Page 38 of Icing on Top

“I was coming home from a series of away games. We landed in the middle of the night, but Sadie had her mom watch Charlie so she could pick me up.” I traced my thumb through the condensation on the glass. “I told her I could just get a ride share, but she insisted. Something about how she couldn’t stand to be separated for a minute more than necessary after being apart for so long.”

My eyes began to burn, and I blinked away the threat of tears the best I could. The irony didn’t escape me.

Zoe didn’t say anything for a couple heartbeats, but then she reached across the table to place her hand on top of mine, her palm warm in comparison to the ice water I was gripping like a lifeline.

“Thank you for sharing that with me.”

All I could manage was a nod in response, sure that my voice would only come out croaky. But Zoe didn’t waver, her gaze gentle and her touch a balm to the aching in my chest that seemed to never dull.

“What do you say, then, to ordering Shirley Temples?”

The spark of mischief in her eyes that I loved so much had returned, and her lips twitched as if dying to tug up into a smirk. I let out a short laugh.

“A Shirley Temple sounds pretty damn good right now,” I admitted.

That made a full-on grin appear as she sat up straight in her seat, unfortunately removing her hand from my own.

“Perfect.”

With our drinks settled, we set to the task of figuring out what to eat. Zoe had looked up the menu beforehand which meant she decided faster than I did. My problem was that everything sounded good.

As soon as our waiter appeared with our drinks, Zoe plucked the cherry out of the glass and bit it off the stem. I tried not to stare, but I wasn’t very successful if I was being honest with myself. The age-old belief that you were a good kisser if you could tie a knot in the stem with your tongue popped into my head and then I was thinking about kissing Zoe.

“Are you originally from Denver?” she asked.

I tilted my head back and forth. “Basically? My parents live in Aurora, but it’s close enough that I just say Denver when people ask. What about you? Have you always been a Colorado girl?”

“Unfortunately, no. I grew up just outside of Miami.”

“I would have never guessed.”

Zoe fit the stereotype of a Coloradoan far too well with her laidback personality and clear tolerance for the cold, seeing as how she hadn’t even bothered with a coat this evening despite the dropping temperatures.

“How on earth did you get into hockey, then? I can’t imagine it being a very popular sport down there.”

“Through Uncle Cal.”

“Wait.” I held up my hand to stop her, my eyes closing as I tried to process this new information. “Calvin is your uncle?”

All Calvin had told me when he decided to retire was that he’d found his replacement and would pass along the key. Easy enough.

Now that I really thought about it, though, I could see the similarities. While he had much darker blonde hair than Zoe, they had the same shade of hazel eyes. I really should have put two and two together.

“He has a habit of leaving out important information, apparently. He didn’t tell me you owned the rink, so of course he didn’t tell you that I was his niece.” She waved her hand dismissively and returned to the original question. “When I was four, we started visiting him and my Aunt Peg every winter break so we could actually have a white Christmas. That year, Uncle Cal had decided to build a little rink in his backyard and gifted me my first pair of skates. I fell in love the second I stepped onto the ice and held a stick in my hand.”

I smiled. “I know that feeling.”

I’d tried my hand at skiing as a kid and got tired of the monotony of going down the same hill over and over again. Hockey, however, was fast-paced and unpredictable at times. My mind didn’t have time to wander when I was on the ice.

“I left for Denver the day after my high school graduation, and I’ve been here ever since,” she said.

Her smile dropped ever so slightly at the end before she forced it back up. I would have asked more, but she continued talking.

“Maybe once the first solid snow arrives, you and Charlie can come to Cal’s with me, and we can play two-on-two.”

I raised a brow. “Ready for a rematch, are you?”

She matched my expression, that familiar spark of competition lighting her eyes.