Page 14 of Pucking Never

“I ran into Jensen today.”

There’s a pause as she absorbs my words.

At last, she shrieks so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear. “Jensen? Miami Jensen? No way! No freaking way! What happened? You have to tell me everything!”

I take a deep breath and launch into the whole story, starting with running into him at the arena and ending with our encounter in the parking lot. By the time I'm done talking, my voice is hoarse and my throat is raw.

Skyler is silent for a moment before she speaks again.

“Wow…” she says finally, her voice softer now.

“Yeah…wow,” I echo.

“It’s fate!” she exclaims.

I blink, stunned. Jensen had said the same thing. I’d dismissed it from him, but hearing it from Skyler makes it almost feel real.

“Fate? What the hell… Skyler! No! This is not fate. It’s a crazy coincidence, nothing more than that.”

“Oh, come on, Grace! This is not just a coincidence. This is some fairy-tale shit! You spend an amazing week with this guy, expecting never to see him again, and then he ends up being on Carson’s team! You guys are meant to be. The universe has declared it so!”

I scoff into the phone, taking a long sip from my wine glass. "Skyler, you're letting your romance novels get to your head. This isn't some grand scheme of the universe. This is… complicated."

Skyler snorts on the other line. "Isn't love always?"

The word love has me choking on my wine. I cough violently, my throat burning with the sharp liquid. Once I've recovered enough to speak, I respond with a flustered denial.

"Who said anything about love?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Skyler asks, her voice almost singsong. "You're both still hung up on each other after all these years. You've just been denying it out of fear."

I let out a strangled sound of indignation, shaking my head even though she can't see it. "I am not 'hung up' on Jensen."

"You're sure about that?" she asks, sounding entirely too smug for someone who's three hundred miles away.

"Yes!" I snap back.

“You two could be perfect together,” she insists.

“No, we wouldn’t,” I reply. “Miami was Miami. We wouldn’t work outside of that. Besides, not only is he a hockey player, but he’s Carson’s best friend! If I’d known that in Miami, I’d never have approached him.”

“Then it’s a good thing you didn’t know,” Skyler chuckles.

“You’re not being very helpful,” I mumble.

Before she can reply, a sudden knock on the door startles me.

“Hold that thought,” I gasp.

“What is it?” Skyler asks.

“Someone’s at the door..”

“Don’t hang up on me. Answer it while I’m still on the line,” Skyler insists. “Remember, stranger danger!”

I chuckle softly and say, “All right, hold on.” I move to the door and when I look out the peephole, I’m surprised to find Carson standing out in the hallway.

“Oh shit!” I exclaim. “It’s Carson.”

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