Breaking the Ice by Mandy Baggot Page A

Dave’s office and struggled out into her workspace. She needed some fresh air. She felt like she was going to vomit, if the vomit could make it past her ever decreasing windpipe space and the breath catching in her throat. Perhaps she could make it outside and puke in the patch Gobby had made, at least that would mean less clearing up to do later.
    ‘ Miss Smith, please come and sit down. I can see I’ve shocked you and I…’ Mr Radcliffe began, following Samantha as she made it out from behind the counter and into the foyer.
    ‘ You can’t close the Civic Hall - you can’t close it because it’s - it’s my life,’ Samantha told him, her face now the colour of beetroot and her breathing erratic.
    She felt the foyer spin and her eyes begin to close. The final thing she saw before she lost consciousness was Jimmy coming back through the main door.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Seven
     
    She had nightmares about it. The fear stemmed from sitting all day on the front desk seeing countless elderly people collapse in front of her. It was either because it was too hot or too cold or they had stumbled or their friend had stumbled, causing a domino effect. Now she was going to be the casualty. Now people would be standing around her looking concerned, some hoping she wasn’t going to die in front of them, others hoping she was so they could post a video on You Tube. She didn’t want to open her eyes, she couldn’t. There would be the shame, the embarrassment, Jane in tears and Dave’s awful breath.
    ‘ You missed our date this morning,’ a familiar voice spoke.
    She was dreaming! Thank goodness! But no, she didn’t want to dream about him, it was against her rules. If she let the dream carry on she would see the Minstrel eyes and the nice hair and she would smell the mixture of musky eau de toilette and testosterone. She had to wake up.
    Samantha slowly opened one eye and caught sight of the nice hair.
    ‘ No!’ she exclaimed out loud.
    The volume of her voice convinced her that it was far too loud to be in any dream and that meant the nice hair was really attached to the object of her affection and his presence wasn’t imagined.
    ‘ Hey, are you OK?’ Jimmy asked as Samantha opened both eyes and hurriedly tried to move.
    One of her arms was behind her back and the other was propping up her head. As she tried to move all she succeeded in doing was raising her chest slightly and bucking her top half like a break dancer attempting the Caterpillar.
    ‘ Here, let me help you up,’ Jimmy urged, taking hold of her arms and assisting her in getting to her feet.
    Everyone was staring. There were a group of people stood around her and she could see the customers dining in the restaurant had all put down their cutlery and were looking in her direction. She had never felt so embarrassed. She couldn’t stay there a moment longer being looked at and pitied.
    Without saying another word Samantha hurriedly shook herself from Jimmy’s grasp, turned towards the exit and began to make her escape. She almost got as far as the door. She caught her foot on the matting and fell nose first onto the rough carpeting.
    The ice skater was again the first person to reach her and offer assistance.
    ‘ I think you need to slow down. Come and sit,’ Jimmy ordered, helping her to her feet and attempting to guide her back to a seat.
    ‘ No! Look at all those people, looking at me. I can’t stay here, with them, like that - all looking,’ Samantha blurted out, tears welling up in her eyes as she saw customers begin to whisper amongst themselves about her. The pensioners, usually doddery and a concern of hers were now looking over their toasted tea cakes at her, pity in their cataract ridden eyes.
    ‘ Then let’s go sit outside,’ Jimmy suggested quickly. He put an arm around her shoulders and hurried her away from the prying eyes.
    ‘ I don’t need you to help me, I’m fine,’ Samantha said, shrugging his arm away from