Page 1 of Off The Ice

Chapter One

Cassie

For some, the idea of being covered in the bodily fluids of another person might be repulsive. Me, however? I’ve come to accept it as my fate in life. Tears, drool, snot—oh God, the never-ending snot. I’ve been covered in it all and then some. It’s not pleasant, but it’s life. At least, it’s my life.

“No, thank you, Adrian,” I said tersely, frowning down at the five-year-old whose mouth was firmly attached to my wrist. “Teeth arenotfor biting people.”

The boy blinked up at me with wide brown eyes before unclenching his jaw, allowing me to pull myself free from the death trap that was his teeth.

“It’s like your parents are razoring your teeth each night,” I muttered, rubbing the red spot on my arm where his mouth had just been. “No kindergartner should have baby teeth that sharp.”

“Ms. Cassie,” Lilian wailed in the background, “She won’t share!”

Still gripping my sore arm, I turned to look at the curly-haired girl who stared up at me with expectant eyes and a pouty lip, waiting for me to solve her conflict.

“What happened, Lil?” I asked, bending down to her level.

“She-she-she,” the girl stammered, her little mind whirling as she tried to get her words out. “She has the doll I wanted, and I used my words like you said, but she still won’t give it!”

“Well,” I said, kneeling before her, “were you holding it first, and she took it from you?”

“No, but I wanted it. And I used my words like you said. I said, ‘I’m using this,’ like you said.”

“Right, but Lil, that only works if someone takes something you’re already using. You can’t use it to take something from someone else.” I smiled at her encouragingly, trying to explain delicately.

“But I want it,” she repeated, increasingly frustrated.

“It’s hard to wait our turn.” I nodded softly. “But maybe while we wait, we can play with the horse you like—”

Taylor Swift’s melodic vocals erupted from the cell phone in my pocket that, apparently, I’d forgotten to silence. I pulled it out, ready to reject the call, when I saw my boyfriend’s name flashing on the screen.

I answered the call, tucking the phone between my shoulder and ear to keep my hands free as I reached for Lilian’s other toy.

“Dave?” I asked, answering only because he knew better than to call me when I was at work. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’twantthe horse!” Lilian cried as I held the offensive object in question in front of her.

At the sight of her tears, I dropped the horse, scrambling to find something else that might distract her while I figured out why Dave was calling me.

“Jesus, it’s loud in there,” came Dave’s answering reply.

“That’s kindergarten for you.” I laughed. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

He was silent on the other end, causing my heart to plummet into my stomach.

“Dave?” I asked again, my voice a bit desperate. “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Not really, no,” he replied cautiously. “We need to talk.”

“Oh my God, is it my mom?” I blanched, the mayhem of the classroom fading into background noise.

My eyes darted around the room until I found my coworker casually scrolling on her phone in one of the tiny chairs beside a girl coloring.

“Julie,” I called across the room, “can you take over here?”

She looked up slowly as if she’d forgotten she was in a classroom. With a barely perceptible eye roll, she put her phone in her pocket and came over to where I was standing, giving me a chance to dart into the hallway, mumbling a “thanks” to her as I left.

“No,” Dave said. “It’s not your mom. It’s—”

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