Thin Ice

by April Cronin

  “I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't right now.”

  “You can't right now? What the hell does that even mean?” He started pacing again, like a caged animal, his strides quick and determined as he crossed the room end to end. Lupus following him as though they were playing some sort of game. “Do you have any idea what this is doing to Peter?”

  “No.” she admitted, her head dropping as she pretended to pick at her fingernails.

  Andre stopped pacing again, Lupus running into him as he pulled up short. “It's killing him Harmony. He doesn't leave the house, he gave up his week with the Cup, do you have any idea what that trophy means to us? How hard we worked for that damn thing?” She shook her head, still not meeting his gaze. “We worked our asses off for that, and Peter doesn't give two shits about it! You know,” he continued, changing tacts. “Peter was supposed to be in Russia right now, celebrating with his family, but no, he's sitting at home feeling sorry for himself, sorry for the shame and disappointment he's brought on everyone.”

  That did the trick, Harmony looked up, her face pained, “He's not a disappointment, how could he think that?”

  “So you believe he's innocent then?”

  “What? Yes, I mean, no. You tricked me damn it.”

  “It's a simple question Harmony. Do you think Peter did this?”

  She thought about it for a second, she still wasn't sure. “Do you?” she asked tentatively.

  “Hell, no!” he nearly shouted, “I know Peter, he couldn't hurt a damned fly, let alone a woman.”

  “I just don't know what to believe Andre.”

  “Then believe this.” he spat, walking towards her and crouching in front of the chair. “Peter loves you. You're the third girl he's ever been intimate with. And he would never do anything to hurt you.”

  “I'm the third girl? Really?”

  He nodded, “really. Peter and I are good friends, we've talked about these things, he was downright shocked to know how many women I've slept with.”

  Harmony snorted, causing Andre to laugh as he got to his feet and sat on the couch opposite her again.

  “Peter was pretty serious with a girl in high school, she was the daughter of one of his father's colleagues.” he said, giving Harmony valuable insight into the man she loved, “Then there was the girl he dated that trained with his mom. Now, granted, he's probably had more sex than me,” Andre joked, winking at her, “but our boy's a serial monogamist, make no mistake about it.”

  Harmony blushed. “I had no idea,” she admitted. “Peter and I haven't talked about our pasts, well, okay, Peter hasn't. I just thought... well...”

  “What? That Peter had a way with women? He's not like that Harmony.”

  “I'm beginning to see that.”

  “Good. Because there's more. Peter and I met that girl a few weeks ago. Before this whole incident ever occurred.”

  “Really? Why didn't he tell me that?” she cut in before he could continue.

  Andre looked at her skeptically, “Maybe because you didn't give him the chance? Peter told me you walked out on him, you didn't listen to a word he said, did you?”

  She shook her head, dropping her gaze again, more embarrassed than anything. Guilty even. “No, I didn't give him the chance. Maybe if I had....but I didn't”

  “If you had, he would have told you he'd never touched her.”

  “And I probably still wouldn't have believed him. Oh god, Andre, I'm such an idiot.”

  “You don't even know the half of it.” he retorted.

  “Gee, thanks.” she grumbled staring him down now.

  Andre shrugged. “You did it, not me.”

  “So what can I do to make things better?”

  “How about you try talking to him?”

  “I want to.” she said, hesitating, “but I don't know Andre, with everything that's been leaked to the press, I still have my doubts.”

  “And who do you think spilled all that crap to the press? She's lying Harmony. The little bitch is lying. I was with Peter, both nights... and let me tell you a little something about this girl. She's a slut, a puck bunny, she chases after hockey players and sees just how many of us she can sleep with.”

  “And how do you know this?”

  Andre stood again, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning a hip against the arm of the couch, “Because I've slept with her.” He said, matter of factly. His eyes sharp and angry.

  “What?”

  “That's right. She and her little friend approached us a few weeks ago, Peter blew her off, walked out of the bar completely,” He shrugged, “so I took her home. She was cute, so I thought, what the hell? Why not?”

  “And the second time? She what, came on to Peter again?”

  Andre shook his head, “I didn't see her the second time. But Peter said he didn't remember her, he'd been so caught up in you, he'd barely acknowledged her, so when she asked him for an autograph and a picture, he didn't think anything of it. But he swears he went right home afterward, he didn't stick around and chat. He went home, and then you showed up.”

  Harmony sat there pensively for a moment, Andre started to fidget again, caught between wanting to sit back down and pace. She ignored him though, tried to focus on Peter and that night. How he had seemed? He was perfectly calm, rational even. Were those the actions of someone who had just tried to rape a girl? She thumbed herself mentally. Absolutely not. “I just don't know.” she finally said, meeting his hard eyes.

  Andre threw up his hands. “Damn it Harmony! Peter needs you! Get that through your head! Go to him, your feelings be damned and show him your support! What are you waiting for? Do you need me to shove the test results in your face to prove he's innocent?”

  “They have those back already? I haven't heard anything.”

  “No!” he nearly screamed, Lupus letting out a low growl in his throat as he slunk over to Harmony and sat at her feet. “Sorry,” Andre said, lowering his voice. “I think the Lawyer said another week or so, but if I were you, I'd make up my mind one way or the other long before those results come in. If you need some little piece of paper to tell you Peter is innocent....then you don't deserve him.” He left then, walking straight out the door and letting it slam loudly behind him.

  Harmony was startled, jerking at the noise. Lupus set his head in her lap, his soulful eyes imploring her. “It's okay boy.” she lied, patting him on the head. Harmony didn't know what to think, what to feel at this point. So she felt empty instead.

  Andre stormed down the walk of Harmony's driveway, sliding behind the wheel of his sporty little BMW and peeling out. He was pissed. That had not gone at all the way he had planned it to. Harmony was supposed to be rushing over to Peter's by now, ready to comfort him and tell him everything would be alright.

  Instead, she looked as bad off as Peter did. He just didn't understand it. Peter loved the girl, and she obviously had pretty strong feelings for him as well. What were they waiting for? Somebody needed to make a move here! Damn it! If this was what love did to you, to hell with it, he thought. He wasn't going to fall in love. Fuck that shit!

  Sighing as he headed for home, Andre grabbed his phone, connecting the blue tooth and placing a call to Donovan.

  “Hello?” Donovan's voice boomed through the sound system a few minutes later.

  “Hey Donny, it's Andre. Got a minute?”

  “Yeah what's up?”

  “You still got that number for that reporter you used to know?”

  There was a pause, “what reporter?” he finally answered. Andre could hear muffled voices on the other end, Donovan was obviously talking to someone else, probably Lacy, his attention splintered.

  “Donny!” he yelled, trying to regain his full attention.

  “Yeah man?”

  “The reporter. You know, the one that confirmed those articles that girl sent in about you.”

  “Oh…that reporter,” Donovan answered, his voice muffled a second longer as he carried on that second conver
sation.

  Andre tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, giving him a minute, but losing his patience.

  “Yeah, I've still got her number. Sorry man, we're trying to decide what kind of counter tops we want in the bathroom.”

  He sighed to himself. “Go with cracked glass,” he said, then turned the conversation back to the reporter. “I need that chicks contact information. Can you get it for me?”

  “Huh? What do you need her number for? Oh and Lacy says the glass isn't a half bad idea.”

  “Yeah, no, it'll look good with the dark cabinets you guys want. Back to the number though, I want to set the record straight. I'm sick of twiddling my thumbs, somebody needs to do something about this bitch and all her lies.”

  Donovan sighed on the other end of the line. “I don't know man. Interfering in this mess doesn't sound like a good idea. What if Bettman finds out? And what about Peter? Hasn't he been through enough already?”

  “Shit, Bettman? That idiot? He isn't going to find out. Trust me. And this isn't going to come anywhere near Peter...” he paused, he needed to word this correctly. “I just want people to see the other side of things. See what kind of girl she really is. I've done some digging, and I think I can paint a pretty disturbing image of this chick. Cast enough doubt to get the media off Peter's back, ya know?”

  “I don't know Andre, it's a pretty delicate balance.”

  “Donny, listen, either you give me that reporter's number, or I'll find another one. I don't care, one way or the other, I'm going to get this shit out there.” He could hear Donovan grumbling now, shifting through papers. “I just figured I'd have more control over the situation if I already had an in with the reporter doing the story.”

  “Alright,” he growled, rambling off the name and number for the reporter he knew. “Just be careful, will you? We don't need Peter getting any more upset than he already is.”

  “Careful, yeah, you got it. Thanks man.” Andre said, disconnecting the call.

  The bitch was going to pay now; he was going to make sure of that.

  Harmony thought about what Andre had said long after he was gone.

  He was right. She needed to make a decision one way or the other, Peter deserved at least that much didn't he? So why was it so damn hard? She loved Peter, but then, of course, she had to reason that if she did, trusting him shouldn't be so hard. Her feelings were so convoluted; she wasn't sure what was what.

  Despite her newfound freedoms, she went to work that night. Now that she had officially taken over as manager, she could do most of what she needed to do at home. Harmony had set up a small office in her spare bedroom, and was able to log into the system at her store remotely.

  She had access to the security cameras, daily financials, the works, and as her new assistant manager was more than capable, Harmony was able to pretty much come and go as she pleased. Though she still made it a point over the past couple of weeks to work one or two full days alongside her peers.

  Still, she'd had no idea when she agreed to sell off the land around the store that she'd have so much freedom, and now she began to wonder what she would do with all that time. Idle hands were the devils play things after all.

  Peter was supposed to be her distraction, and while perhaps she was more distracted than ever by the current state of affairs, it wasn't at all what she had in mind. So she went to work, even though her presence wasn't needed, she went in and pretended to make herself useful.

  Chapter 14

  Love and Logic

  Kate was the shift supervisor for the night, and since Harmony had just been in the store the previous day, making sure that the new employees were settling in, Kate seemed a bit surprised to see her again so soon. Saying as much once she cornered her in the office.

  “Not that it isn't great to have you here, but what's up?” She asked.

  Kate took to lower management with ease, and the position was going to look great on her resume once she finished school. She only had a year left before she became a certified Pharmacy technician at which point she'd probably take a position at a local pharmacy, something that Harmony was actually considering bringing into the store now that she and her father had decided to remodel the place and do away with the outdoor section, it being the one spot in the store that teetered on the edge of the profit margin, and maybe by the that time they could offer a more permanent position to Kate.

  That thought aside for now though, Harmony shrugged and rifled through some of the afternoon paperwork, she wanted desperately to find something to take her mind off Peter.

  “Just bored at home I guess. Figured I'd come check things out here.”

  Kate put her hands on her hips, “I'm not buying it.” she said, “this wouldn't have anything to do with that hockey player would it?”

  Everyone at the store knew she'd been seeing Peter by now. Kate was hard pressed to keep a secret herself, so once Harmony had let on that she and Peter had gone out on a date, word spread around the store like wildfire. And when news of the assault became public knowledge, her employees looked at her a little differently. Was it pity she had seen in their eyes?

  She didn't know, didn't care to know for that matter.

  Harmony didn't have a lot of friends. In high school, she hung out with a couple of girls, and a slew of different guys. Girls envied her for her curvaceous figure and therefore wanted nothing to do with her, and guys well, they came and went. Most of them had at one point or another attempted to get into her pants, and failing they either went their merry way or took to her entourage once they were hooked by her easy going attitude.

  Harmony had often felt more at ease around men, even considered herself one of the guys, she liked manly things. Fishing and playing poker, or shooting some pool were a couple of her favorite past times, and once she made it clear she wasn't interested in knocking boots with any of them, the men in her life were like brothers to her.

  Something her own brother wasn't. They'd never really gotten along, her and Craig. It wasn't that he was a jerk or anything, they just didn't have much in common, he was five years older than her after all.

  But Hector had changed everything.

  Harmony had had the three same girlfriends since elementary school, and though after graduation one of them had moved out of state, the other two were close by. Well, sort of. Dana had moved a few counties west, residing in Atlanta now where she had settled down and had a couple of kids, her husband working for some big law firm, but her other friend Tammy still lived in the area.

  They'd even made it a point to have regular nights out together. They'd meet up with some of the guys, and hit the clubs, or maybe have dinner and do one of those trivia nights together. Hector had changed all of that though.

  Maybe they hadn't been together all that long, a little less than a year in total, but he slowly and effectively started to alienate her from her friends. She certainly couldn't hang out with any of the guys, because how did he know she wasn't sleeping with any of them? But her best friend? Her best female friend?

  She wasn't even sure how it had happened, but it did. And after the debacle of Hector's arrest, Tammy had refused to forget how easily she had been cast aside. Maybe she said she'd forgiven her, but she couldn't put the hurt out of her mind. So they'd gone their separate ways.

  Harmony had been so happy when she'd met Kate. True, Kate was a couple of years younger than her, not even twenty-one yet, so going to bars was still out of the question, but when they got together, they still had fun, and Harmony was able to confide in her, well, partly anyway.

  After hearing how quickly word of her and Peter dating had gotten around the store, she was sure glad she hadn't told Kate any of the more intimate details. Though surely she would have kept something like that to herself?

  “Yeah.” She admitted, after thinking things over for a minute, “it's about Peter.” Harmony wasn't sure how much she could truly trust Kate, but she was growing increasingly tired, depressed even. Her meetin
g with Andre only making things worse. She needed someone to confide in before she drove herself mad!

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Kate asked, leaning a hip against the desk.

  Harmony wanted to, she really did. “Aren't you needed on the floor?” she asked, one eyebrow cocking upwards. She was still the boss after all, no matter how much she needed a friend at the moment.

  Kate shook her head though. “Chelsea's still here, I'll just take my break early.”

  Chelsea was the assistant manager Harmony had recently promoted, she had opened that morning and would work until at least five, making sure Kate got her lunch break since she'd come in at noon and would be there until ten, closing at nine and resetting the store. It was only two o'clock now.

  “You're sure you don't mind taking your lunch a couple of hours early?” Harmony remarked. She desperately wanted to unburden herself, but not at the expense of Kate's dinner.

  “No, not at all. If I get hungry later I'll just get something from the deli and eat it while I count down tills.” She replied, laying a hand on Harmony's shoulder. “Come on, I'll let Chelsea know, and we can go out and sit in my car.”

  Harmony followed her upstairs, the back office had a door that connected to one end of a hall containing a couple of offices and a conference room where most of the employees ate their lunches. They found Chelsea in her office, the one she shared with the price scan clerk that set all of the prices and specials for the week, Harmony was the only one that had a private office, the door to which was also in the count room downstairs, though she hardly used it, preferring to do most of her stuff remotely from home now that she had that option.

  There were also a couple of offices located at the back of the store in the connecting warehouse that the produce, meat, and bakery managers used, but again, they shared them with their assistants as well.

  Chelsea looked up from a report she had been going over, adjusting the rims of her glasses as she watched Kate and Harmony approach. Despite the youthful sound of her name, Chelsea was an older woman, had in fact been working at the store for many years now, and was also currently seeing Harmony's father on a regular basis.