Page 26

CHAPTER 26

HEL

H el stood watching the ice, looking for any sign the team would need her. She made sure she only faced the front, but the person she was most aware of was Frost, standing at the opposite end of the bench next to Coach Morgan.

Things had been a little weird between them since the sofa incident. But she kept her resolve to distance herself from him. She had been polite but made sure she didn’t linger in his glance or let her hand graze his when she took things from him.

It felt so strange, as her heart wanted to get closer to him, but her brain kept telling her he was leaving and to avoid him.

Rocky hurtled through the door from the ice and flung himself onto the bench next to Hel, taking panting breaths as he recovered from his exertions. When he could talk again, they continued with the conversation that had been interrupted by his shift.

“You said Abbey got into Dental school?” Hel prompted, as the big player had dropped the information as he leapt into the game.

Rocky’s face lit up. “Yes!”

“That’s amazing,” Hel exclaimed in delight.

“I know. I’m so proud of her. It looks like this will be my last season with the Wombats. We’re moving to Darwin next year.” The young man didn’t take his eyes off the game.

His teammates skated up and down at such lightning speed that Hel couldn’t make out what was going on despite having now read the rules of the game. Hel had opened her mouth several times when they were at home to ask Frost to explain a bit more but always stopped herself as she was trying to stay away from him. In fact, she really needed to move out. She couldn’t wait to move out of Frost’s. She hesitated for a moment, in reality, that was a lie. She didn’t want to leave, she wanted to stay forever. So she needed to move out. She needed to gain distance from him.

She tried to put thoughts of Frost out of her head, but without conscious effort, her eyes swung to him, standing so close to her. He was staring right back at her. Shit, she shifted her gaze back down to Rocky.

“That’s great news. What will you do in Darwin?” Hel asked.

“I’m a plumber. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find work.”

“I’m so pleased for you both. Can you tell Abbey congratulations from me?” Hel was genuinely delighted for the young couple.

“You can tell her yourself. We’re all going to the pub afterwards.” Rocky leapt to his feet and dashed to the door, ready for his next shift on the ice.

“I won’t be there. Sorry,” Hel called to him as he bounded into play.

She had been avoiding all social settings where she would have to interact with Frost. Declining to go to the pub after the last two home games. On pub quiz night, she swapped onto the evening shift to avoid being in the car with Frost or having to sit next to him.

Now she knew how much she liked him, she was doing everything she could to build up her walls. But her treacherous heart still skipped a beat whenever she saw him, and she already missed him, even though he wasn’t gone yet.

Hel tried not to look at him in the suit he wore as team coach. She found him attractive in whatever he wore, but there was something about the suit that made her slightly breathless.

Maybe she should try to find someone else to come to the games as the team doctor. To start extracting herself from the situation completely.

Pulling her phone out, she texted Clara. ‘Any update on the cottage?’

She hadn’t seen her friends much in the last couple of weeks, and for some reason, she was embarrassed with herself for falling so hard for Frost when the outcome was inevitable, so she hadn’t confided in them.

Clara replied immediately. ‘It’s ready. I figured you were enjoying living with Frost, so I didn’t mention it.’ The text ended with a few emojis, which, when applied to Frost, made her flush scarlet.

Hel rolled her eyes. Her friend meant well. But she needed to move out of Frost’s house before she did something stupid, like fling herself at him.

‘He’s a great guy. But I’ve definitely overstayed my welcome. Is it okay to move in tomorrow?’ Hel felt relief when she sent the message but also profound sadness.

‘Sure. No problem. You know the code to the main gate. I’ll leave the cottage key under the mat now. Come whenever you want.’

Hel stared sightlessly at the ice. This was it. She was moving on with her life, and in a year, her meeting with Frost, her living with him and falling so hard for him would be a distant memory.

She glanced over and then let her eyes linger when she saw he was solely focused on the game.

She liked the way he was so passionate about ice hockey, and even to her untrained eye, she could tell he had the makings of a great coach. He was firm but fair with the players, encouraging them in the right spots and pushing them when they needed it.

Coach Morgan had, over the last three games, stepped back and allowed Frost to develop his skills, and she could see the older man observing Frost with a satisfied smile on his face.

When Frost stopped concentrating on the ice and glanced over at her, she looked away, pretending she hadn’t been looking at him at all.

When the whistle blew at the end of the second period, Hel waited for all the players to head to the changing rooms and then busied herself by checking something in her bag to ensure Frost was gone. Peering up, she noticed he was still there, standing and waiting for her.

Delaying for another minute, she realised he wasn’t going to leave without her, so she took a deep breath and made her way across to Frost, knowing it would mean they walked to the changing rooms shoulder to shoulder.

“I feel like ships in the night with you at the moment,” Frost commented when she drew level with him.

Hel shrugged. “It gets like that sometimes with my job. I often have patches like this.” Although, if she was truthful, she had switched a lot of shifts to avoid him.

“It feels like you’re avoiding me,” he said quietly.

Hel managed to control her startled response, not having expected him to come right out and say it.

With an extreme effort, she kept her voice neutral and replied, “No, just a busy patch in work. Sorry.” She kept her eyes forward.

“Okay. I miss hanging out with you.”

Hel’s step faltered when he said that, but she recovered quickly and kept walking. “Yeah. Sorry. Like I say, busy with work.”

Her shoulders sagged with relief when they reached the locker room, and Rocky bounded over.

“Doc. My elbow’s giving me trouble. Could you tape it?” Rocky asked her.

“Sure. Take your jersey off, and I’ll do it now,” Hel said.

“Thanks, Doc.” Rocky bounced off, yanking his jersey over his head as he went and grabbing his sports tape from his locker.

“Anyway, duty calls.” She shrugged, giving Frost a strained smile and purposefully avoiding his eyes as she turned away.