Page 28 of Frozen Play

He shook his head. “I’d planned to stay till tomorrow.”

Oscar looked up from his phone. “Chris invited you to Christmas dinner with us. Interested?”

A big grin lit up his face. “I’d love it.”

This was a bad idea. I was too focused on Phin, and it would be better to have him gone sooner rather than later. But since that wasn’t an option, I did what I could. “I’ll shower now, then go over to help. You guys can come later.”

Oscar opened his mouth to speak but a glare stopped him. He shrugged, and I fled with my coffee.

“So what’s he like?”Christine asked as I peeled potatoes.

I felt my cheeks getting warm. “Phin? Didn’t Riley tell you? He spent more time with him when we were kids.”

She nudged me with her elbow. “Yeah, but you spent a lot of time with him these past couple of days.”

I set down the peeler and potato. “He seemed genuine, sorry about what happened with the cottage and when he disappeared on us.” I turned away to chop the potato into quarters and drop it in the pot.

“And good-looking?”

“That’s it for potatoes?”

“I’m not giving you any more potatoes until you answer.”

I sighed. “Yes, he’s good-looking. Super fit. And he’s heading back to Toronto, so there’s no future with him.”

Christine watched me for a minute, then shrugged. “That explains the clothes. But we don’t want to lose you, so if he’s not staying, I won’t play matchmaker.”

If I’d hoped that my choice of a skirt and my nicest sweater would go unnoticed, I was wrong. “Ugh! Please don’t. I’m not in his league.”

“Don’t undersell yourself, Skye. You’ve got a lot to offer.”

Yet somehow no one had been interested in what that was. “Okay, what’s next?”

This time Christine let the topic of Phin go.

I wasn’tsure Phin would fit in at this family meal. The Collins family had been normal people, back when we’d hung out at the cottage, but now he was used to expensive and fancy affairs thrown by his stepmother, or charity events with the team, or who knew what else. We were small-town people, and we didn’t have money. Plus, we’d all been pretty pissed with him before—what, the last two days? At least Oscar had taken down the Phin dart board in the garage.

But just like when we were snowed in at the cottage, there was no issue. Rowan zooming in to grab his legs in a big hug as soon as he walked in the door had Phin’s eyes widening, like he wasn’t sure what was going on, but Riley picked Rowan up and Phin relaxed.

“That’s the kid who, um, augmented the Christmas pageant?”

I grinned. “Yep. If you don’t want him bothering you, just let Riley and Christine know and they’ll keep him away.”

“No, I think I see hockey potential in that kid. A future Oppy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do not tell Riley that. I happen to know there are some hockey skates for Rowan wrapped up under the tree.” But inside, well, having a nephew playing on the top line of the Blaze would not be terrible.

Christine and Riley always served an excellent if ordinary dinner for the holidays. My brother had a propane deep fryer outside for a second turkey, and Christine did a traditional roasted one inside so we could have gravy and stuffing. The competition over their cooking methods was friendly, and just like Oscar and me, Phin refused to declare one better than the other.

Phin fit in like he had before the cottage fiasco. He wasn’t fazed by having to make do with canned cranberries after Rowan used the homemade ones to decorate the tree while the adults were in the kitchen. He helped clean up the dripping tree ornaments and didn’t complain about the red stains on his expensive clothing. At the table, we made jokes and told stories, and my stomach hurt from laughing as much as from overeating.

“So how the hell did you end up with the same nickname in hockey that we gave you?” Riley asked.

Phin rolled his eyes. “Really? You think you’re the only people who heard Phin Collins and thought of Phil Collins? Drummer, drums, Bongo.”

Oscar shrugged. “I thought you liked the nickname so much you asked the team to call you that.”

Phin leaned forward. “Is that so, Grouch?”

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