Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 80035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
We stayed like that for a long while, connected in a light and breezy kiss that felt startlingly poignant.
Until he bit my lip and pulled away.
“You’re coming to that barbecue.”
“Huh?”
“Coach Smitty and his husband, Bryson, do a yearly pre-camp barbecue. It’s fun and…it’ll give you a chance to meet everyone. That’s what you wanted, right?”
Yes, that was why I was here. To ingratiate my family to the community. To grow a business and finish what my dad had begun. This was a job. Nothing personal.
But it was beginning to feel very fucking personal.
15
HANK
The Paluchek-Milligan Start of Summer Barbecue was apparently an annual affair. This year it coincided with Jake’s return home from Boston and an influx of the NHL and AHL players who’d arrived early to coach Elmwood’s wildly successful juniors camp.
It was a gorgeous day for a party—seventy-five degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The sweet summer vibes were impossibly idyllic and welcoming. I soaked up the scenery, my gaze bouncing across the spacious yard decked out in red, white, and blue bunting.
A sea of smiley folks gathered on the lawn, sipping sodas and summery cocktails while kids and dogs ran circles around them, howling like mini lunatics. A familiar Bob Marley tune piped through a Bluetooth speaker, reminding everyone that every little thing was gonna be all right. For a few hours, I believed it.
I was greeted warmly and handed a beer within seconds of arriving solo to the barbecue, where I was the undisputed outlier. Denny had been asked to help set up, and that was cool. There was no reason for us to be attached at the hip, and I was perfectly capable of holding my own socially. The trick was to not talk about the mill.
Not a problem. Hockey, vacation plans, and the weather were safe topic changes if I got stuck with anyone who wondered who’d invited me, since I obviously didn’t know our hosts.
I wasn’t shy, though. I introduced myself to Bryson Milligan, an impossibly handsome silver fox holding a sleepy toddler with olive skin and a pink bow in her curly dark hair.
“Nice to meet you,” he said. “I’m Bryson, and this is our daughter, Charlotte. She’s almost two…and she’s a little tired, aren’t you, baby girl?”
Charlotte shook her head, burrowed into her father’s shoulder, and held up three fingers. “I’m three.”
“Wow. That’s a good number,” I commented.
Bryson chuckled softly and whispered, “She ages herself to be like her brother, Nathan, who’s out there running amok. Make yourself at home. Smitty is at the barbecue with Denny and their high school all-star team. Denny’s talked about you and…I know Smitty would love to meet you too.”
I spotted Denny at the far end of the yard, standing with MK. Her arm was around his waist in an affectionate embrace as they chatted with a giant tattooed man with broad shoulders and a jolly aura. I hadn’t met the high school hockey coach yet, but I’d heard a lot about Smitty. I stepped off the deck, intending to weasel into the conversation.
Something stopped me, though.
I paused under an umbrella and observed Denny, my heart thumping in my chest for reasons unknown. He looked genuinely happy and relaxed in the company of people he allowed to know him—his ex and his coach. His skin was golden from hours in the sun with Bess, his smile wide and open as if he didn’t have a care in the world. My gaze roamed over his toned biceps to his perfect ass…just as Mary-Kate dipped her hand, skimming her fingers possessively on his lower back and—
“The new neighbor!” Vinnie Kiminski, my teenage hockey crush thrust his hand at me. He was a muscular man with dark hair and a contagious grin. And once upon a time, he’d struck fear on the ice in the NHL. “Good to see you, man.”
“You too.” I shook his hand and narrowed my eyes at the blond kid hopping on one foot beside him. “Jumping beans or ants in your pants?”
The boy snickered, flashing missing front teeth.
Vinnie ruffled the boy’s hair affectionately. “Someone slipped Alec a soda…or two.”
“Only one, Dad,” Alec huffed, hopping around me. “Do you have a horse? I saw one in your field when we were catching frogs at the creek.”
“Ah, I actually have two horses,” I replied. “Bess and Fred. They’re super nice. Well…Bess is nice. Fred can be ornery.”
“Oh. I rode on a pony at the fair two times, but I’ve never been on a horse.”
Vinnie blinked in faux surprise. “Wow, I feel like I know where this is going.”
“Can I meet your horses?” Alec asked, undeterred. “I’m almost seven. That’s old enough to ride a horse, right?”
“Absolutely. Come by with your dads sometime.”
Alec whooped with joy. “Yes! Thank you! I have hockey camp all summer, but I can come after camp.”