Page 9 of Perfect Playbook

I climb the rest of the way up, trying not to give in to vertigo with a soda in one hand, so big I can hardly wrap my fingers around it. Who needs this much soda? But it was the only size option.

I shuffle through the row to the seat next to her.

She points to my drink. “Careful with that. You’ll spend half the game in the bathroom.”

I like this girl. We clearly both worry about lines in the ladies’ room.

I put down my drink, and she hugs me. It surprises me, and for a moment I’m stiff but manage to hug her back.

“Thanks for letting me have your second ticket.”

“Logan asked to buy it from me weeks ago. He said you’ve never been to a game in the stadium?”

“No.” I take off my jacket and become instantly self-conscious. I’m wearing his jersey.

Kelly is hardly discreet. She winks. “Cute top. All the girlfriends wear their man’s jersey. And if you want to make them jealous or go absolutely feral, put a different name on your back.”

“Oh, Logan and I are just…” I hate belittling who he is to me but I can’t let her think we’re official. “We’re…” I don’t know what to call it. I keep it simple. “I’m not his girlfriend.”

I can’t read her rosy smile and cheeky expression. I don’t know her well enough to understand what the twinkle in her eye is saying. Does she think I’m just another puck bunny?

I drive my point home. “I’m cool with that. It is what it is.” I mean to sound blasé, but since it’s insincere, there are burnt, bitter edges on my words.

Thankfully the music blares, saving me from any more small talk.

She tugs my sleeve. “Oh. It’s gonna start.”

The boys head onto the ice for warm-ups, and instantly I’m flooded with heat and that overfilled sensation I get when Logan’s anywhere within a two-mile radius. I watch the drills. I recognize Ashton Dane, too. He’s also from Starlight Canyon, and because he’s super tall he stands out on the ice. And when the warm-ups are over, my gaze tracks every deft and agile move Logan makes. He skates backward to the side of the rink and lifts his stick in the air, pointing right at me.

Kelly leans into my side. “Someone is happy you’re here.”

Yeah. I let out a satisfied breath.

That someone is me.

The Wolverines play a blinding first third. Logan is on fire, assisting a goal and narrowly missing out on one of his own due to a damn good keep on the other side. Then the buzzer goes, signaling the end of the period.

I get up. “I have to pee…”

Kelly pulls me back down to my seat. “Not yet.”

And just as I ask myself why this chick is being weird about my potty break, the loudspeaker in the stadium goes.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to a very special announcement on the JumboTron from our very own Wolverines forward, Logan Hunter…”

Kelly squeezes her fists into tight balls, bites her lip, then whips her head around to look at the JumboTron. “I wonder what Logan’s message is?” She squeaks.

There, the screen shows digital fireworks exploding and somehow turning into a bouquet of roses. And then, words that will forever remain etched on my soul appear.

Shay Mendez: Will you be my girlfriend?

My jaw drops. Breath gets trapped in my lungs, and I dart my eyes to Kelly who clearly knew about this all along, and then let my gaze drop a hundred yards away to the Wolverines on the rink’s side.

Whether Logan and I are ten feet apart or ten thousand, there’s something tangible, connected, and so real about when our gazes find each other. From across an entire stadium, his eyes still reach right inside me and encircle my heart with warmth.

I think he tilts his head, like he’s asking for my answer.

I hope he sees me nod.

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