Page 14 of Frozen Play

“Shut up. Not everyone gets to live their dream, hockey star.”

He grinned, a cocky grin that looked like the guy I saw on TV. “You think I’m a star?”

“Come on, you’re the heart of the shutdown line for the Blaze. You guys gotsoclose to the Cup last season. Are you saying that wasn’t your dream?”

“Iamliving my dream, and I’m damned lucky to do so.” He frowned, and I wondered if he was thinking about Ducky, his teammate, who was out for the season now with a knee injury. But he refocused on me. “Not everyone dreams of playinghockey. You never did when you were a kid. So, what would be the dream for you?”

“I don’t have an answer to that question. You were all about hockey growing up. The boys have always loved tinkering around with cars. I didn’t have anything like that.”

The focus of his attention was unnerving. “There’s gotta be something. If you won the lottery, what would you do?”

“Pay off the garage debt. Get new equipment. Get my own place.”

“And if you still had money?”

“I dunno. New clothes? A college fund for Rowan?”

“What about travel? University? A sports car?”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t want to travel alone. And I have no idea what I’d study if I went to university. I never liked school that much.”

“The car?”

I rolled my eyes. “On the roads around here?”

“Fair point. Oh, you could hire someone to do the office work or run the cash or whatever.”

I smiled at him. “Okay, yeah, I’d do that. So there’s my dream. Win the lottery and pay off a bunch of stuff and hire someone to do my job. I guess I need to start buying tickets.”

It wasn’t exactly a news flash that I was attached to my family. My mother had died when I was twelve, at a time when a girl really needed her mom. It had been an accident, without warning, and the most stable thing in my world vanished.

I’d followed my siblings around ever since, worked in the garage, lived with my brother—and my lottery wish list was mostly things to help them. Having them around, close, made working at a job that was kind of boring worth it. Family was my dream. I’d love to have my own.

But there weren’t that many guys around. In the summer, yeah. Visiting the cottages, looking for a quick hookup orshort-term romance. Me, I wanted the forever thing. My one serious relationship had ended when he moved away for better opportunities. He asked me to go with him, but he hadn’t been enough for me to give up what I had here.

Before we had any more true confessions, I was going to shut this topic down. “I’m warm enough to sleep now. We should do that so we can be up when the sun rises.”

He blinked, back in the present again. “Right. Yeah. Good idea.”

I did my best to settle the couch cushions together and braced a decorative one under my head. I nestled into the bedding, pulling Oscar’s jacket over me like a blanket. Phin did the same, and we lay there, side by side. My enemy? Former nemesis? Whatever. I wouldn’t be tempted to spit in his food anymore.

“Good night, Phin.”

“Good night, Skye. Thanks for rescuing me.”

I rolled over, unwilling to stare at him till one of us conked out. Despite the long day, the weather, and the reasonably soft bedding, I didn’t think I was going to sleep anytime soon.

Phin

I closedmy eyes and evened out my breathing, but my mind was wide awake. Skye had given me an idea. It would make up for what my thoughtless words had done to the Duvalls and had piqued my interest in a way that nothing but hockey had for years.

The idea was simple, but making it work would be a challenge. Skye would say no, immediately. Going behind her back would upset her, and I didn’t want to do that. I’d have to sell this to the family really well. Because I wanted to spend more time with Skye. I hadn’t been this interested in someone in years. That was also going to be a hard sell.

I could hear the storm still raging around the house and smiled to myself. I didn’t even care if my car was a write-off. This—meeting Skye, being stuck here together so we could talk and get to know each other again—was the best bad luck I’d ever had.

My mind spun plans. I’d have to apologize to her brothers too, and then maybe we could talk. I’d need to reach out to my business guy and hope he didn’t have a problem because I was determined. I was working on my arguments when I did finally fall asleep.

I woke up at my usual time. To play hockey I had to keep fit and that meant following a schedule. But something was different.

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