Page 32 of My Athlete Neighbor

His smile was sheepish. "Something like that."

They decided to wait in the lobby, where they could see everyone coming and going. Kane pulled Allison into his lap in one of the oversized armchairs, and she tucked her head under his chin.

"You know," she said after a while, "my grandfather would probably find this whole thing hilarious. His lucky puck causing so much chaos."

"Tell me about him." Kane's chest rumbled pleasantly against her back. "The real him, not the hockey legend everyone talks about."

So she did. Told him about Sunday dinners and backyard hockey lessons. About how he'd teach neighborhood kids for free, saying talent shouldn't depend on money. About his terrible jokes and worse cooking and the way he'd always said luck was just preparation meeting opportunity.

"He’ll like you," she finished softly.

Kane pressed a kiss to her hair. "Yeah? Am I going to meet him?"

"Yeah. After the season is over, maybe we can take a weekend trip to visit.”

“We, huh?”

“Yeah, we.”

They exchanged goofy grins.

“He always said you could tell everything you needed to know about a person by how they treated their teammates. And you—"

The lobby door opened, and Mrs. Peterson bustled in, knitting needles clicking in her bag. She stopped short when she saw them.

"Oh! I didn't expect... that is... lovely evening for sitting in the lobby?"

"Mrs. Peterson." Allison stood, Kane right behind her. "We need to talk about what you took from my apartment today."

"I'm sure I don't..." But her hands clutched her bag tighter.

"The puck," Kane said gently. "We know you have it."

Mrs. Peterson's shoulders slumped. "Oh dear. I suppose there's no point denying it." She drew herself up to her full height, which was still a good foot shorter than Kane. "But I did it for the team."

"By stealing?" Allison tried to keep her voice level.

"Borrowing! And only because you were going to stop bringing it to games.”

“What?” Kane asked, brow furrowing.

“I changed my mind about that,” she told him as Mrs. Peterson talked over them.

“We're so close to making history—first division title ever. The boys need all the luck they can get."

"Mrs. Peterson—"

"No, you listen to me, young lady." The knitting needles emerged, pointed at Allison like tiny swords. "This team has changed this building from a group of strangers into a community. Did you know Jenny and Oliver are dating?”

She and Kane exchanged a look. No, that was news.

“Mr. Chen finally talks to his neighbors. The Martinez family brings food to every celebration. We're not just neighborsanymore—we're family. And it all started coming together with that puck."

Allison blinked back unexpected tears. "I didn't realize how important the puck was. But I had already decided..."

"Of course you didn't, dear,” Mrs. Peterson cut her off again. “You were too busy worrying about being the puck girl instead of seeing how much joy you've brought to this building." Mrs. Peterson deflated slightly. "But I shouldn't have taken it. I just panicked. The puck is perfectly safe, I promise. It's in my lucky box with my special knitting needles and Harold's wedding ring because he never wears it because he says it hurts when his fingers swell from the arthritis..."

"Mrs. Peterson," Kane interrupted gently. "We'd really like the puck back now."

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