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“I think it’s going to take more than him letting Sutton win a race for Kodie to accept him here,” Calvin says.

“You think he let her win?”

“For how big he is, Nash is fast as hell. I thought you’d know that already.”

My heart lurches.

“W-what?” I stutter in panic.

Calvin frowns, while Sienna’s attention burns into the side of my face.

“Don’t you have skating speed on one of your spreadsheets?”

“Oh, yeah. Right. Of course. The fastest D-man in the league is at…twenty-four miles per hour, I think. Nash isn’t quite there, but he’s close.”

“And Sutton didn’t look like she was far behind.”

“What kind of statistical analysis do the youth teams have?” I ask, my mind racing.

“You’d need to talk to Casey about that,” Sienna says.

“They won’t have anyone on staff doing it, maybe some parents if they’re lucky. It’s too expensive for youth teams.”

I glance around the room for Casey and spot her talking to some of the other WAGs.

“I’ll be back,” I say before stealing a couple of mini quiches and wobbling off in my skates.

When I get over, Casey’s in deep conversation with Parker Storm, one of the team trainers and also Linc’s wife, but I find Kodie standing at the boards, watching his daughter, pride shining brightly in his eyes.

She seems to be playing a one-on-one game with another kid now, and she’s wiping the floor with him.

“She’s incredible,” I say, coming to a stop beside him.

“I wish I could say that I taught her everything she knows, but honestly, most days, she’s teaching me stuff.”

“She’s certainly got your skills.”

“She’s so much better than I was at that age. Her dedication and hard work blow me away. She would be out here doing this all day, every day, if I’d let her.”

“There are worse things.”

“True. Even when I’m worrying about her screen time, the only thing she’s watching is game tape.”

“I’d love to see her play. Do you know when her next game is?”

He lets out a pained sigh.

“They’ve got a game Wednesday night.”

And the Vipers have a road game.

“I’d love to watch, cheer her on. Is it here?”

“Yeah, and they’ve got another on Sunday morning. That’s here too. I think some of the guys are planning to come.”

“Well, if it’s okay with you, I’d love to join. I bet she’s incredible.”

“Of course. She loves having a crowd. Just don’t tell her she’s too good; she’s already getting an ego.”