Thin Ice by Liana Laverentz Page A

it when it did.
    As she'd gotten older, the counselor had explained, her feelings of helplessness had transferred to other situations she couldn't control.
    Like the aggressive behavior of other drivers in heavy traffic. The Suburban provided some sense of security, being as big as it was, but the feeling that at any moment tempers could explode al around her never completely went away, even on the best of days, and today was far from that.
    Odd, how she could deal with any crisis that came up in the ER, but outside of her professional setting...
    It embarrassed her that the idea of someone losing his or her temper could stil spook her. But that was the way it was.
    She inched forward and nosed the Suburban into the right lane, then escaped the main road. But a few wrong turns on unfamiliar streets delayed her even more, and by the time she puled into St.
    Stephens’ circular drive she was distinctly edgy.
    The sleek black Porsche parked in front of the school didn't help matters. For a split second she panicked, thinking it was Ryan's.
    He'd insisted Porsches were the only cars worth driving, and he'd favored black.
    But then she remembered her ex-husband wouldn't be caught dead in a car that hadn't roled off the assembly line within the past six in a car that hadn't roled off the assembly line within the past six months. This one was several years old, but wel cared for from the looks of it.
    As she entered the school's main office, a deep male voice drifted out from behind the principal's partialy closed door. Not wanting to intrude on a private conversation—the woman was insisting that the man at least let her treat him to dinner—Emily waited impatiently at the front counter. A minute later, Dr. Manzelrod, a tal, striking blonde a few years Emily's junior emerged, laughing, in the company of Eric Cameron.
    At Emily's strangled sound of disbelief, Dr. Manzelrod looked across the room in surprise, then smiled in welcome. “Dr. Jordan.
    I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were waiting."
    "I ... just got here."
    Dr. Manzelrod's gaze went from Emily to Eric, then back again.
    “Have you two met?” When neither of them answered, she proceeded with introductions. “Dr. Jordan, I'd like you to meet Eric Cameron, one of Minnesota's premier hockey players and my—"
    Eric's hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Thanks, Miranda, but Dr.
    Jordan already knows who I am."
    Dr. Manzelrod looked startled, and Emily decided physical restraint seemed to be something Eric Cameron used instinctively. He and Dr. Manzelrod exchanged a long personal look before she offered a slow, “I see,” then smiled and turned briskly back to Emily. “Then if you'l excuse me, I'l get Robbie."
    "Robbie?” Eric's eyes narrowed on Emily as Dr. Manzelrod disappeared down the hal that led to the holding room at the rear of the office.
    Emily lifted her chin. “He's serving detention. For fighting."
    Instead of the I-told-you-so gleam she'd expected to see enter his dark brown eyes, she saw genuine concern. “Fighting? About what?"
    Her first impulse was to tel him it was none of his business. Then again for the past three days, she'd burned with the need to confront Eric Cameron, the undisputed cause of her first major faling out with her son. For hours she'd fantasized about giving the man a piece of her mind. But now that he was here...
    She hesitated, remembering the silent message she'd witnessed between him and ‘Miranda.’ Emily remembered al too wel what a sudden hand on the shoulder had meant with Ryan. It meant she'd crossed some invisible line and would pay for it later. Stil, it surprised her that Miranda Manzelrod had given in to him so easily.
    She'd always seemed so strong and independent to Emily.
    Lifting her chin, she marshaled her outrage ... and her courage. “He gave Glen a split lip because Glen refused to believe that you told Robbie he had the makings of an ace hockey player and you were Robbie he had the makings of an ace