Page 2

Chapter 2

Trevor

“ T here he is! The man of the hour,” my team captain, Keelan Landry, sets down his mat and stretches it out. “Glad you could join us.”

“Yeah, well. I ran into a little… inconvenience,” I say, taking an empty spot on the gym floor.

“Uh oh. Sounds like The Rookie may have met someone,” Michael Ferguson, one of our forwards comments from the other side of the gym.

The whole team is here tonight. We’ve been getting a lot of injuries lately and coach has arranged for a mandatory stretch session three times a week to keep us agile. With our crazy schedule this week and Christmas just two days away, he called this last minute session.

“Oh, he met someone alright,” Vance MacDonald sets his mat next to me. “And she told me all about it.”

“To be fair, I didn’t know she was your sister,” I tell him. “At first.”

“A sister? Oh shit… here we go again,” Zane O’Connor, fellow defenseman says.

Our starting goalie walks behind me, slapping my back with a heavy hand. “Haven’t you learned your lesson with sisters, Rookie?” Ryker says, voice low.

“Yes, I absolutely have. Which is why I have no interest in her in that way.” I turn to MacDonald, or Mick, as we like to call him. “Seriously, you don’t have to worry about that.”

Mick laughs. “Dude, you don’t know my sister. She’s not the kind of girl you want to mess with. And if you ask me, calling a tow truck on her–automatically puts you on her naughty list. She hates you.”

“Well, I’m not a fan either,” I mutter.

Mick shakes his head. “That’s too bad.”

“Because she’s my neighbor?”

His eyes twinkle. “Amongst other things.”

“Other things? What other things?” I say, watching him.

Coach Murray bursts through the doors. “Alright boys, let’s get this done so we can get on with our Christmas plans.”

“What other things?” I whisper to Mick whose suddenly decided to drop the conversation.

He presses a finger to his lips and points to Coach Murray up front.

An hour of stretches later, we’re splayed out on our mats, dripping in sweat when Mick rolls over to look at me.

“So about the trip tomorrow…”

Oh yes. The trip. The one he invited me to join him on since last week’s calendar debacle in NYC.

We had these calendars we were trying to sell at a bookstore event when Mick had the genius idea for us to take our shirts off. We all agreed it would make sense–it was a hockey romance event after all.

But I was the one who took it a step too far. One of our patrons and loyal fans asked me to take a picture with her in only my underwear.

Who am I to turn down a fan? I was already a half-dressed Christmas elf, what was one more article of clothing?

I’ll tell you what… it was what got us kicked out of the event, plastered all over social media and now I can’t go anywhere without someone mentioning the Heatwave rookie with Santa’s package delivery living in his underwear.

Was it inappropriate to strip down in a public place? Yes. But did I do it for the fans? Also yes. So why am I the one being punished and asked to lie low during Christmas this year?

Those were the words from our team’s PR manager, Rina Lopez. “Just lie low this Christmas. Maybe leave town. Your stupidity will be forgotten.”

Hence why Mick invited me to the mountains for Christmas with his family. We leave tomorrow.

“Wait…” I flop to my side to look at him. “Your sister is coming, isn’t she?”

“She wasn’t going to… but she called me earlier and told me that her car got impounded. So… yeah. It looks like she’s joining us.”

I groan. “Well, does she know I’m coming?”

“She will,” he says, pushing himself up and stretching a hand out to me.

“Gah… I wish I would’ve known that before I had her car towed.”

“You just had to be a dick to Lana,” Mick says, hauling me up.

Huh. So her name’s Lana. Pretty.

“I mean, she’s not very nice herself.”

Even if she’s quite literally the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. Her ridiculous personality kind of ruins the whole vibe for me.

When I saw Lana MacDonald– why does that sound like a clown name ? Well, when she pulled the door open to her town home I almost changed my mind and was willing to drop the whole parking spot situation.

In the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t that big a deal. But then she opened her mouth and I thought better about it.

She’d run me over with her tiny car the first chance she got if I showed her even an ounce of weakness.

“Give her a chance, man. Lana’s had a rough month. And you calling a tow truck on her… that was the disgusting maraschino cherry on top.”

“What? I love maraschino cherries,” I tell him, grabbing the backpack I dropped off at the entrance next to my helmet and swinging it onto my back.

“Yeah, well Lana doesn’t. She hates cherries.”

I’ll file that valuable information away for later. Just in case.

“I could just fly to Breckenridge… I don’t want to be the third wheel.”

“Technically, Lana is the third wheel. She wasn’t planning on coming out this year. But like I said, she’s had a rough month.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel like a total dick for fighting her on the parking spot thing. Because it’s not working,” I inform him.

I push the door open to the exit of the gym and hold it out for him.

“Yes, you should. But don’t worry, she’ll make sure you don’t get away with it,” he gives me a reassuring wink.

“Awesome,” I mutter.

We're walking out of the gym and to our parking spots. The cool Texas air blows through my wet head reminding me that it really is winter. Even if it hasn't felt cold enough here to embrace it lately. His crossover SUV is parked right next to my motorcycle.

“I don’t know man… maybe we can just forget the whole thing. Rina asked me to lie low. I can just stay home.”

“And eat ramen noodles on Christmas day because you don’t cook? I won’t let you do that.”

Mick is a big guy. One of those guys that you're scared of going head to head with on ice. But off the ice, he's just a giant Canadian teddy bear I call my friend. His bright green eyes against his mocha skin stay glued on me, waiting for a response.

"It’s a family event. And I’m not family. I don’t want to crash a family event."

"It's not crashing when you're literally getting invited," Mick says. “You just don’t want to deal with Lana. Understandably so, I know she can be a lot. But you’ll regret it if you don’t come. Almost everyone is leaving town. Who will you spend Christmas with?”

My own family doesn't really do Christmas, they’re all over the US and all too busy with their own lives to ever come together. It'd be nice to just be apart of a family that does.

Christmas with my friend's family doesn't sound so bad. I'd be lying low in the mountains and away from the city where I can't go anywhere without being spotted. Doing exactly what my superiors want. And if the cabin is as big as Mick has alluded to, I’ll barely have to interact with Lana anyways.

"Fine," I relent. "How long is this road trip anyway?"

"One day if we just drive straight through, which is what I plan to do."

I swipe a hand down my face. One day. Two if we consider the drive back. Two full days on the road with my teammate, for a Christmas where I'm not alone with my sad little tree that's sitting on my kitchen table, eating ramen, and watching Elf on repeat.

I imagine a home-cooked meal, warm fireplaces, and laughter. Lots of laughter.

And I want it. Damn near need it.

"Ok. Let's take this road trip, I guess," I say, turning to my bike and slipping onto it.

"Great! I'll be by your place at four to pick you up."

“I’m hiking a leg over my bike when he says that so I must’ve misheard him. I stay staring at him, holding my helmet as he tosses his bag into his car.

"What?" he asks, arm resting on the hood of his car.

"Four… in the afternoon, right?"

Mick's brows furrow. Even in the dark, I can see his eyes questioning me.

"Right?" I say again.

"No, man. You don't drive straight through from Houston to Breckenridge by leaving at four in the afternoon. If I were you, I'd get home and get packing if you haven’t already." He slips into the seat of his car and starts backing out before I get a chance to ask him more questions.

How long will we be gone? What should I pack for? How are we dividing up the drive?

But Mick is gone before I can say a word. It's fine. I’m sure we can figure it out in the morning. My biggest question though is what will Lana do when she finds out?

What feels like just a few hours later, there's a car honking obnoxiously outside on the street.

Who the hell is honking at... I look at my phone and I see the time. 4:06.

The horn honks again.

I toss the sheets aside and quickly type out a text telling him to shut the hell up and I'm coming.

It takes me less than five minutes to be out the door and my teammate greets me with the biggest smile on his face. "Morning, sunshine!"

Jeez. Did he even sleep?

I yawn. "You can call me that in three hours when the sun is actually up."

"I got you a coffee," he says, motioning to the steaming cup sitting between us in the cupholder.

"That was nice of you," I say, grabbing it and taking that delicious first sip. It feels like Christmas. Warm and cozy and—my god—is that peppermint?

"Listen, if you plan to have me switch off at some point, I'm going to need much more than a peppermint mocha. I need sleep."

He grabs his phone and dials someone.

For a moment, I forget it’s not just us.

Ms. Grinch-i-pants will be joining the mountain crew party too. And since we didn’t exactly leave off on the best terms last night–considering the whole her car being impounded situation–I don’t anticipate she’ll be in a good mood when she sees me.

But what do I know? It’s Christmas, and there is such a thing as miracles. At least for my sake I’d like to hope that there is. Plus, I guess I can be the bigger person and apologize.

I’ll consider it.

“Hey,” Mick's voice fills the car. “Yeah that’s me. You were supposed to be up. Please tell me you packed.”

I watch a light come on in the upstairs window of her townhome. A room that seems to share a wall with my own. I wonder if she can hear me at all. I don’t recall ever hearing her.

Mick tells her to hurry up or he’s leaving her and hangs up.

“What’d the little grinch say when you told her I was coming?” I yawn out.

“Uh… she… well she…” Mick pops the trunk open and opens the door to leave.

“Mick?” I call out to him as he shuts the door. “You told her right?” I call out louder so he can hear me.

He smirks and walks off.

Great. She doesn’t know. She’s going to take one look at me and banish me from the car.

The light turns off in the room upstairs and another comes on that lights up the window on the front door.

She doesn't have any Christmas lights or wreathes decorating her house. To be fair, I don’t either.

But on her side there are dead plants that need to be replaced and an overgrown bush that is creeping its way to the front door, making her place not only not welcoming but a little creepy.

It’s very on brand for what I’ve already come to know about my friend’s moody sister.

The front door opens and she rolls her luggage down the pathway, absentmindedly looking down at her phone. Her thick brown curls crown her face in a halo.

That face.

Her skin is much lighter than her brother’s and she has a splash of freckles across her nose. And unlike her brother’s green eyes, she has chocolate eyes with an exotic almond shape that makes her overall look just–captivating.

But I’m not seeing all these details right now. I just know from the initial sight of her last night that is what I can expect.

She rolls her suitcase all the way down the sidewalk, dragging a big garment bag along with her.

Deep breath. Here we go.