Page 156 of The Fake Date Agreement

Heartbreak will bounce right off them. When we go our separate ways, they will have a line of women eager to mend their pretend broken hearts.

But I don’t, and my heartbreak won’t be pretend.

When Marc shattered my heart, all I could think to do was crawl under the covers like a wounded animal nursing its hurt until three hockey players offered me the promise of revenge. If they hadn’t, I would still be under my sheets, eyes red-rimmed, and pillow soaked with tears.

The coach blows his whistle, and their quick break is over. They return to practice.

I brought my grad school application with me.

I thought I would find it easier to make a decision about the rest of my life in a place where I’m watching these men living and breathing their dreams. Yet, I seem incapable of taking the first step toward mine.

There’s no doing my master’s in library science at the school near Marc. Not now.

Do I apply for another master’s in a different school, or do I go after the dream I’ve spent the last ten years pretending I don’t want?

I open my laptop and stare at my half-completed grad school application.

I’m still hesitating when someone drops heavily into the seat next to mine.

I snap my laptop shut and turn to my right.

A blonde-haired woman sits in the seat next to me, her eyes on the players and saying nothing.

Hallie.

She called me a puck bunny the last time she found me here. I start stuffing my laptop into my bag so I can leave before she turns even nastier.

“My brother fell in love with a girl who dumped him when he refused to get tickets for all her friends. That’s all she wanted him for. Tickets and access to parties.” She does nothing to hide the rage in her voice.

I pause.

Hallie flicks a rapid glance my way. “My brother’s nickname is Sweet. The team doesn’t just call Lincoln that because of his addiction to sweet things. She broke his heart.”

I stop stuffing my laptop in my bag.

After a brief pause, Hallie continues, “I’ve been to almost every game the last few years. I’ve been here for the wins, the losses, most of the heartbreaks, and I would do anything for those guys on the ice. When you spend that much time with people, they become family. No. Theyarefamily.”

I get where this is going. “So when you called me a puck bunny…”

“I thought you would hurt the guys, but seeing you with them, seeing them with you…” She turns in her seat to look at me. “You care. You’ve been good for them. Even Caleb isn’tas highly strung as usual, and Lord knows that man has been walking around with a solid titanium stick up his ass for most of this year. Getting him to unclench takes some doing, so I commend you. If someone told me I’d see him take time away from practice to watch kids play street hockey this close to the championship, I’d have told them to stop smoking whatever was causing their delusions.”

After the kids won their game at the rec center, I’d caught her looking at me. “So, you came to the street hockey to?—”

“Apologize. What I said to you without knowing the first thing about you wasn’t right. I can understand if you don’t want to accept. I was just trying to watch out for them the way they have for me over the years. Instead, I was cruel, and you didn’t deserve it.”

She gets up before I can respond. “I’m Hallie, by the way. I understand if you don’t want to forgive, but I just wanted to say I should have given you a chance instead of judging you.”

And she walks away.

Practice is over.

Javier had to run to class because he was late, and Reid is meeting with his professor to go over a question he has about his paper. Not all the guys have left, though. Five guys are still on the ice, chatting and laughing.

I pick up my bag and move closer to the ice instead of leaving like I know I should.

The coaches are standing near the side, arms crossed, speaking quietly to each other when Caleb skates over with his bottle of water to my side of the rink.

And he kisses me. Soft, lingering, as if it’s something we’ve always done. “Hey.”

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