Page 16 of Icing on Top

A boyfriend, perhaps?

“Nope. My best friend doesn’t know a lick about hockey, despite many years spent trying to teach her.”

“Well, I guess you lucked out then, because you get me and Charlie.” I smiled, more pleased with the situation than I should be.

Charlie had been too distracted searching for Wes among the swarm of white jerseys entering the rink to notice Zoe. I tapped her on the shoulder.

“Tot. Look who’s here.”

Zoe leaned forward on her elbows to smile around me at Charlie. “Hey, Charlie girl.”

Charlie whipped around so fast, her dark hair hit me in the face.

“Coach! You’re sitting with us?”

“Apparently so!”

“Look at that. Now you’ve got all your favorite people here,” I said.

As if he sensed Charlie’s attention straying, Wes skated up to the glass and bent down to eye level with her. I wasn’t the least bit surprised when, instead of blowing her a kiss, he scrunched up his nose and stuck his tongue out. Charlie returned the expression and beat her palm against the glass a few times before grinning at him.

“Old teammate?” Zoe asked.

“And best friend. Sometimes more like an annoying little brother.”

Once Wes left to start his stretches, Charlie focused back on Zoe.

“Uncle Wes gave me this jersey for my birthday. It has his name and number on it.”

She pulled her hair to the side to show it off. Zoe leaned closer to fully inspect the jersey, and the scent of her perfume wafted over me—a delicious blend of vanilla and cinnamon. The combination reminded me of nights spent curled up by the Christmas tree with fresh sugar cookies that were actually meant for Santa. It was utterly intoxicating.

Nope. I needed to put a full stop to that train of thought right away.

I also needed to stop noticing how beautiful Zoe was. And I definitely needed to stop thinking about how she’d felt when I’d made the spur-of-the-moment—and extremely stupid—decision to wrap my arms around her when we’d played one-on-one.

There were so many reasons I couldn’t go down that path.

One, I didn’t have the time to pursue anything romantic. Not as a single father of a very energetic seven-year-old. Any attempt at a romantic relationship wouldn’t be fair, not if I couldn't give Zoe the time she deserved. Second, and most importantly, Zoe was Charlie’s coach and had quickly become one of her idols. Pursuing any-thing with Zoe could put the quality of their relationship at risk, and Charlie would always come first.

No, it would be best if I kept our interactions as cordial as possible and kept all of those inappropriate thoughts squashed.

Which was really hard to do when Zoe’s knee was pressing against my own.

“I’m a Denver fan myself, but I’ll admit, that’s a really nice jersey,” Zoe complimented. “I bet you’re very excited to have your uncle in town.”

She sat back upright, and I released the breath I’d been holding.

“Does he get to stay very long?” she asked, her question directed at me now.

“He’s spending the night so he can have breakfast with Charlie before they head back out on the road. But he’ll be visiting for Christmas.”

I should have known the mention of Christmas would have Charlie’s attention, even though we were still a good three months out.

“Daddy, don’t forget to order the gingerbread kits this year. You promised we’d build a gingerbread house,” she reminded me.

“A gingerbread kit?” Zoe scoffed. “You need the real thing. The icing in those kits is terrible, and it always ends up falling apart. I can bake you some fresh gingerbread and make you a batch of the stickiest icing you’ve ever seen.”

Charlie’s eyes lit up. “Really?”