Page 28 of Icy Pucking Play

Right. Boundaries. The reason we're here. Not because I like the way she scrunches her nose when she's thinking, or how she wraps her ponytail around her fingers absentmindedly.

"About Clark," I start, then stop. How do I explain this without explaining everything?

"We don't have to talk about him." She takes a sip of her coffee. "Really, Evan. Whatever history is there...it's not my business. And it's definitely not going in the feature."

"No?"

"No." She sets her mug down firmly. "This story is about Ryland.”

"Even if drama would get more clicks for your website?"

"Even then." She leans forward, eyes intense. "Look, I get why you don't trust reporters. I get why you want to protect yourfamily. But I'm not here to dig up dirt or create controversy. I'm here to tell a story about hope, and hard work, and the kind of love that makes people better."

"The kind of love that makes people better," I repeat softly.

"Yeah." Her cheeks pink up slightly. "Too cheesy?"

"No." I study her face, searching for any sign of deception and finding none. "No, that's...that's exactly what Ryland needs people to see."

She smiles, bright and genuine, and something in my chest shifts.

Because maybe, just maybe, she sees more than she's letting on.

Maybe she sees how I'm trying to be better—for Ryland, for Natalia, for myself.

Maybe she sees me.

And maybe that's not as terrifying as it should be.

"So," she says, pulling out her notebook, "about tomorrow's practice..."

I let her steer us back to safer topics, watching as she outlines her ideas for the feature. She's good.

Thorough. Thoughtful. Always thinking about how to protect Ryland while still telling his story.

And if I spend too much time watching her hands move as she talks, or noticing how the morning light catches her hair...

Well, that's my problem.

For now, we have boundaries.

For now, we have coffee and conversation and the promise of a story worth telling.

For now, that has to be enough.

Even if part of me is starting to wonder what it would be like to have more.

Chapter 9

Sophie

At this point, I could draw a map for every footstep from the Blades' practice rink to the vending machines.

I’ve crossed that particular path no less than twenty times in the past week, trying to stay awake during these late-night practice sessions.

Turns out "shadowing" means "being present for every possible moment of training", including the unofficial after-hours sessions that Evan runs with Ryland.

Not that I'm complaining.

---