When Alec Met Evie (Appies, #6)

by Jenny Proctor

three guys married and two in serious relationships—I have to admit. I didn’t see this one coming. I’m the Appies captain. And I’m spending my Friday night with the rookies because all of my friends are at some sort of couples’ party.

Across the table, Carter, one of the newest Appies, laughs and Coke comes out of his nose. His twin brother, Theo—they were recruited together because of how well they read each other on the ice—smacks him on the back and they both start to laugh.

there’s leftover lasagna in the fridge from the team dinner Felix hosted last night. Nobody makes lasagna like our goalie and…man, I sound old.

But Tucker has been stepping up lately.

Theo and Carter nod in unison, their faces looking more similar than ever. “Right. Yes. Understood,” Carter says. I glance over at Tucker. “Sorry to bail early.” He waves a dismissive hand. “You already stayed longer than I thought you would.”

At thirty-two, I’m one of the oldest guys on the team, maybe even in the league.

It’d be nice to be closer to family, but there’s something about these mountains that makes me think I could live here too. Even when I no longer have to.

“Hey, Meg,” I say. “Hey!” My younger sister’s voice comes through with all the enthusiasm I’ve grown to expect.

Everyone’s out to take down the Calder Cup champions.

But the Appies aren’t typical. With our social media presence and huge fan following, there’s a lot of money in this team, even though it’s technically minor league. The Appies offer specific perks that give guys reasons to play here instead of aiming for the NHL. Which just means there’s a lot of talent on the Appies’ ice, and we’re hard to beat.

Logan,

Technically, Mom and Dad are actually Grandma and Grandpa, but they’ve been raising us since three days after Megan was born when our actual mother—their only daughter—walked out on all of us. We didn’t see her for ten years, not until she showed up one random afternoon two weeks before I headed to Cornell for my freshman year of college. She was finally clean and sober and had a new husband, two stepchildren, and a brand new baby in her arms.

We’d already been calling our grandparents Mom and Dad for years anyway. From then on, we called our actual mom Stacy and thought of her kids, including our half-brother, as our nieces and nephews.

“So, you remember my best friend Evie?” “Sure.” When I was in college at Cornell, home was only a few hours away, and even though hockey kept me busy, I still made it home enough to keep up with Megan’s life. Evie was around all the time. She was a pretty mellow kid. Funny like Megan, when she wanted to be, but never as giggly or silly as my sister.

I lean back in my seat. “I can’t believe Evie has a kid. Is she even old enough for that?” “She’s twenty-three,” Megan says. “Three months older than me.”

You might feel differently when you see her.

And now we’re finally here in Harvest Hollow—a town I’d never even heard of until I stumbled across the listing for an apprenticeship that triggered my move.

Or, fresh-ish? I can’t completely start over when I’m financially dependent on my mother-in-law. Ex-mother-in-law now, I guess. But I wouldn’t be here without her, and honestly, I’m lucky she still wants to be involved at all. After her son basically signed over his parental rights in the divorce, giving me full custody of Juno, not every mother-in-law would want to be.

But she still flew out to see me right after Juno was born, still talked to me like I was as much a part of her family as I was before the divorce.

Just looking at her stills some of the panic creeping into my heart. Nothing calms me faster than knowing I have to be calm for her.

“I’m sorry, do we—was it the landlord who told you about me?” Her eyes widen like she’s just remembered something very important. “Oh! I skipped right over that part, didn’t I? Look at me, walking up here like we’re already friends when I’m nothing but a stranger to you.” “No, I’m so happy to meet you. Just a little confused.”

My nephew, Malik, he’s the manager of the Appies hockey team.

Back then, I thought the sun rose and set on Alec Sheridan. He was nine years older than me—too old for my crush to ever be anything but a silly fantasy. But here lately, even before I decided to move, he’s been on my mind all over again.

It was only four minutes long, but something about the tone of his deep voice must have soothed Juno because she settled as soon as it started and stayed quiet until it ended. When I scrolled onto the next video, she started fussing again, so we went back to Alec. It worked like magic.

Apparently, imagining Alec wielding a hammer is more than enough to reignite my long-dormant feelings, because a twinge of something familiar pushes against my ribcage, making my chest flush with heat and my skin tingle with awareness. Except…no. Those are not feelings I need.

Sometimes I feel like my divorce acted like a factory reset, and I’m having to learn how to love and trust all over again.

That feels so impossibly far from where I am now. I swallowed the missing porch swing. But a flood? I just don’t have it in me.

I have never liked being a burden to other people. I’m a middle child, the only daughter in between two brothers. An older one, Charlie, who spent his teenage years challenging my parents at every turn, and a younger one, Brady, who was diagnosed with leukemia the week before his fifth birthday and spent the next seven years in and out of the hospital. He’s completely healthy now—a senior in high school, a state champion swimmer, and cancer free going on five years.

I take several deep breaths, in through my nose and out through my mouth, finishing just in time for Alec to walk into the living room, flanked by three broad-shouldered men I immediately recognize as his teammates. There’s something to be said about seeing four professional athletes in one very small living room, especially when they’re as handsome as this group.

Alec Sheridan is not here for me to ogle him, and he definitely isn’t ogling me.

Alec smiles, his lips lifting a little more on the left than the right, just like they always did. “Hey, nerd.” His voice is a low and delicious rumble, sending a wave of goosebumps skittering across my skin. It’s not a wonder Juno loves it so much. Then it registers that Alec just called me nerd.

Still Megan’s best friend, and still too young for me. But gorgeous.

Camden is the only one who is single, but he’s still hung up on a woman he met over the summer while visiting his family in Savannah. He hasn’t said much about it, but he’s clearly still licking his wounds over what happened when he left.

Felix, who is a landlord himself, moves to Evie’s other side and starts asking questions about her lease. Meanwhile, all I can think about is the enormous house I’m living in all by myself.

I’ve got a great disaster repair company we can call.

If he does, then he’s a few steps ahead of me, because I can’t make sense of it at all. I just know that despite the grumbling I did about Megan volunteering me to help, Felix shouldn’t be the one who solves Evie’s problem. It should be me. I want it to be me.

I’ll be learning how to build them, repair them, refurbish them.” “Megan said you’ll be a luthier? I honestly didn’t even know that was a thing.”

This season, you have to play with your brain as much as your body.”

She eyes me curiously. “Okay. But it seemed like your face did a thing.” “A thing?” I raise my eyebrows, but it’s not lost on me that Evie just picked up on something being off when, so far, none of my friends have done the same.

There are eight of us all total, seven who still play for the Appies, plus Wyatt who was with us last season, then signed with the Bruins and moved to Boston.

This makes the baby smile and something small turns over inside my heart.

Evie’s brows lift, eyes wide. “You’d let me stay with you?” Something in her tone makes my cheeks warm the slightest bit. “I mean, if you want. Megan would want me to offer.”

My heart speeds the slightest bit, and I realize I’m excited. Weirdly excited. And not just because I know it’s what Megan would expect.

But I’ve never hugged her like this, and I’m distracted by how good it feels to have her against me.

That means I shouldn’t be feeling this much attraction. Maybe my subconscious was trying to reestablish boundaries and remind me to behave?

Megan knows better than anyone what I’ve been through in the past year. She’s the one who held my hand through the divorce. Who helped me through Juno’s delivery when my idiot ex-husband didn’t want to be there. I shouldn’t be insulted because she doesn’t think a purely hypothetical relationship with her brother is a good idea.

I spend an extra long moment admiring the way his back and shoulders flex with the effort, then slam my trunk closed with a sigh.

“What did she say about Devon?” “Not much, honestly,” Megan says. “But if I’m reading between the lines, I kinda got the sense he screwed up pretty big and was fired.”

I frown as I watch him walk. I could be wrong, but he looks like he’s favoring his right knee.

“Megan is great,” he says, “but I watched you today. Something tells me you’d be okay no matter what.”