Page 199 of Ice Mechanic

APRIL

My boyfriend is Chance McLanely.

TheChance McLanely.

He’s the one on the ice that looks like Prince Eric in hockey gear.

A roar goes up from the crowd, and I quickly pull my attention away from Chance. That noise means someone did something with the puck. I try to find the little rubber thing sliding around the ice.

Where… where… ah. Finally, I find it in the Lucky Striker’s net.

“Come on!” Rebel screams, throwing her hands up and getting to her feet. “Defense!”

“Defense!” I mimic her, feeling the crowd’s excitement. I’ve learned that screaming is an important part of the game and I do try to participate. I take my girlfriend responsibilities seriously, although I still don’t understand half of what happens on the ice.

Chance, bless his big, generous… heart has tried his best to explain. He really has.

But I’m a lost cause.

“Come on, Watson!” Rebel yells and points.

“That wasn’t Watson’s fault.” Gordie, the little girl who lent me her blanket at my first hockey game, steps on top of her chair and plants her hands on her hips. She stares Rebel down. “McLanely totally missed that pass.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Let’s not jump on Chance here,” I say.

Gordie shakes her head as if I’m an utter disappointment and returns to watching the game intently. “Let’s go, daddy!” she screams.

“Go, Chance!” I yell. “Don’t let them get you!” Leaning toward my best friend, I ask over the deafening roar of the crowd, “Which one is trying to get him?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” she teases, patting my cheek.

I laugh.

Rebel trains her eyes on the rink. “Oh look, the coach is taking Gunner out of the game.” My best friend puts her hands around her mouth and whoops in celebration.

I arch an eyebrow at her. “You’re not supposed to be cheeringalongwith the rival team, you know.”

“Really? Whups.”

I keep staring at her face.

Rebel tosses her hair casually over her shoulder. “What?”

“What’s going on between you and Gunner? Why do you hate him so much?”

“Who says I hate him?” Rebel counters.

I consider how to answer that question. I’ve never noticed before because we don’t really hang in the Kinsey’s circles but, now that I’m dating Chance, Rebel and I spend a lot more time around the team.

Every time we run into Gunner at The Tipsy Tuna, Rebel feigns some kind of illness and immediately leaves. The raretimes I can convince her to stick around, she smiles and chats with everyoneexcepthim.

My best friend is a social butterfly, so it’s pretty obvious when she’s giving someone the cold shoulder.

I shake my head because now is not the time for a discussion about Gunner and Rebel.

Chance has control of the puck and I’m, at once, entranced. He moves as fast as lightning and as graceful as a gazelle. It’s incredible the poise he has on the ice. As someone who still has a hate-hate relationship with ice skating, it amazes me how he handles himself on those skates… while chasing down a puck the size of a beef patty.

Speaking of the puck, where did it go again?

---