Page 8 of Totally Pucked

How about I skate over to you after we win? I could give you another kiss or ten.

Would it truly ruin the friendship if I said those things? I don’t know, so I focus on the practical answers to her questions about this evening. “Tonight we’ll just shoot a couple of fun videos in front of the Christmas tree lights, and we’ll be good to go.”

She lifts a finger, an intensely serious look in her eyes. “But you won’t deprive me of the sledding hill?”

I pull a face. “Do I look that cruel?”

She gives me a long once-over. “You don’t look that cruel.”

“Then you can sled your cute little ass off,” I say andoops.

That slipped out.

She shoots me a playful smile. “I will.”

As we near the gardens, something gnaws at me though. She’s back in town. She’s been single for a bit. “Are you dating again?” I ask in a tight voice.

If she’s dating again, I’m totally pucked.

She shakes her head. “I’m not opposed to it. I just have been kind of focused on establishing my career here and getting over what Henry said.”

That pisses me off, what he said to her, but it makes me want to hug her at the same time since that guy did a number on her. “I really wish you wouldn’t let him get to you. I guarantee he’s wrong,” I say, confidently, hoping to reassure her.

“Honestly, what you said last night really helped. I think I’ve finally let go of it.” She stops at the light, then sets a hand on my arm and squeezes. “So thank you. It just kind of freed me. And I really appreciate that.”

“Anytime,” I say, glad that she’s not letting his cutting remark weigh on her. Glad, too, I could be the one to reassure her.

I’d do well to remember my role in her life. It’s not to ask her out to dinner tomorrow. It’s not to take her home tonight. It’s to be her friend.

We arrive at the gardens, with its ice-skating rink, its bowling alley, and its restaurants all lit up with twinkling, sparkling lights. Bright golds, shiny silvers, and inviting reds are strung all over the playground, along the trees, and over the fountains.

She gasps. “Oh, this is gorgeous. I love it. Thank you for bringing me,” she says, then throws her arms around me in a warm embrace that knocks me right out of the friend zone.

And back into theI’m falling for my friendone.

With her like this, in my arms, everything just feels right. Inevitable. Like we were always headed here.

Maybe I don’t need to stuff my feelings back into a box. Maybe I don’t need to worry about ruining the friendship.

Even if she doesn’t feel the same way I do, we’ll still be friends. Somehow.

I know that in a soul-deep way.

That means I need to find just the right way to tell the woman in the snowflake scarf exactly how I feel about her.

And that my offer last night was no joke.

6

KRAMPUS IS HOT

Katie

“You can skate your ass off, but you cannot make videos,” I say as I stare slack-jawed at the horror show on Fisher’s phone.

We’re standing in front of the big evergreen tree in the middle of the gardens, lights draped along its branches, checking out the video he just took.

My verdict? “I look like I’m shooting red death rays from my eyes,” I say as I hit stop on the hellscape on his screen.

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