Page 20 of Mine For The Winter

His lip twitched. “It’s okay. Key please?”

She passed it to him and grabbed her purse. “Thank you. For everything. You’re going to be Cole’s number one hero now.” She leaned in and gently kissed his cheek.

Kris didn’t move, though she could hear the rumble in his throat.

“Thank you,” she whispered again.

“You’re welcome.”

She pulled the car door open and hopped out. Her lips were burning like the car engine had been earlier.

When she looked back at him, Kris was touching his cheek where she’d kissed him, and she lifted her fingers to her mouth.

It felt like it was burning.

It was only as she walked into the Tavern that she realized they’d just touched for the first time in twelve years. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

* * *

“Hey Kris!”

Kris looked up to see Cole running toward him, his sports bag slung over his shoulder. He’d spent the last hour in the garage with Charlie Shaw clucking his tongue over Kelly’s car.

He was just on his way to the Tavern to give her an update about the car. Not a good one either. “Hi.” He gave Cole a big smile. “How was your game?”

“We won.” Cole’s smile was huge. “I scored a goal. It was game changing, you should have seen it.”

“Congratulations.” Kris wanted to reach out and ruffle his hair or something, but Cole wasn’t his kid and it would have been weird. Even though Cole was beaming up at him like he was some kind of friend.

Funny to think that if things had been different, he and Cole would probably have been like nephew and uncle. He shook that thought away because the past was a different country and he wasn’t going there.

“My friend’s mom took a video of it. She sent it to me. Wanna see?” Cole got his phone out, his face flushed with excitement. He tapped the screen and held it up to Kris, who leaned over and watched as the kid skated toward the goal, his stick gently touching the puck until he had a clear line of sight to the net.

And then wham. It was in.

“That’s fantastic,” Kris said, meaning it. “Great goal.”

“You think?” Cole looked at him like he was some kind of hockey expert. “I was so scared I wasn’t going to get it in.”

“But you did.”

“Yeah.” Cole nodded. “I wish Mom could have seen it.”

Kris’ mouth dried. “I bet she does, too. You heading into the Tavern?”

“Yep.” He looked up, his eyes shining. “You coming?”

“Yeah. I’ll follow you in. Just gotta do something first.”

It was a lie, but Cole believed it anyway. Let the kid have his glory with his mom, before Kris walked in and put the damper on things.

He waited a couple of minutes before he pushed the Tavern door open, and the warm air washed over him as he headed toward the bar where Kelly and Cole were talking. The tavern was only half full – the lunchtime rush was over, and he figured the evening one hadn’t begun yet, though give it an hour and everybody would be coming in for their pre-theater drinks.

Kelly looked up, her face expressionless as he walked toward her.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” She nodded at Cole, who pushed through the door at the back of the bar, presumably to the office at the back of the Tavern. Cole gave Kris a wave and Kris waved back.

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