“Mom hated it when I played.”
“But I don’t. She’s not coming by the way.” Kate attempted to hold back the bitterness in her tone, but was unsuccessful. That always seemed to be the case when it came to their parents.
Julia shrugged. “Good.”
“I called her.”
“And I bet that turned out swimmingly.”
Kate sighed and Julia wished she’d just give up on their parents like she had a long time ago.
“Where are they now? Sailing the open seas?”
“North Carolina.” Kate sat down on the bed, wishing she could replace everything that had been lost in the fire. “Did everything fit all right?” she asked, looking at the clothes spread out on the bed. The shampoo and deodorant were sitting on the counter in the bathroom. At least Julia hadn’t spent the entire day in bed.
“Yeah, thanks.” Julia got up, followed the sound of her voice and sat down on the bed next to her. “Gabe doesn’t seem to be bothered by my music either.”
“He’s a good man, Julia.” To keep her hands busy, Kate began folding the clothes into piles.
“So is Logan.”
“He’s out looking for Cassidy.” She wasn’t going to mention it, just in case he didn’t find her, but Kate knew she couldn’t protect Julia from every disappointment.
“She couldn’t have gone far. It all happened so fast, Katie. She jumped out of my arms and Shamus was behind me pushing me out the window…”
“It’s okay, honey. We’ll find her.”
Julia turned toward her sister and was engulfed in a hug. “She was so scared,” she said about Cassidy. “And Shamus was so brave.” She let herself cry in Kate’s arms because she had been unable to save the both of them.
* * *
Cody looked over at Logan and didn’t bother hiding his pained expression. “You’ve still got quite a shiner there, man.”
“Yeah.”
“How’s the eye?”
“Every time I go in, the doctor says it looks a little better. I’ll probably be able to start skating again in a couple weeks.”
“Good. We’ve got a new guy comin’ in from Ontario. Colton Greene. He was traded last night.”
Logan nodded. He’d heard good things about the guy and the Ontario Flurry was a decent team.
“So what is it we’re lookin’ for?” Cody asked, turning his truck onto the street Julia’s apartment building was on.
“A cat.”
“You know, cats can be pretty weird sometimes. My kids had one that took off for a few weeks and then came back again out of the blue.” Cody left out the part about how his twin boys had terrorized the poor thing. They weren’t called the Tornado Twins for nothing. “It’ll probably just come back home on its own.”
“Maybe.”
Cody pulled up to the complex and whistled through his teeth. “Holy shit,” he murmured.
“Yeah,” Logan agreed.
“This place is burnt to a crisp. The poor thing doesn’t have much to come home to, does it?”
“That’s why we’ve got to find her today.”
Cody and Logan circled the East Oak Apartments, looking for an orange cat with white feet and a white chest. The aftermath of the fire was chilling and Logan tried to ignore the destruction as he searched the area for Cassidy. He checked in every tree and under every bush within a half mile radius. The cat was probably long gone by now, but he had to at least try to find her.
There were a few felines wandering the neighborhood, but none of them matched the detailed description given to him by Kate.
Kate.
Man, he was crazy about her.
Logan had never been one to overanalyze things. In his life and in hockey. He trusted his instincts completely and did what came naturally. If he were to take the time to overthink a shot or a pass or a decision, the moment of opportunity would be lost, never to present itself again. It was the same way he felt about Kate. He had every intention of grabbing hold of her with both hands and never letting go. Too much in life was uncertain and he was smart enough to recognize a good thing when he saw it.
And he had the basics covered, so to speak. Money—he had plenty of it to live comfortably and then some. Fame—he had a dose of that, too, when he’d joined the ranks of the UNHL. Success—yeah, that had come before the money and the fame. Love—well, he knew of it from his family, but had never known it from or for a woman. Until now. Kate had shown him that love was just as important as the other three. Maybe even more so, he thought with a grin. And he was absolutely, positively in love with her.
Logan looked at the charred apartment building. The thought of losing Kate or her sister was unimaginable. He literally could not imagine a life without her in it.
During his recovery after the surgery, Kate had stayed by his side, leaving only to bring him food or something to drink. And when the time came to remove the bandages, she had been right there with him, holding tightly to his hand. He had almost been afraid to open his eyes, but he knew he wasn’t alone.
When he blinked, Kate’s was the first face he saw, her expression hopeful and beautiful.
She’d been there for him after the accident, even when he didn’t want her to be. And he had a distinct feeling that she’d be there for him in the future, no matter the circumstances.
He didn’t want another man to kiss her, to touch her, to love her. He wanted to wake up next to her in the morning and come home to her after a road trip. There was no one else out there better suited for him. No other woman had ever made his insides feel all twisted and mushy at the same time.
God, he wanted to make things whole for her again. He knew he couldn’t do much to console her and her sister after the fire, but he could help to right at least one wrong. Cassidy had to be out here somewhere and he was determined not to return to Kate’s without the little bundle of fur.
He and Cody asked some neighbors about Cassidy and knocked on a few doors, but no one claimed to have seen an orange and white cat.
After a while, Logan had half a mind to pick up a couple of kittens at the pet store—one for Kate and one for Julia—and call it a day. The gesture would probably be appreciated, but he knew it wouldn’t be a suitable replacement.
Just when they were about to give up, Logan asked Cody to circle back around to the apartment building and make one last sweep. Logan got out of the truck and ducked under the police tape to have a closer look.
Some of the bushes were charred black and some had turned an angry orange. Maybe the camouflaged foliage was why he hadn’t seen her the first time, but hidden beneath the singed branches of what probably used to be a green leafy bush, sat Cassidy huddled next to the scorched building looking frightened and mad all at the same time.
Carefully, so as not to scare her away and lose her forever, Logan reached behind the bush and closed his hands around her rigid body. She shivered at the touch. Although she struggled at first, as soon as he murmured her name and scratched beneath her chin, she calmed down and seemed to sag against him, exhausted and relieved.
Smiling, Logan cradled her in his arms and made his way back to Cody’s truck. Not everything had been lost in the fire after all.
* * *
Right after Logan climbed into the passenger seat with Cassidy, he received a phone call from his agent.
The Razors want to trade me, was his only thought when he saw the name flash across his phone.
He looked out at the scorched apartment complex and sighed. One minute you could have it all and the next it could all be gone.
Logan leaned his head back against the headrest and answered the call.
* * *
Gabe sat down on the mattress beside her, the bed dipping under his weight.
Julia could smell cinnamon and wondered how many sticks of gum he’d gone through today. She’d missed so much while she’d been sleeping, but it seemed like the easiest way to deal with what had happened.
“You’re still h
ere.”
“Well, I sure as hell am not going back to Chicago. And don’t even think about trying to get rid of me again.”
“It won’t work?”
“No, and I wish you’d quit bringing it up.”
“Would you ever consider jumping out of an airplane with me?”
His answer surprised her. “Julia, I’d jump out of a spaceship for you if that’s what you wanted.”
“No,” she said thoughtfully, “that’s not what I want.” After a minute she said, “You know I lost all of my music, too. It’s all gone.” Most everything else she could replace, but her music was irreplaceable. Sure, most of it was memorized, locked in her mind, but…
“You know that program I created for you that converted the musical notes into sheet music?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, it also recorded it to the cloud.”
When she told him she didn’t know what that meant, Gabe reassured her that her music was indeed safe and sound.
“You’re a pretty great guy, you know that?”
She was smiling as she said it and he was happy to be the cause of such a beautiful sight.
* * *
When Cody dropped Logan off at Kate’s house, Logan had a new outlook on life. The Razors wanted him to stick around for another five years and later this afternoon he would be signing on the dotted line to prove it. He’d taken the phone call with tragedy and devastation all around him and yet the voice on the other end had given him the chance at a bright, secure future. He would still be on the road for forty games a season, but the rest of the time he’d be in Red Valley with Kate.
It was time to put down some roots in sunny Red Valley, California. And he knew just where he wanted to plant them.
When Logan found Kate in the kitchen putting groceries away, she looked tired and stressed and yet he’d never seen her look so beautiful. There was no reason to wait. He wanted Kate Kapowski to be his wife. To have and to hold from this day forward and all the wonderful stuff that went along with it. He didn’t even have a ring to offer her yet, but the moment felt right and he didn’t want to wait until he was more prepared.
She heard him come in and looked up at him with wonder in her eyes. “You found her! How in the world did you find her, Logan?” Kate went to him and took Cassidy cat from him, stroking her soot-covered fur.
“Kate?”
“Thank you so mu—” When she picked up on the serious tone in his voice and the matching expression on his face, Kate stopped midsentence and searched his eyes. He looked like he had something important to say, but she had no clue what it could be.
“Will you marry me, Kate?”
She blinked, her hand stilling on the top of Cassidy’s head.
Logan Murray was proposing to her.
“I love you. I want to come home to you in your little bungalow when I’ve been out on the road. I want to know that you’re here waiting for me in your sexy shoes. I want to go grocery shopping with you...”
He stood in front of her, not on bended knee, but covered in soot from holding her sister’s cat and Kate could only think of one thing to say.
She smiled and blinked the tears from her eyes.
“Yes.”
* * *
Logan got to play hero a second time that day when he delivered Cassidy to her rightful owner.
The minute Julia took the cat from Logan, Cassidy started purring. It was the most beautiful, long-awaited sound and Julia’s voice tightened with emotion. “Oh, honey. You’ve had a rough time.” She kissed the top of her head and breathed in the familiar kitty smell.
Julia reached for Logan’s hand and squeezed it and he pulled her into a brotherly hug. Kate’s perfume lingered on his shirt as a subliminal reminder of who he belonged to.
“Where’d you find her?” Gabe asked.
“In some bushes by the apartment building. She hadn’t gone far.”
“Thank you for finding her,” Julia said.
Shamus would have carried Cassidy out of the burning building, too, if he could have. Lord knew he’d tried to.
Logan patted her on the back. “No problem. I took her by the vet’s office so they could check her out and they said she’s perfectly fine. They couldn’t find a scratch on her. Which is more than we can say about you,” he said, referring to the scratches on Julia’s arms.
Julia flexed her hand. The scratches were sore and would sting for a few more days. “Yeah, she went all Freddy Krueger on me.”
The four of them laughed weakly at Julia’s attempt at humor. There was still one member of their family missing and it felt strange to crack jokes.
“I’ll put out some food for her,” Kate said. Something had compelled her to buy cat food and a litter box at the store earlier and she was grateful for the distraction to keep her busy.
Julia stroked Cassidy’s fur as Gabe brought his arm around the both of them.
Cassidy was home.
Chapter Twenty-Four
New Eyes
Even after Cassidy was returned to her, Julia slept for days. And the days eventually ran into a week. She didn’t want to get out of bed. What would be the point? Sure, Gabe was here now, but his presence just wasn’t enough to wipe the grief away completely. He was busy settling into his new job at MacDaddy anyway.
Julia had taken a hiatus from the Blue Key and decided to spend the rest of her days wallowing in her own self-pity. She would have slept through Kate’s engagement announcement if Kate hadn’t barged in and told her the exciting news. Julia was happy for her and Logan, really she was.
She just desperately missed Shamus.
How was she supposed to go on without him? Without his big body always fighting for the covers? Without his soft snoring next to her on the bed at night? Their long walks in the park on the weekends? His gentle nudges and tugs as he looked out for her and kept her safe? No other dog could ever replace him. Not even a human could come close to how much he’d meant to her. He was so much more than just a service dog. He was her best friend.
Cassidy missed Shamus too. They used to lay snuggled up with each other at the foot of the bed and now Cassidy lie there alone, wondering where the big dog was. The cat had been keeping vigil on the foot of the bed like she was waiting for him to return.
Julia still couldn’t believe he was gone. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t they have escaped the apartment just a few seconds earlier? Why couldn’t his life have been spared?
When she couldn’t come up with any of the answers, she crawled back into bed and pulled the covers up over her head.
* * *
Gabe hated to leave Julia, but he slipped out of the bedroom while she was sleeping to stretch his legs and get some fresh air.
It had been a week and a half since the fire. Gabe had started his new job at MacDaddy—well, technically it was the same job he’d had at Intelliteck, except for the drastic change in scenery—and everything was progressing the way it should be. The launch and release party for VINCE was scheduled for the following week. Gabe wanted to share his excitement with Julia, but she had folded in on herself like a complicated piece of origami and he didn’t know how to reach her.
Kate didn’t seem too fazed by her sister’s withdrawn behavior and she smiled at him in the kitchen like she had an ace up her sleeve. If there was one thing he’d learned about Julia’s sister in the last couple of weeks, it was that it would take a lot more than tragedy to bring this half of the Kapowski sisters down for the count.
“She’s glad you’re here,” Kate told him as she handed him two plates of food. “She just can’t show it right now.”
Gabe nodded. He thanked her for lunch and went back inside the guestroom. After setting the food on the nightstand, he climbed into bed next to Julia. She groaned and turned over, reaching for him. He snuggled against her and held on tight. At least she wasn’t turning away from him. At least the grief wasn’t pushing her out of his grasp.
At least they w
ere together.
* * *
That next morning, Kate knocked softly on the guest bedroom door.
“Come in,” Gabe called out. He was working on his laptop while Julia slept beside him.
Kate swept into the room. “Julia, honey? It’s time to get up. They have a dog ready for you. Her name is Hawley.”
Julia sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “What dog?” she groaned. “What are you talking about, Kate?”
“She’s a guide dog who is just finishing up her training in Sacramento. She’s a Labrador retriever. We can’t bring her home today, but we’re going to go meet her tomorrow and spend the day with her to see if she’s a good match for you.”
Julia flopped back onto the mattress.
A good match? What in the hell was Kate talking about?
“I don’t want a new dog.”
“Well, it’s a little too late for that.” Kate had contacted the guide dog organization soon after the fire and fortunately they already had a dog in mind for Julia and her needs. The waiting list for a new dog was long, but Kate managed to pull some strings and call in some favors to make it happen.
She knew Julia’s grief was still fresh, but Kate wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She knew her sister better than she knew herself and this was what Julia needed. Even if she didn’t know it yet.
“I also made you an appointment with Sarah to get your hair done this afternoon.” Ever since her divorce, Kate swore that a trip to the salon was a cure-all for everything.
Julia let out another groan and turned to Gabe. “Are you getting all this?”
But Kate wasn’t stopping there. “And Logan put me in touch with a friend of a friend who does massage. Her name is Violet and she’s engaged to a former teammate of his. The guys on the team swear she’s the best massage therapist in town, so you’ll be in good hands.”
“Well,” Julia let out a superficial huff and sat back up. “It certainly sounds like you’ve got everything all figured out for me then, don’t you? Shall I schedule a bowel movement as well?”
Blind Ice (Razors Ice Book 5) Page 23