Thin Ice - Book 1: Starting at the Beginning With You

Chapter Three

"Absolutely, another one." Alice took her bucket and motioned with her head for Lacey to follow her. Lacey hefted her own five-gallon bucket full of dirty water, and hauled it awkwardly down the hall toward the rear exit.

"Find something new this week you've always wanted to learn about or try, and do it. Let's see if we can light a fire in you somewhere." Alice pushed the door open with her back, and they both dumped their water buckets out into the alley.

Lacey had to work not to roll her eyes. Alice always had the most simplistic ways of looking at things. As if knitting a sweater or learning to tap dance could fill the emptiness in her chest.

But she would humor her sweet old supervisor. "Okay, I can do that," Lacey replied. "Only, can I please have longer than a week?"

"A month, then. I'm generous. By the middle of October, I expect a full report. Now let's turn these buckets over to let them dry."

A few minutes later, Lacey just had time to pull her apron off over her head, give her daily goodbyes to each cat in turn, and grab her backpack before Stuart pulled up outside in his station wagon. It was sweet of him to be so faithful to pick her up on the nights she couldn't have her mom's car, but getting her own vehicle couldn't happen soon enough.

Halen was rolling down the crank window in the back seat. "Hurry up, Pet Shop Boys is on the radio! Dad's singing!"

Sure enough, Lacey opened the passenger side door to hear the synth-pop notes of the British band being covered by Stuart's loud, out-of-tune rendition.

"Since you went away, I've been hanging around. I've been wondering why I'm feeling down," he crooned into a tree-shaped air freshener as she jumped into the seat next to him, grinning in spite of herself.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you 'don't quit your day job.' You like terrible music, Stuart."

"Fer shame!" he popped out the cassette. "Tell me about yer day, was it good?"

Lacey thought back over the day and realized there wasn't necessarily anything bad about it, so why shouldn't it be considered good?

"It was fine."

"'Fine,' she says. Teenagers an' 'fine,'" he bemoaned.

Lacey glanced into the backseat to check on her half sisters, and was reminded at once of how different they were. Halen was content to listen to Stuart's music and look out the window, taking in all the good things life has to offer, while Ariel sat hunkered down in her seat, listening to her portable CD player. She hadn't, once, even looked up at Lacey since she got into the car.

Halen was yin, Ariel was yang. Halen sun, Ariel moon. It hadn't helped Ariel's moodiness, of course, that she was apparently coming into puberty a little quicker than Halen was, and therefore, sulked more and chatted less. Her sister had always been a tomboy, but the waters had been muddied slightly by the process of growing up. The irony hadn't escaped Lacey that the sweetest and easiest of the twins was named Halen, yet the moody, and at times obnoxious, Ariel shared a name with a Disney princess. It felt like it should have been reversed.

Turning back around and bringing her mind to the present, and the things Alice had said, Lacey was grateful for the older woman's influence. And despite her chagrin at times, she appreciated Alice's investment in her life and the advice to Lacey to pursue new, exciting experiences.

But, what on earth could that be? She was dating a star hockey player, made decent grades, felt pretty most of the time thanks to her tireless efforts, and had a good job and family. What else was there?