Page 103 of Lose You Twice

On the ice, Kai turns his head. Even with the glass, the noise, and the bodies between us, his eyes find mine. His stride slows for half a second, just enough that Weston bumps his shoulder as he passes and says something I can’t hear. Kai looks away first, but not before his mouth curves.

Harlow sighs beside me. “Oh, Wren.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m walking into traffic.”

“You might be.”

I roll my eyes. “How helpful.”

“I’m your best friend, and he’s my brother. I’m legally required to be both supportive and annoying.”

“You’re leaning annoying.”

“Because you’re leaning self-destructive.”

I look at her. “He’s leaving in a few months.”

Her face softens and she nods. “I know.”

“I have a job. I have my family. I have exactly zero space in my life for a hockey captain with unresolved feelings and a contract waiting for him in Seattle.”

“Do you think his feelings are still there?”

My throat tightens.

I think about his arm around my waist when we woke up. The way he looked at me on my porch when he saw the shirt, like the past had reached up and grabbed him by the throat. The small glances we find ourselves stealing when we think someone isn’t watching.

“Yes,” I say.

Harlow’s expression gentles into something I can’t take. “Then maybe yours are too.”

Those have definitely never left.

The horn blows for the end of warm-ups, saving me from answering.

“Gotta go,” I say quickly.

“Coward.”

“Absolutely.”

She lets me go with a look that says this conversation is far from over. It never is with Harlow. She hoards emotional threads and pulls them when I least expect it.

The game starts fast.

I’ve watched hockey before. Obviously, I grew up around it because of Kai, and high school Kai used to look for me in the stands like seeing my face was part of his routine. I’ve seen him play hundreds of times.

But watching from near the bench is different.

Everything is closer here. The slam of bodies into boards, the barked calls from the bench. Coach’s voice cutting through the noise. Players launching themselves over the boards in shifts so quick I don’t understand how they don’t collide every time.

Kai wins the opening faceoff.

Of course he does.