Page 96 of The Fake Out Flex

"No. Of course not. Levi's clueless. I don't think I'd be standing here with both legs intact if he knew I was in love with his sister. It's one of my teammates. Culver."

The smirk on her face expands. "I see. Well, at least you're not denying it."

"No one else knows, right? Mom, Dad? Trace? Clayton?"

"They're all as clueless as Levi," she assures me. "Come on, munchkin, time to go home."

"But I don't wanna go."

"You can jump on my shoulders," I offer.

"Yaaaay."

Dawn helps Oakey off the swing, and I crouch down as low as I can. He swings one leg over each shoulder.

"Hang on to my beanie," I say, and he does, latching onto it with his small hands.

I hoist myself up, make sure Oakey's gripping me tightly, and we begin walking through the snow-covered streets back to Dawn's place two blocks away.

"So what's the occasion for surprising Evie with a visit?"

"She sounded really sad on the phone last night."

"Wait." Dawn spins around, walking backward next to me. "You convinced your coach to give you time off to fly across the country during a game week because Evie sounded sad?"

"Really sad," I emphasize since maybe I'm not making it clear enough. "She sounded really sad."

"Oh, man. You got it bad." She grins at me. "Worse than I thought."

I don't reply to that because, yeah, she's absolutely right. I do have it bad.

We reach Dawn's house.

Her husband Tim greets us at the door. He's not the tattooed teenage punk he once was. He's turned his life around and is working hard getting his plumbing business off the ground. I carefully lower Oakey off my shoulders.

"Hey, man, good to see you," Tim says, giving me a hug before turning his attention to his son. "You—upstairs now, mister. Bath time."

"Do I have to?"

"You do."

"Fine."

Oakey stomps down the hallway. Tim looks at me. "Great season. Stanley Cup could be yours this year."

"Fingers crossed."

"You sticking around?"

"Nah. Need to head off soon."

"I'll get the little guy clean. Can you wait so he can say goodbye to you?"

"Of course."

Tim follows Oakey to give him his bath, leaving Dawn and me alone.

And like all good sisters, she can't resist picking things up where we left them as soon as we sit down in the living room.

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