Page 59 of Snap Shot

She stopped dribbling and straightened. “What do you want, Landon?”

“So, you do remember me.” I was full-on cheesin'. “I thought we were friends.”

Indi scoffed a short laugh. “You thought wrong.” She set off, charging towards the goal ahead.

“Come on, Indi.” I pulled the stick from her hand as she skated back, then scooped up a puck, bouncing it on the blade. “Let's catch up.”

Her eyes rolled.Typical. If I knew her—and I did—she'd never say no to a challenge.

I moved my gaze to the net. “I ask a question and take a shot. If I make it, you have to tell me the answer. If you block it, you don't.”

She flexed her jaw to the side.Say yes. She pivots toward the benches again, re-emerging with a paddle and gloves. I edged forward as she skated back to the crease. “Nothing above the waist.” She squatted into position.

“Deal.” I swerved around to the center line with a puck. “You vanished. Why didn't you come to the end-of-season banquet?” Taking off from the middle of the face-off circle, I drove a wrist shot right between her legs.

Indi's nostrils flared and she tapped the paddle against the ice. “There wasn't any reason to. No one missed me.”

Ice sprayed to the left when I skid to a stop. “I missed you.”

“Sure.” She rose from the waist. “Is that all? I'd like to go home.”

“Not a chance.” I sped off to the middle again. “How come I never saw you around?”

Crossovers boosted my pace as I hit a slap shot that grazed over her right thigh and caught in the net. This time Indi grated her teeth and slammed her stick. “Be mad all you want, but you still gotta answer.”

“We moved to Brampton.”

I slowed to face her. “You moved and you didn't tell me?”

“That's another question.” She crouched. “You'll have to make another goal.”

Indi blocked the second slap shot away.

I tossed my head back and coughed out a single laugh. “Damn it. What do I have to do to get your number?”

“Number?”

I skated a circle around her before heading back to my starting point. “Your phone number.”

Those brown eyes melted for a transient moment. “Why?”

“So I can talk to my friend whenever I want.” The puck I let fly for fun pinged off the left post. “What's your number?”

Hunkering down one last time, Indi glided side-to-side. “Gimme your best shot.”

I got too cocky, too sure I'd make this one, but she knocked the puck away in one smooth, reactionary swipe.

“Sorry.” She beamed.Is this Heaven? My heart.“Better luck next time.” With that, she removed her gloves and skated off the ice.

I yelled after her. “So you're saying there's a next time?”

There wasn't. Until now.

Solo runs down the glacier throughout the morning provide more clarity than the evening before. She wouldn't tell me when we were sixteen, but I gotta know what happened.

When I bring her my version of a peace offering in the evening, she's still prickly. And I'm tired of dancing around it. “Why do you hate me, Indi? What did I do?”

Her lips purse around the straw of the iced latte in her hand. “You really don't know?”

---