Page 15 of Pucking Secret

“PT,” the girl replies proudly. “My name is Melissa Ann, but everyone calls me Millie. But you can call me the best skater you’ll ever meet.”

“The very best, huh?”

She nods vigorously, pointing at me with her sucker. “Yup! I bet you couldn’t even beat me in a race! No way.”

“Is that right?” I ask, unable to hide my amusement. “Guess I’ll have to prove you wrong sometime, won’t I?”

She shrugs, looking unimpressed. “You can try, but I’m super-fast. So get ready to lose, Owen!” With that, she skips off down the hall.

I stand there, shaking my head. Something about that little girl strikes me as oddly familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe she just reminds me of someone? Either way, I’m still grinning as I finally reach the PT office. I open the door and step inside?—

—and stop dead in my tracks.

Standing behind a desk, skimming through some charts, is a face that’s haunted my dreams for seven years. She looks up, freezes, and locks onto me with that emerald gaze that apparently still makes me weak in the knees.

The only girl I ever loved is standing right in front of me.

Stacey Dixon.

CHAPTER SIX: BLUE EYES

STACEY

It’s been sucha crazy day, I barely know which way is up. Not only is it the first day of practice, but Millie’s school is having a teacher institute day so I’ve had to have her with me this morning. I’m so frazzled that I hardly notice when the door to the PT reception area swings open. Assuming it’s Millie returning from the bathroom, I look up with a grin… only for my entire world to come to a screeching stop. I’m seeing things. I have to be. Or else this is some horrible dream. It can’t be real.

Owen Scott cannot be standing in front of me.

It’s been so long, and he looks so different, but I’d recognize those blue eyes anywhere. They’re Millie’s eyes. He’s taller. Broader. He used to wear his dirty blonde hair shaggy and longish, but now it’s longer on the top and cut short around his ears. He’s also clean-shaven, leaving his strong, square jaw on full display.

We stare at each other in shocked silence for several minutes. I don’t know what to do or say. All the hurt and confusion I felt that day I went to his house and couldn’t find him comes rushing through me, as sharp and brutal as if it just happened.I’m suddenly eighteen again, pregnant and terrified, and the boy I loved has disappeared without a word.

Why is he here? After all these years, how can he just appear like this? And why does my heart have to race in that same way it did when we were young and in love?

Suddenly, Janet steps out from her office.

“Oh! Are you Owen Scott?” she asks, oblivious to the tension thickening the air around us. A blush heats up my cheeks, feeling as though the two of us have been caught doing something embarrassing, even though we’re just standing on opposite sides of the room, staring at each other.

Owen tears his gaze from me and turns his attention to Janet.

“Uh, yes, I am,” he says with a nod, stealing another uncertain glance my way.

“Great, I’m Janet Parker, head PT. This is Stacey Dixon. She’s currently doing her residency with us. She’ll be taking care of your intake paperwork.”

I blink and turn to Janet with wide eyes. “In-intake paperwork?”

Janet arches a dark brow and frowns at me. “Yeah, Owen’s the new trade. Why else would he be here?”

No. Fucking. Way.Owenis the new trade?

This is just some crazy coincidence. I can’t believe this is actually happening. The odds have to be, like, a million to one that he’d join the Night Hawks the same year I’m doing my residency with them. Isn’t he supposed to be in Canada?

Damn it, I need to keep it together. I’m spiraling and I can’t let him see how much his sudden appearance is affecting me. Being shocked is normal, but he can’t see that I’m anxious or even scared. That would only make him suspicious, and then it would only be a matter of time before he asks about Millie.

I can’t talk to him about her. Not now. Not when he hasn’t acknowledged her in seven years.

“Stacey? You okay?”

Janet’s concerned tone yanks me out of the whirlwind spinning through my mind and I realize too late that I’ve just been standing and staring at her. Pull it together, Stace!

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