Page 124 of The Fake Date Agreement

“I didn’t think he was interested in coming here,” I tell Javier, lowering my voice.

“Doesn’t look that way to me,” he responds, just as quietly.

I follow his gaze to Caleb and silently agree.

Caleb cups his palms around his mouth and yells. “Let’s do this, Hurricanes!”

The kids freeze, eyes wide. I’m not sure if they’re going to die of excitement or have a heart attack to go from a handful of parents watching them play to having the whole of the soon-to-be championship college team shouting them to victory.

“That your sign?” Reid points at the half-rolled poster in my lap.

I nod.

“Want me to grab the other side?” he offers.

I nod. “Only if you promise not to laugh at my angry cloud.”

“Angry cloud?” he echoes.

I unroll the poster.

“Whipping up a storm of victory, huh?” A dimple forms on his cheek.

I point at him. “Don’t.”

He grins at me. “Give it here. It’s great. The kids will think so too.”

“Sorry we’re late,” Javier says, leaning around Reid. “Brave was sucked into a black hole again. Made us all late, as usual.”

“Fuck you, Casanova,” a guy yells out.

“Shut it,” another guy shouts out. “There are kids around.”

Another player scoffs. “You hear the shit kids are saying these days? An F-bomb is nothing to them.”

As they argue, I turn to Caleb. “Thanks.”

He peers down at me. “For?”

I gesture to his teammates. “Bringing the rest of the team. Win or lose, those kids will never forget today.”

He slowly nods. “I couldn’t help but notice the way your friend took off like a bat out of hell the second she saw us.”

I look at the parking lot. My small silver Toyota Camry is no longer where I parked it. I don’t care about Max taking off like that, but I do worry about her. “I’m suddenly realizing that I don’t know Max as well as I thought I did.”

She has history with the hockey team.Serioushistory. There’s no way she’d have taken off the way she did if she didn’t.

I jump when Caleb’s shoulder bumps mine.

“So, you don’t mind hockey now?” he quietly asks me.

I think carefully about my answer.

“I don’t mind it. I mean, unless someone hits me with a puck, then I think I really would hate it.”

One corner of his mouth lifts in a half smile. His arm is still flush against mine, and he’s not showing any sign of moving away. That’s okay. Better than okay.

“Why did you come?” I ask him.

---