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“Everything okay?” “Yeah. Good,” he says. “Just getting an update from Mom about Blake.” “Anything new?” “Just that they have a meeting with a new attorney on Monday. That has to be Franklin, right?” “I’m sure it is.” A wave of gratitude for Franklin’s timeliness washes over me. It hasn’t even been forty-eight hours, and he’s already meeting with Blake. “That’s really great news, Nathan.”
Seriously. To have someone look at me like he looks at you. And that kiss! Girl. You’ve got yourself a keeper.”
“Are you a big hockey fan?” I ask, and a blush climbs up Riley’s cheeks. “Oh, um, sort of? I’m actually from Asheville, so I went to Appies games when I was little. But the Appies now—they’re an entirely different thing, you know? When our marketing advisor suggested we reach out, I started doing some research, found them on TikTok, and one thing led to another. I think I’d say I’m more of an Appies fan than an actual hockey fan? Does that make me sound so lame?”
Tentatively, I turn and sit…and oof. Okay. This was definitely a mistake. I am a hatchling, and this chair has basically swallowed me whole. I’m not exactly short—almost 5’8—and my feet are no longer touching the ground. They’re just dangling. Like I’m a child sitting on an enormous sofa. “You okay?” Lucy asks.
How are you not going to fall for him for real?” she asks. “The internet can’t stop talking about how perfect you two are.” It takes me a long time to answer because I don’t actually have an answer. I probably am going to fall for him. It’s stupid and reckless and completely unlike me in every sense. But I don’t know how to stop it from happening.
“On the upside, I do love the idea of Jason P. Roscoe finding out you’re dating a famous hockey player.” Lucy utters the name of my former boss like it’s a curse word, as it absolutely should be. “Ohhh, I hadn’t thought of that!” I say. “I like that idea very much.”
“So, I’ve been thinking about what you asked me,” Alec says, his eyes still on Nathan. “About why he’s so cynical.” “Yeah? Got any new ideas?” “I’m just wondering if it has something to do with his dad.” Alec pushes a hand through his hair. “He was a great hockey player, a legend, really. But Nathan doesn’t talk about him. Doesn’t seem proud of him. It just makes me wonder if his dad wasn’t that great of a guy off the ice.”
“I’m going to miss you,” I say, meaning every word. He holds my gaze, and I get the sense that he knows I’m not faking about that part.
That saying about distance making the heart grow fonder? Absolutely true. Because five days without Nathan around has made me miss him enough to stop caring that our relationship isn’t real.
I press my lips together to keep from smiling, liking a little too much that my touch has so much influence. There’s a nervous energy pulsing between
But once his injury forced his retirement, he basically went dark. A lot of guys go into coaching or broadcasting, but Nathan’s dad didn’t do either.
The skates have braces that extend up Allie’s legs and hook around her knees, and she’s holding a kind of sled she can lean on as she makes her way around the ice. “Oh my gosh. This is perfect,” I say, holding out the phone for Nathan to see. We pull up to a stoplight, and he takes the phone, staring at the picture. “Man,” he says. “That’s…” He sniffs and shakes his head, almost like he’s willing away tears. “Two years ago, we weren’t even sure she’d be able to walk.”
You’ve got this broody, frowny persona publicly, but deep down, you’re kind of a big softie.” His lip ticks up to the side. “Don’t go telling the rest of the team. You’ll blow my cover.” I think of Alec’s words before we parted ways in Chicago. I love the big idiot, so I’d like to see this work out for you. “I hate to break it to you,” I say, “but I think they already know.”
He is impossible to jostle—sturdy and steady and solid.
Emotionally? Pretty sure I’m about forty percent in love with him already.” “Only forty? That doesn’t sound too bad.” “Maybe not, but I’m worried the growth might be exponential.”
I did it for me. I ignored every rule I’ve ever made for myself, kicked my logical brain out of the boardroom, and gave my heart control.
It’s funny that we’ve been having the same thoughts, feeling the same impulse to reach out.
I’ve always thought I know what I want—or don’t want—as far as relationships go, but now…Summer is making me question everything.
I did not see this one coming. Playing Catan with my hockey teammates? I smirk into the darkness. I could just tell Summer how well I know the rules myself. The words are right there, on the tip of my tongue. But maybe it will be more fun to keep this ace up my sleeve for now.
“Right here,” she says softly, “your lip will twitch the slightest bit. Like you want to smile. But I’d never seen the real thing. Now that I have seen it, all I can think about is seeing it again. I’ve been hunting for jokes all week just to see if I can get you to crack.”
“I’ll hear it and think, this is the one! This is the one that will break him!” More like she’ll be the one to break me.
What I don’t do is smile. Not because I don’t feel like it or because I’m not having fun. But because I know Summer’s watching for it. It’s a game between us now, and I have no intention of making it easy on her. Maybe because I don’t want her to stop watching for it. I don’t want her to stop trying to earn it.
I’m immediately enveloped in the subtle scent of her perfume. I have no idea what it is. It could be flowers or fruit or some combination of both, but I’ve already decided it’s my new favorite scent.
I’d never even heard of it then, and when he offered to teach me how to play one night after hockey practice, I immediately declined. But he kept asking, and eventually, I caved.
Which is all the better. I have every intention of delivering the win Summer wants, and it’ll be easier if they underestimate me.
“You have some explaining to do,” she whispers. My lips twitch. “Just follow my lead,” I whisper back. It takes about four more rounds before the rest of the group starts to pick up on my not-so-beginner status. Bailey is clearly my fiercest competitor, and after an hour, we’re so far ahead of the other two teams, they’re only serving as obstacles to the game we’re playing against each other.
Finally, I upgrade a settlement to a city and get the final game-winning point. Bailey groans and drops back into her chair. “Okay. Spill it. How did you become such a Catan ninja?” “That’s actually the first time I’ve ever won,” I say, because it’s the truth. Not the whole truth, but I’ve had these skills in my back pocket for years, and I’ve never had the chance to use them. I’m not going to spoil the fun by spilling my secrets now. “Liar,” Eli says. “You played like a freaking scientist. Like you were planning each turn five turns ahead.” I was planning each turn five turns ahead, but I
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“So, here’s the situation,” Franklin continues. “The four other boys who were arrested with Blake all have previous records. Two are brothers—twins—and they happen to be the sons of an important Massachusetts congressman with very deep pockets. The third is a kid with the last name Pike. His father is one of the biggest defense attorneys in the city. This guy’s got a reputation for high profile cases and big settlements, and he’s got connections all over town. The fourth kid is one of the Boston Treemonts.” “Like, the Treemont hotel chain?” I ask. “The very one,” Franklin says. “And like
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“I just don’t understand how Blake even fell in with these guys,” Nathan says. “He’s the scholarship kid from Portland. This isn’t his crowd.” “I asked him that exact question,” Franklin says. “He said it was because of your father. Your dad’s name carries a lot of weight, and these kids treated him like NHL royalty.”
“How nice. We’re basically looking at four kids with inexhaustible resources and top-dollar representation and one kid with a court-appointed public defender.” “That’s precisely why they were trying to pin everything on Blake. Because they thought they could,” Franklin says.
Franklin goes on to explain that the district attorney prosecuting the case has it out for the older boys because this is not their first offense. He’s tired of them getting off because of who they are, so this time, he’s pushing to try them as adults so the consequences will really stick. But the attorney representing them is powerful, and they aren’t backing down. And they aren’t opposed to throwing Blake under the bus if it means getting their clients lighter sentences. “So, I had my private investigator do a little bit of digging,” Franklin says. “Turns out, there’s security footage from
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“And the new security footage will influence the case against the other boys. The DA is required to submit the new evidence to the opposing counsel, but if he can work the timing to his benefit, he will.”
“Nathan, Franklin is Blake’s attorney now. And he’s the best there is. It’s going to be okay.” He looks up, hope in his eyes. “I thought he was just asking questions.” “That’s how it started,” Franklin says through the phone speaker. “But one conversation with your brother, and I knew I had to do more. He’s a good kid. He doesn’t deserve to be railroaded like this. I’m waiting on statements from his hockey coach and his principal speaking to his character. I’ll pass those along to the DA, and that should be enough to seal the deal and make this whole thing go away.”
should pay you for the opportunity to take down the jerk attorney representing these other kids. He’s the kind of man who gives us all a bad name.”
He dips his head, burying his face in my hair and just…holds me.
So what if deep in my bones, I feel some kind of kismet, a recognition that this thing happening between us is bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced before. If he doesn’t feel the same way, none of it matters. But that’s just it. I think he does feel the same way. I just have to figure out why he’s so determined not to.
“He died of liver failure. Basically drank himself to death.” I shift my hand up to his shoulder. “That must have been tough.” “Not as tough as living with him before he died.” He reaches under his shirt and pulls out a gold chain looped through a ring, the same one I noticed the morning I woke him up in Chicago. He holds it up, and I step close, taking it in my hands. It’s gold and studded with diamonds. Across the top in navy lettering, it reads Stanley Cup Champions. “Your dad’s ring?” Nathan nods. “I wear it to remember the mistakes he made. So I don’t make the same ones.”
Nathan doesn’t want a relationship because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone like his father did.
I want Nathan to be happy for his own sake, regardless of whether that happiness has anything to do with me. And that feels big. Possibly too big? And highly illogical considering the status of our entirely pretend relationship. But I’m not sure logic even matters anymore. My heart is on a different frequency, and it does not want to pick up the signal.
“Give me a percentage,” Parker says, and I immediately know what she’s asking. I told her I was forty percent in love with Nathan after ice skating, so where am I now? “A solid sixty-five,” I say, and she lifts a hand to her chest. “Oh, Summer,” she says. “Sixty-five is big.” Gracie looks at me, then back to Parker. “Trying to piece it together here. She’s sixty-five percent…?” “In love with Nathan.” It’s Bailey who fills in the blank, which is surprising because she knows the least about my situation.
Nathan has been nervous this week. They all have been. Even though the stakes of this game are basically nonexistent, I know they would secretly love to win, if only to justify all the attention they’ve been getting. I can’t imagine the pressure.
I’ve never been so excited to attend a game, if only to drop the friend label for a few hours and embrace the girlfriend one.
I don’t want this to end. And admitting real feelings could absolutely end it.
Nathan Summer. Let me see my name. His text hits me like a punch to the gut. Because those words don’t feel fake. And the smoldering look in his eyes doesn’t either. Summer FINE, Mr. Bossy Pants.
When I look back, his smoldering look has shifted into something different. Something more. Summer Now who’s staring? Nathan Can’t help it.
Hey, did you hear about the Zamboni driver who disappeared? Nathan reads the message, then looks up, meeting my eyes. I grin, then send him one more message. They hope he resurfaces soon. I bite my lip as I watch for Nathan’s reaction. He shakes his head, rolling his eyes in a way the joke absolutely deserves, but his eyes are smiling, so I’m counting that as a win.
I can tell Nathan is enjoying himself—but I can also tell he’s holding back. That’s not unexpected, considering our audience, but it triggers a sharp yearning deep in my chest. I want more than this. I want Nathan to kiss me for real. Even if no one is watching. I want Nathan to kiss me like he feels what I’m feeling.
She eyes me as I watch him walk away. “Eighty percent?” I breathe out a sigh. “Maybe even eighty-five.”
As it turns out, winning a game against an NHL team gives the Appies a little bit more than bragging rights.
Grant and I are fielding dozens of new inquiries from brands who are interested in partnering with the team.
