Beneath the Ice Ch. 01

No. He wasn't going to storm upstairs and shout at the person making all the noise in the apartment over his. He wasn't going to lose his temper after only a week at his new place. He was going to do some Zen breathing and forget about the noise—

BANG!

Oh, hell no.

Alexei Novikov twisted away from his yoga mat and shoved his feet into the slippers by the door. There was a shriek from above and another series of stomps and thumps, rattling the light fixture over his head. Growling, his frustration upping several notches, Alexei ripped open the door and stormed up the single flight of stairs to the next floor of his apartment building.

At the door he heard laughter, high and feminine, right before he knocked — probably a little too hard— with one fist. The laughter ended and a moment later there was a patter of footsteps approaching the door before the lock turned and the door opened.

Alexei looked down a good six inches into eyes the color of aquamarine. They tilted up a little at the outside and under the thickest lashes he'd ever seen were round cheeks covered in a smattering of light freckles. The face smiled at him and he blinked, wondering how in the world this angel had been making all that noise a minute ago.

There was a blur of color out of the corner of his eye and his gaze darted down to see an identical face framed in identical hair peering up at him from around the woman's thigh. The little face was the spitting image of the woman standing with her hand on the door, though the child was obviously two decades younger, at least.

"Hi." The woman tilted her head to one side, the curtain of her dark red hair falling over her shoulder.

Alexei's gaze caught on the wavy strands and he clenched his hands into fists, dragging his eyes to the woman's. "Can you keep it down?"

"Oh." She caught a stunningly full lower lip between her teeth and her cheeks turned a shade of pink Alexei couldn't identify. "Are we making too much noise?"

"You're making my lights shake."

There was a little giggle from the woman's side and Alexei's gaze darted down to the small face. She made a noise as their eyes met and buried her face in the woman's thigh, little hands clutching the bottom of the woman's shirt. He could tell she was still laughing from the way her little body shook.

"I'm so sorry. My daughter and I were practicing our gymnastics."

"Inside?" He crossed his arms over his chest and his scowl returned in full force. "Is that smart?"

This time it was her gaze that narrowed. "When it's raining cats and dogs outside so we can't go to the park to practice, yeah, it is."

"Well, it's too loud." Alexei took half a step backwards, ready to flee. He didn't do well with other people, never mind women with doppelganger children. "Don't be so loud."

Her expression was mild and she nodded. "I do apologize. We'll try to keep it down."

Before he could retort that 'trying' wasn't good enough, she stepped back and closed the door. A moment after that, the deadbolt clinked shut with a resounding thunk and Alexei was left staring at the numbers on the front of the door.

Cursing under his breath in his native Russian, he stalked away, heading back downstairs to his own apartment. Inside, he stood in the center of the main space, the combined kitchen and living area, and listened, scowling at the ceiling.

It was quiet. He heard a series of normal footsteps to one side, then it fell silent again. He stayed there, glaring at the ceiling, for longer than he should have. By the time he stopped, the time over the stove told him he had a mere twenty minutes to shower and get to his meeting at the arena.

Grumbling under his breath the whole time, he stalked to the bathroom, showered, dressed, and was out the door nineteen minutes later.

At the arena, Alexei nodded in greeting to his teammates as he walked through the building towards the team meeting room. There, he took a seat next to his friends, Tarik Hassan and Olle Norberg. They'd all been traded to the team at the same time during the off-season, a few years ago and it had made for a quick friendship to develop, even though their backgrounds could not have been more different.

"How was the day off, Al?" Olle held his hand up for a fist-bump as Alexei took a seat next to him.

Alexei grunted, making the Swede grin. It was no secret that Alexei was a man of few words. He'd probably done more than his fair share when confronting the upstairs neighbor earlier but he was in no mood to recap that for his teammates.

Tarik leaned over and squinted at Alexei. "He looks like he's in a good mood, so I'm guessing it was a good day off."

Olle snickered and nodded. "Yeah. He looks slightly less constipated than last week."

Alexei rolled his eyes and relaxed back in his seat, choosing to ignore his teammates' jibes. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched the rest of the team as they filed into the room around them. About ten minutes after he'd arrived, the coaches walked in and the meeting began.

They were facing the Detroit Red Wings the next night, always an exciting match-up. Same as any game between any of the original six: the six original teams that had formed the NHL back in the early twentieth century.

Growing up in Russia, Alexei would never have dreamed of playing in North America, let alone one of the most storied franchises in the league. And yet, here he was. The thought, as it usually did when it occurred to him how far he'd come in his life, made him smile.

It startled Olle when the defenseman glanced in his direction again, which made Alexei smile wider.

The Swede leaned close to him. "Stop it. Halloween is still two weeks away."

Chuckling, Alexei elbowed his teammate and they focused their attention on the game film now being played in front of them.

Later, Alexei let himself back into his apartment and his relaxation after spending hours with his teammates and friends faded. He scowled into the dim light of the space and waited, expecting a thump or bump or anything from above. But no. It was silent.

Breathing out in relief, he turned and locked the door before heading to his room to change into sweats and a T-shirt. As he did, he ran through his to-do list for the rest of the evening. He needed to get his smoothie and morning oats ready, and finish with his laundry because he was out of socks and would need them before his morning run.

As he was measuring out the protein powder for his smoothie, there was a distinct shriek followed by a BANG from above. This time, also rattling the single picture he had hanging on the wall over his couch.

Glaring at the measuring cup in his hand, he carefully tipped it into the blender and slapped the lid over the powder canister. While he moved on and tried to finish measuring out his vegetables and fruit to add, there was more banging, thought not quite as loud. Some stomping, more rattling, another thump, all with an accompanying loud childish laugh. Finally finished with his smoothie prep, Alexei washed his hands and jumped when there was another loud thump.

Growling under his breath he whirled around and glared at the ceiling, as if that would make the noise stop.

Who would be doing gymnastics at eight o'clock at night, anyway?

After the last loud thump, the noise faded and Alexei started to relax again by degrees. He finished with prepping his meals for the following day, checked that his suit was all pressed and ready to go for the game tomorrow night, and at last, sank onto his comfortable couch. He grabbed the remote control and turned on something loud and full of explosions to watch.

As a fourth car was being blown up on screen, there came a light knock on his door. For a moment, Alexei thought it was his imagination, or someone knocking on the door across the hall. It came again, louder this time.

Frowning now, he stood and crossed to the door, leaning down to look out the peephole. Familiar red hair and luscious lips twisted in a frown.

Flipping the lock, he pulled the door open. "Yes?"

"Hi." She gave him a brief, tight smile. "Upstairs neighbor, remember me?"

He gave a short nod, his eyes narrowed on her face. Those freckles. They were perfect.

"Would you mind turning down your show?"

Alexei blinked, dragging his eyes from the lips shaping the words and met that startling aquamarine. "Excuse me?"

Her lips twisted. "Your show. It's very loud and I just put my daughter to bed a half an hour ago."

"After more gymnastics. Yes, I noticed the difference in the noise level."

Her eyes flashed and her hands went to her hips. "Yes, well, it's late now and I'd appreciate it if you could turn your volume down."

"Maybe." He shrugged and stepped back, reaching for the door, ready to close it on her and this whole conversation.

Her mouth dropped open, her expression of shock obvious. "Maybe? Are you kidding me? I'm asking nicely and you say maybe?"

"I asked nicely earlier."

"You did not." She scoffed. "You growled at me like a wounded bear and stalked off instead of discussing it like an adult."

"What was to be discussed? You were loud, I asked you to stop it."

"Just like I am now." Her chin lifted. "Please."

Alexei ground his teeth. She had to say please. With a grunt, he nodded once and backed up, closing the door in her face. Crossing to the couch, he picked up the remote and shut the whole thing off. He'd had enough anyway. Time for some stretches before bed.

But the whole time he stretched, working one leg, then the other, he thought about those eyes and those damn perfect freckles.

─────

"I mean, you should have heard him, Sarah." Charlotte Woods dropped her voice and affected an accent. "'Don't be so loud'."

Sarah giggled as she placed the towels on the display rack. "He did not sound like that."

"No, it was more asshole-ish." Charlotte frowned as she straightened the display of soap dishes she'd set up. Damn her downstairs neighbor for ruining her day off with Zoe. "I mean, he couldn't have been more rude."

"I'm sorry he ruined your day off, sweetie." Sarah was always using terms of endearment like that. Sweetie, honey, pumpkin, gremlin —though that one she reserved for Zoe, and Zoe didn't mind at all. "But you have to admit, the noise is substantial when Zoe starts throwing herself off the furniture when she's pretending to be a superhero."

"Gymnast."

Sarah shot her a wide-eyed look.

Charlotte exhaled and backed up as she eyed the soap dish display one more time. "She wants to be a gymnast now."

"Well, that's at least a real possibility. I was worried she'd stay attached to the idea of becoming Wonder Woman forever."

At that, Charlotte grinned, her mood lifting. Her daughter indeed had long harbored a fantasy of becoming Wonder Woman. She'd even insisted on wearing the gold arm cuffs for weeks on end.

"Right. So, we were practicing yesterday, until Grumpy McGrumperson stormed up to my door."

"Practicing?" Sarah wrinkled her nose. "Inside? Oh, Charlotte."

"What? It was raining all day. Where else were we supposed to do it? The building lobby?"

"You could have chosen any other rainy day activity, anything that didn't involve Zoe landing her full body weight on the floor over and over. I can only imagine how much noise that would have been." Sarah sighed and patted Charlotte's shoulder. "I know you're not a fan of telling Zoe 'no', but it doesn't make you a bad mom if you do."

It was a perfect example of how well Sarah knew Charlotte, that she zeroed in on every one of Charlotte's insecurities in a single sentence. Then again, Sarah might be a sweetheart, but never one to beat around the bush.

"Come on. Ursula wanted us to start on unpacking the new stock before lunch today."

Charlotte followed her friend through the store to the back stockroom.

She'd been working at Heart and Home for almost three years, ever since she'd moved to Chicago with nothing more than a baby and a car full of clothes. Ursula Kline, the owner, had been her first acquaintance in the big city and Sarah Lanham had been the second. They'd become her new family after the old ones had sloughed her off when she'd had the temerity to get pregnant at nineteen.

"What new stock?" Charlotte asked as they walked into the dusty space.

Sarah led the way to the far aisle, where two pallets of shrink-wrapped boxes were set. "This stuff. It's the new line from Venus Linens."

"Oh." Charlotte clapped her hands in excitement. She loved Venus brand items. "I can't wait to see them. All the stuff we saw on the last sneak peek email was gorgeous."

Sarah grinned and nodded, pulling her box cutter out of her back pocket. "Let's get to it."

The two women worked side-by-side for a good hour until a beeping signaled the store's opening time. The store opened at ten every Tuesday-to-Friday, eleven on weekends, and was closed on Mondays. Sarah and Charlotte worked together every morning from eight o'clock on, starting with tidying the front store, resetting displays as Ursula requested, or putting out new stock as needed. Ursula usually came in around noon, and a few other part-time employees worked the afternoon and evening shifts, rotating through the days. The store was located in a busy retail area and did well enough that Ursula could pay Sarah and Charlotte more than fair wages.

Also, Ursula was more than understanding about Charlotte's status as a single mom. She was fine with Charlotte having to bring Zoe to the store on weekends when her usual baby-sitter couldn't watch her. The daycare Charlotte had Zoe in from Tuesdays to Fridays only did weekdays, which made weekends a little extra stressful. Thankfully, Ursula was good friends with an older retired lady who lived in the building above them. Mabel loved keeping an eye on Zoe when the store got too busy for Charlotte to keep up with her daughter.

Sarah and Charlotte cleaned up and walked back out to open the store. Charlotte unlocked the door and carried the chalkboard sign out to set on the sidewalk, displaying their weekly deals.

"Hey, Char, did I tell you I need to take off a little early today?" Sarah asked as she booted up the computer at the front desk.

Charlotte nodded as she walked around the counter to join her friend. "Yeah. Dentist, right?"

Sarah made a face. "Yes. I'll make it up to you though."

Smiling, Charlotte booted up the second computer, though they were rarely busy enough to use both at once. "Sure. Because I have such a blistering social life, I need all the favors and coverage for all my shifts."

"One day, sweetie. You wait. Some man is going to sweep you off your feet and you'll be begging me to stay so you can take off early for a Friday night."

Charlotte seriously doubted that but she appreciated her friend's support. In reality, having a three-year old child, — nearly four— no college education, and a retail job at age twenty-four was less than sexy. Not to mention the added curves and bumps on her body since having Zoe. Oh yeah, she was tearing up the singles scene, no doubt about it.

The day drifted on much the same as all the rest. Charlotte broke for lunch at one and chatted with Ursula when the older woman came in. Sarah left early for her appointment, leaving Charlotte alone for about a half hour until Dora, a university student, showed up for her shift.

It wasn't until Charlotte was driving her beat-up old Chevy Cavalier to pick up Zoe from her daycare that she realized how tired she was. It probably was because she'd tossed and turned for an hour before falling asleep the night before. Stupid grumpy downstairs neighbor with his piercing eyes and coarse accent. What was that anyway? Slavic? German? Dude needed to relax, whatever it was.

Zoe was full of beans and chatter as they drove the rest of the way to their apartment building. She filled the car with tales of her daycare adventures, letting Charlotte get away with minimal nods and acknowledgments.

For dinner, Charlotte reheated the soup from the night before and popped some store-bought biscuits into the oven to go with it. As she did that, Zoe continued to chatter about her day, throwing in gestures and acting out the parts of her fellow daycare residents.

"And then, then the chair fell over, just like this!" Zoe climbed onto one of the rickety kitchen chairs and started to tip it sideways, kicking her little legs.

For a moment, Charlotte continued to watch her with an amused smile. Then she saw where this story was going and realized the monumental crash that Zoe was about to create.

"No, Zoe!" Charlotte jumped forward and caught the chair before her daughter managed to tip it all the way over.

Zoe pouted and scrambled off the chair. "Mo-om! It's part of my story."

Charlotte sighed as she righted the chair. "Well, you can finish the story without showing me the chair tipping over."

Her daughter looked like she was going to protest, but like all three-year olds, she moved on and didn't look back.

"So it fell and Ms. Reinholdt, she said we couldn't do that, and then Stacy said that was stupid and then! Do you know what Ms. Reinholdt said?" Zoe ran from one end of the apartment to the other, her little feet slamming down on the floor with what seemed like more than her usual force.

Charlotte cringed as she watched her daughter, her mind replaying her conversation with Sarah over and over again.

"...I can only imagine how much noise..."

The trouble was now, since Mr. Gruff-Foreigner from downstairs had confronted her, Charlotte could imagine. It was true, Zoe was an energetic three-year old, nearly four, but maybe it was past time Charlotte started to set some limits.

"Zoe, slow down, honey." Charlotte caught her daughter against her legs as Zoe was about to make another lap, her mouth still tripping out words and tales from daycare-land. "Can you stop stomping around, please?"

Zoe made a face. "That wasn't stomping, Mom. This is stomping." And she proceeded to demonstrate.

Charlotte grabbed for her daughter again, stifling a laugh. Even when she tried— "Zoe, please. Come on, let's sit and watch some cartoons before dinner is ready."

"Yay!" Zoe cheered at the top of her lungs and threw herself onto the couch, making it crash against the wall.

Jesus. I can't win. Rubbing her head, Charlotte picked up the remote control and turned on the TV, selecting something animated for her daughter to watch. Something that could hopefully keep Zoe quiet for a little while. She worried for the next hour that she'd hear the pounding on the door, signaling her downstairs neighbor's displeasure at the noise.

No knock came, and they moved to the kitchen table in a little while when dinner was ready.

After that, Charlotte wrangled her daughter into a jacket and they headed to the playground across the street to hopefully burn off even more energy. She didn't want a repeat of the evening before when Zoe had been so stir-crazy from being indoors all day that she hadn't wanted to go to bed. She'd practically run laps around Charlotte until after eight.

Honestly, now that she thought about it, it was a miracle the gruff man downstairs hadn't come back after that episode.

Thankfully, it was overall a quieter evening for both of them. Charlotte stayed up after Zoe was tucked in bed, watching some late night sitcom on low volume. She wasn't paying much attention though, spending her time browsing on her slow-as-heck tablet for possible second jobs that she could do from home, and wouldn't require further daycare.

As she moved to her bed, tablet still in hand, Charlotte's search switched from work to community college classes. That only made her frustrated. The beginning costs of even a few night classes was out of her reach.