Page 1 of Play Your Part

1

KENNEDY

Nothingwouldgetundermy skin today. Not seeing an old classmate announce the purchase of their first home while I scrolled through social media from my childhood bedroom. Not dropping toothpaste on my shirt as I got ready for work. I even kept a smile on my face after being cut off in traffic.

Because tonight, at the Palmer City Wolves’ season-opening party, I would arrive on the arm of hockey star Justin Ward.

No, nothing could damper my mood, not even the fight brewing in front of me.

“Mason, give it back!” Izzy flapped her arms in the pool. “Kennedy,” she called when Mason didn’t comply.

“Mason, give the noodle back to your sister or no hockey practice tomorrow.”

Nine months ago, I began working as the McIntyre family nanny to get me out of the house and back into the real world. My father viewed it as a “step in the right direction.” He never expected me to settle into it. But I never expected him to compartmentalize his grief over my mom’s death to seamlessly transition back into his old life either. So we were even.

I shifted a sleeping Silas to my other arm, shaking out the one that had lost feeling. This kid fought me for this nap, but once he fell asleep, he slept like the dead.

Mason stopped swimming, and with all the confidence of an eight-year-old boy who was growing up in a mansion, hardly ever hearing the word no, he turned his attention to me. “You can’t do that.”

“Not on purpose,” I said. “But I’m very forgetful.”

Mason stared me down, waiting for me to blink. I never did. Maybe there were no consequences in life, no justice or general sense of fairness, but when one of these children misbehaved while I was in charge, they didn’t get away with it. They lost TV privileges or pizza for lunch—something small in the grand scheme but big enough to keep them in line. I also hoped it would help prevent them from becoming assholes when they were older.

Mason turned to Izzy, about to relent, but Izzy blew a raspberry at him. A six-year-old’s declaration of victory. He retaliated by pummeling enough water at her to make her scream. I was swinging my legs over the side of the chaise when the door to the house slid open.

“I’m home!” Connie strolled out of the house, looking like an actress in a sunscreen ad, her long blonde hair fluttering behind her in the wind. She wore a netted white cover-up over a dark bikini, and large sunglasses hid half her face. As soon as she assessed the situation in the pool, she waved me off, kicking off her platform sandals, slipping out of her cover-up, and walking straight into the pool. “I’ve got this, Kennedy.”

Connie gave me this job out of loyalty to my mother. When my father bought the NHL hockey franchise ten years ago and moved it to Palmer City, my mother started a group for women who loved hockey. Connie was the first person who joined.

“You’re home early,” I said after Connie quieted the kids. She swam to me and lifted her toned arms onto the concrete, resting her chin on top of them.

“Tonight’s a big night. I thought you could use some extra time to get ready. Besides, it’s not like work won’t be waiting for me bright and early tomorrow morning.”

On top of having a hot husband and three adorable kids, Connie ran the HR department at a technology company. She had been well on her way to success by the time she was my age. Surely, no one in her family ever worried whether she was headed in the right direction.

“It’s not a big night,” I told her.

“Of course it is. Start of another season. Your mom loved the season-opening party.” Connie kept right on talking, as if she hadn’t brought up the single most important person who was no longer in my life. I preferred this to the people who awkwardly paused, watching my expression to see if it would crumble. But it still hurt—casually dropping her into conversation made it easy to pretend she was still here. “Do you have something to wear tonight?”

I shrugged the shoulder without Silas’s adorable head resting on it. “I’ll find a dress in my closet.”

Connie tilted her head, and a glazed look took over her face. She remained still and silent long enough, I wondered if she’d fallen asleep with her eyes open, but then she snapped her fingers. “Got it. I have a sapphire blue dress that will look divine on you. Trust me.”

I opened my mouth to object, but her expectant expression stopped me in my tracks. For whatever reason, this seemed to matter to her, my mom’s closest friend. Besides, I would arrive on Justin Ward’s arm—finally, after all this time—and dammit if I didn’t want to look like I deserved my place there.

I followed Connie upstairs and dropped Silas in his crib before going to her bedroom. She put her other kids in front of the TV to watch their favorite movie,TheMighty Ducks,for the hundredth time.

“You look stunning,” Connie said behind me, her beaming expression reflected in the mirror. “You will definitely catch the eye of a few players tonight.”

I gave her a quick shake of my head. “I’m not looking to meet anyone.”

“Why the hell not?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to reveal I was dating someone because Connie would badgerwhoout of me. I considered telling her about Justin, knowing she would care, but I promised him I wouldn’t share our relationship with anyone. Not until we were both ready to take the next step. These past few months, I’d practically lived at Justin’s place, and now he wanted to bring me to a team event in front of my dad. I expected an invitation to officially move in soon.

I could keep this secret for a few more hours. I gave Connie what I hoped would be a plausible excuse. “It’s a conflict of interest.”

“You’re a better person than me. I mean, have youseenour team this year? We signed Alexei Volkov.” Connie blew out a breath, and her eyes briefly closed so she didn’t see the disgust on my face.

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