HALF AN HOUR LATER, I’m skating around the rink, a kid clutching either hand, while Rory skates backwards in front of us. On the other end of the ice, Jamie teaches kids to goaltend using a wiffleball as Pippa takes photos. Music’s playing, and the kids, parents, and players all seem to be having a blast.
“Are you trying to steal my girlfriend?” Rory asks the kids holding my hands, and they giggle.
He wears his Hazel is cute smile. My skin tingles with delight.
The kids want to skate with Rory, so I head to the boards and watch with a smile as he has them hold his hockey stick while he pulls them around the ice. He’s unbearably cute, laughing and teasing them, light shining out of him.
Rory would be a good dad. He’d be nothing like his own father. There’s a warm tug in my chest at the idea of kids who look like Rory, bright-eyed troublemakers with hearts of gold. The image of him chasing them around our house, playing with them, makes me ache with affection.
Our house? Oh my god. Are these kids now our kids?
I’ve never really thought about having kids. They felt so far away, and with the way I normally date, it didn’t seem within reach.
Again, something tugs in my chest, and I rub my sternum. I shouldn’t be thinking about Rory as a dad. That seems dangerous.
Someone catches my eye, and I try not to make a face. Connor’s across the ice taking photos with parents while the woman he brought watches. She has curly blond hair, a bright smile, and his name on the back of her jersey. A kid asks her a question, and she leans down with a gentle smile.
She seems nice. I wonder if she knows how horrible Connor is.
Bells start jingling, and the kids swarm the entrance, where Alexei appears wearing a Santa costume. Hayden, dressed as an elf, is right behind him. The kids lose their minds as Hayden pulls presents out of Alexei’s big red bag.
Darcy skates up with a shy smile and I light up in surprise as she takes a spot beside me against the boards, giving me a quick hug.
“Good to see you,” I tell her. “I didn’t know you were in town. Is Kit here too?” Sometimes players from other teams drop into these events.
“Over there.” She points him out, dressed as a reindeer, helping Hayden and Alexei.
“Is that lipstick on the end of his nose?”
She laughs. “We had to improvise at the last minute. Hayden never gives us a warning about these ideas.”
“Are you here for Christmas?” I remember Hayden saying Darcy’s from Vancouver, like he is.
“Yep. We played Seattle last night, so Kit’s spending tonight here to see my family before he flies out to Ontario for the holiday.” Seattle is a two-hour drive from Vancouver. “Hayden and I will probably spend most of the break playing Legend of Zelda like back in university.” She grins. “We used to play for hours. Kit would hide the controllers so we could get some studying done. I’m looking forward to hanging out with him. We don’t get to see him enough during the season.”
Again, I think about Rory coming home for Christmas, and I’m so glad I asked. There’s no way I could let him stay here alone.
“You and Kit have been together since university, right?”
“The first week of school. Feels like forever ago.” She watches the guys out on the ice. “But also, sometimes, it feels like we all just met yesterday.”
Her eyes track them as they skate. Hayden grins over at her, waving, and she waves back with a beaming smile.
I study her for a moment. I’ve never seen her without Hayden and Kit nearby, but I think she might be shy. There’s something about Hayden’s boisterous friendliness that puts people at ease, though, and I think being around him brings her out of her shell.
“Did you and Hayden ever go out?” I ask, because I’m a nosy bitch.
Her eyes widen. “Oh my god. No. No.” She laughs. “His type is like, tall supermodels with dark hair, and I’m the girl who did a whole degree in math.” She laughs again, rolling her eyes at herself, before she pauses, a tiny frown forming between her eyebrows. “I thought he was going to ask me out in the first week of school but…” She shakes her head at herself. “Anyway, like I said.” She gestures at her petite frame with a self-deprecating laugh. “Not his type. Guys like Kit are more my speed.”
My eyebrow goes up because that’s not what I asked, and now I’m curious as hell, but she catches herself.
“And I love Kit.” Her eyes go to him. “Is it hard, having my life revolve around his? Of course. Do we feel like roommates sometimes? Yes. But we know each other so well and—” She blinks. “I can’t imagine not being with him.”
Her words feel strange, like she’s tiptoeing around what she really wants to say.
“I think this is just what happens when you’ve been with someone for seven years. It’s fine.” Her expression tightens like she’s embarrassed. “I’m rambling. Can you talk now, please, so it doesn’t get weird?”
I start laughing, because even if I’m slightly concerned with what she said, Darcy is adorable. “What do you want to talk about?”
“You and Rory,” she says pointedly. “I want to know all the dirty details.” I laugh harder as her eyes go wide with excitement. “Seriously. I want to know all the TMI stuff. My life is boring, Hazel. I’m living vicariously through you.”
“Well,” I chuckle, thinking about riding his hand last night. Definitely can’t tell her about that, although I’m sure she’d love it. “It’s really fun. He’s different from what I expected.”
“He looks at you like you’re a dessert he’s about to devour.”
My face warms.
“Enjoy it,” she says, smiling. “This is the fun part, when you can’t get enough of each other.”
I think about this phase ending, and my heart aches at the idea of Rory’s eyes flicking over me with disinterest. His teasing used to irritate me, but now I’d miss it.
A massive blur of red and green comes to a sudden stop in front of us, spraying ice against the boards.
“Oh my god. Come here.” Darcy reaches up and rubs her thumb down Hayden’s jaw. Her head barely comes to his shoulder. “You have glitter all over. Where did you even get this stuff?”
He obediently leans down for her while she brushes it out of his stubble. “Pippa put it on me.” He gives her a flirty smile. “Aren’t I the prettiest elf you’ve ever seen?”
She’s blushing. “You’re definitely the biggest elf. You’d weigh the sleigh down.”
Hayden puffs his chest out. “I’m taking that as a compliment.”
They grin at each other, but there’s something in Hayden’s eyes as he looks down at Darcy. His gaze lingers on her, flooded with the same warm, affectionate longing I see in Rory’s eyes when he looks at me.
Kit skates up beside Darcy. “You two look like you’re getting into trouble.”
He wraps an arm around her waist, and Hayden’s eyes drop to it before he glances away.
“Just the usual.” Darcy smiles at Kit, nudging him with her elbow. “You were having fun out there, huh?”
“I was.” He rubs the back of his neck, sending her a quiet smile. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Teaching kids to skate?” Darcy asks, chuckling.
“No.” He gives her a shy, meaningful expression. “Having kids. A bunch of them. Going skating with them and stuff.”
Her smile drops like it’s the last thing she expected him to say.
Hayden laughs, but it seems forced. “Jumping the gun a bit there, aren’t you, buddy?”
“Yeah.” Darcy does her own uncomfortable laugh. “That’s pretty far away, Kit.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Not that far away.”
Her features tighten, eyes flaring with worry and apprehension, and Hayden looks between them like he’s seen a ghost. No trace of his former smile on his boyish face.
“We’d get married first,” Kit adds.
Darcy blinks like she doesn’t know what to say, and when Connor and his lady friend skate up, she looks relieved.
Connor says hello to everyone before lifting his eyebrows at me. “Hazel.” His eyes rake over my jersey, flickering with distaste. “Have you met my girlfriend, Sam?”
Darcy, Hayden, and Kit must sense the weird energy because they mumble an excuse about helping Ward with something and leave.
A laugh slams against my vocal cords but I hold it back. Sam is smiling at me in a way that tells me she’s lovely and kind, and I don’t want to be rude.
Saw this and thought you’d look hot in it. That’s what the card said. He sent that gross lingerie when he likely had a girlfriend.
Gross. Just gross. But that’s not her fault.
“Hi, Sam,” I say with a warm smile, shaking her hand. “I’m Hazel. So good to meet you.”
“You, too.” She beams at me, and there’s a sour feeling in my stomach. Why is she with him? Doesn’t she see what he’s really like?
I didn’t, though, so how can I fault her for not seeing it either?
“Do you live in Vancouver?” I ask, and Connor’s expression darkens a fraction.
He doesn’t like me being friendly with his new girl, but I ignore him. As we chat, Connor clears his throat and puts his arm around her shoulders, watching me, but I just smile at them.
This asshole’s trying to make me jealous, but instead, I just feel like laughing.
After a few minutes of friendly conversation while he glowers at us, he gives her a tight smile. “You want to keep skating, babe?”
She nods and smiles up at him, and without another glance at me, he pulls her away. She waves goodbye over her shoulder.
I wave after them, feeling tired of this game we’re playing. When I think about what Connor did, I don’t feel angry anymore. I want to move on.
Rory comes to a stop beside me, watching after Connor and Sam. “What the fuck was that?”
“He brought a girl. She’s nice, actually.” I slip my hand into his, and he looks down at me, expression clearing. “I don’t care about them,” I tell him, giving him a soft smile.
Memories of last night flash into my head, me sitting on his lap while his fingers curled inside me with that clouded, intense expression. My eyebrow arches as I give him a cool, flirty smile.
His gaze sharpens and he lifts his brows in interest.
“What are you doing tonight?” I ask lightly, still smiling.
“You.” He winks, and I burst out laughing.
“Good.” Finally.
A gaggle of kids shuffle up to us, interrupting. “Can you teach me how to skate backward?” one kid asks Rory.
Rory leans down, setting his hands on his knees. “I sure can.” He looks to a little girl standing beside the boy. “You want to learn, too?”
She points a chubby finger at me. “I want her to teach me.”
Rory winces. “She isn’t very good.”
My mouth falls open and I laugh. “Not very good? That’s only because I had a bad teacher.”
He grins.
“He’s always trying to hold my hand,” I tell the kids, wrinkling my nose.
“Ew,” the boy says, and the girl giggles.
Rory and I smile at each other, his eyes spilling over with light and affection.
“How about a friendly competition, Miller?”
Five minutes later, the orange cones are set up on the ice and players and parents line up behind us to take their turn racing through an obstacle course. Rory and his teammate, a boy with glasses and an adorable gap between his two front teeth, finish to a round of cheers.
I smile down at the little girl clutching my hand. “Ready?”
With her eager nod, we’re off, only skating as fast as she can while everyone cheers for us. I look over to Rory and stick my tongue out at him, and the kids laugh. We’re weaving through the cones, and she’s a little wobbly on her feet, so I skate backward, holding her hands the way Rory did for me the first time.
“Look at those moves, Hartley,” Rory calls. “You must’ve had an incredible teacher.”
I laugh, but as I grin back at him, something catches under my skate. One of the cones. I suck in a sharp gasp, stumbling and dropping the girl’s hands as my skate slips again.
I hit the ice, knocking the wind out of my lungs, and white-hot pain shoots through my ankle.
