Page 59 of Fake it ’Til Fall

Because he’s right enough to be dangerous.

I do want the job.

I want a rink again. A locker room. A whistle around my neck instead of a reputation around it. I want to teach kids how to keep their heads up, how to protect each other, how to hit without turning violence into personality. I want to stand on ice and not feel like I’m trespassing in my own life.

I want a second career that doesn’t feel like an apology tour.

And somehow, according to everyone with a title and a phone, that means showing up with a woman who makes me look like the kind of man someone can trust.

My mind goes to Daisy.

It shouldn’t.

It does.

Daisy at The Turning Page, eating half a sandwich like accepting care is a felony.

Daisy telling me my reading life is a cry for help.

Daisy, who is already being dragged back to Winterberry Cove to make her ex’s wedding look beautiful for people who did not protect her.

No.

Not her.

Absolutely not her.

“Don’t arrange anything,” I tell Mark.

“I’ll just explore options.”

“Don’t.”

“You’re making this harder than it has to be.”

“I’m trying not to make it disgusting.”

“Fine,” he says, though he means nothing is fine. “I’ll get the exact dates and we’ll talk strategy.”

“We won’t.”

“We will.”

“Mark.”

“Trust me.”

I almost laugh.

Trust me.

He has just complicated my life and wants me to trust him.

Instead of firing him, I grunt and hang up.

For a few seconds, I stand there with my phone in my hand while the entryway goes quiet except for the rain against the glass and Puck’s breathing near my knee.

The squirrel is back on the wall.