.

  Kate watched as Jenny practically skipped out of the office. The teen was obviously on cloud nine and Kate was glad to think she’d helped put her there.

  Those were the kind of visits that made her job worthwhile.

  When Julia began to lose her sight, Kate had been so scared. And not just for her sister. Kate had been secretly fearful that suddenly she’d be stricken with the same condition and lose her sight, too. It was a selfish fear, an ignorant one. One that she was ashamed of and one she didn’t share with anyone. The last thing Julia needed to hear was how afraid her sister was of suffering the same fate.

  So, Kate had tucked away the fear and focused on the things that really mattered—Julia’s wellbeing and educating herself. Choosing optometry had been an easy choice, the only one, really. Ever since Julia’s diagnosis, Kate had only one interest, one obsession, and that was the study of the human eye. She knew that when she finally became an optometrist after years and years of school, she wasn’t going to suddenly find a cure her sister. But the field intrigued her nonetheless and it was the only career path she could see herself taking. During her adolescence it felt good to have a goal—something to strive for, something to keep her on track, focused.

  The alarm on her phone went off, reminding her that it was time to meet Julia for yoga.

  Kate sniffed the roses one last time and grabbed her purse. Julia would have no problem giving her hell if she was even a minute late.

  * * *

  Kate had been practicing yoga ever since her divorce—according to Carl, the practice was “inappropriate voodoo”—and had eventually talked Julia into joining her. From the first class, Julia became hooked. The two sisters had spent so much time preoccupied with everything around them that it was nice to focus on connecting with their own bodies once in a while. Julia had taken some private one-on-one classes with an instructor and had moved on to group classes once she was comfortable with the poses.

  Julia positioned her yoga mat on the floor next to Kate’s and listened to the din of conversation around her. As usual, one of the women was fishing for compliments and was delighted when the instructor noticed her new yoga pants. Two women in the corner talked in hushed tones about—

  Well, Julia thought, blushing, she didn’t care to eavesdrop on that kind of conversation.

  It was amazing how much information people revealed when they didn’t realize someone was listening. Most of the time it seemed as if they wanted the whole world to know their business.

  Tuning out the room, Julia focused on Kate. “How was last night?” she asked her sister. “I listened to Havergal Brian’s The Gothic in its entirety. And it’s two hours long.”

  “I, uh, I made penne rigate and salad with that raspberry vinaigrette you like.”

  Julia smirked. She could tell that tone of voice anywhere. “You got laid!” she whispered.

  “Julia!” Kate whispered back. “How’d you—what makes you think… God, there’s no fooling you, is there?”

  “Who is he and what did he do to get you so flustered?”

  Phew, flustered wasn’t the half of it. Kate didn’t dare tell Julia that Logan was one of her patients. It was bad enough that she’d broken the sacred code of professionalism. “His name is Logan. He’s a hockey player. He plays for the Razors.”

  “How’d you meet?” Julia drew out the question like a fifth grade girl would.

  Sheesh, there it was. The inevitable.

  Kate grimaced. She couldn’t lie to her sister. Besides, Julia would catch the lie as soon as it left her lips anyway. “At the office.”

  “Wow. So, your new persona is working!” Julia was happy for Kate and excited to hear that she’d met someone new. She’d sat with her as she packed away tubs of ice cream after her divorce from Carl. And then, after allowing a sufficient grieving period, Julia had nudged her sister back out into the real world to reclaim her life. And it was starting to look like it had worked.

  Kate blew out a breath and moved from half lotus position into lotus pose. “Like you wouldn’t even believe.”

  The fluid movements put Kate even more in tune with her already happily humming body and she felt like a hormone-fueled teenager by the end of the class.

  * * *

  Logan was wearing his jersey, but it wasn’t a game day. Today he would join his teammates on a trip to the Red Valley Children’s Hospital. There, they would spend some time with the kids and sh
ow their support. The visit would put things in perspective by allowing them to step into another world for the day and experience what the kids were going through. It would be nice to see a smile on their faces; a smile here and there was all Logan and his teammates could offer.

  “Best behavior, boys,” Cody Lambert, the team’s captain reminded them as they strode into the hospital as a group.

  “Yeah, you’d better watch the f-bombs, Trik,” Pete Fontaine commented.

  A pained expression settled over Trik’s face. “Oh, fuck, I forgot.”

  Pete doubled over with laughter and Cody and Logan shook their heads at the genuine look of horror on Trik’s face. The guy really did have a difficult time watching his language. Hopefully when they passed through the front doors of the hospital his brain would kick on the propriety filter.

  The big, burly hockey players dressed in jerseys and jeans looked out of place in the halls of the bleak hospital. A few of the nurses eyed the players like they had never seen a man before—or at least had one warm their bed in a long, long while.

  Logan didn’t pay much attention to the appreciative glances sent his way by the female staff. He was here for the kids. Trik, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He would probably be discovered humping a nurse in a broom closet somewhere before the day was over.

  One of the nurses approached Logan and fluttered long spidery eyelashes at him. “Hi, my name’s Kammie.” She pointed to the nametag that was pinned awfully close to her left breast. By the mischievous look in her eyes, she had meant to graze her fingers across her nipple while needlessly pointing out her name to him. “Kammie with a K,” she added.

  “Hey Kammie.” Logan looked around the lobby. As expected, there was some confusion as the event coordinator attempted to give direction to twenty guys so that they could make the most of their trip and visit as many patients as possible.

  “Let me know if you need anything while you’re here. Anything at all.”

  “Okay.”