Page 101 of As You Ice It

Camden pulls back, setting me on my feet as he cradles my face in his hands. “I love you, too.”

A throat clears behind us.

“Can I hug Coach Cam now?” Liam asks. His tone is annoyed, but when I step away from Camden, I can see Liam’s wide grin.

“Sure,” I say.

I almost warn Camden that we came straight from hockey and Liam stinks, but then I don’t. He’s probably used to hockey stink by now. Liam can’t be worse than a locker room full of adult men after a game.

My eyes get dangerously leaky again watching the two of them embrace.

“I missed you,” Liam says.

“I missed you, too.” Camden meets my eyes over Liam’s head.

I lose the battle, a tear slipping down my cheek.

“Time to shower, bud,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “Make sure you dump all your gear in the laundry room so I can wash it. And let Panda out back, okay?”

Liam returns to the car for his bag, then smiles at us both before disappearing inside where I can hear Panda barking a greeting.

“I would have brought Panda out, but the door was locked,” Camden says.

“I should get you a key.”

“I’ll get you one for my house, too,” he says. “Although …”

He stops, and though I have no reason to get nervous, I do. “Although what?”

“Let’s sit.”

I definitely don’t like the sound of a sitting down conversation, but I follow Camden to the porch chairs. He grabs mine and drags it closer to his, making me laugh and cutting through my nerves a little.

“That’s better,” he says. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts talking as he looks for something. “I did a lot of thinking those first days when I was shutting you out. Which, again, I’m sorry about.”

“You’re forgiven. We talked about it, Cam.”

“I know. I still feel bad that you had to call the guys to get me.”

I smirk. “Or are you just sorry because of how they helped?”

“It was fine.” He finds whatever he wants on his phone, but instead of showing me, he locks it and sets it on his knee before taking my hands in his. “I have some issues with my family that I haven’t dealt with. Mike being here has made them bubble up to the surface, which ultimately, is a good thing for me.”

He draws in a breath, and I squeeze his hands.

“I haven’t talked to my family in a few years. When I went to live with Mike and his family, my mom got pregnant. A total surprise. They had twin girls. They both had some complications the first year, and they couldn’t come out to see my games. Then they started forgetting our weekly calls, and I just … felt like I’d been replaced.”

“Oh, Cam.”

“When I went home, all the dynamics were different. I didn’t feel like I fit anymore, and I honestly didn’t feel very wanted. I didn’t have much of an emotional connection to my sisters, and my mom didn’t understand. I think she was angry with me, and I was angry with them both.”

“That had to be really hard.”

“It was. But I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on it, and while I do think they could have handled things better, I was an emotionally immature teenage boy, used to everything revolving around me. I didn’t handle it well, as Mike could probably tell you.”

“Is that why you’re so committed to helping him now?”

Camden nods. “I won’t desert him when he didn’t desert me.”

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