Page 19 of Hot Ice, Tennessee (Hard Spot Saloon #2)

MASON, TWO MONTHS LATER

I reviewed the details of the appointment, my finger hovering over the button to tap confirm .

“You look hot when you’re nervous,” Jesse called over from across the room.

I was on the couch, and he was in the kitchen. We had all of the windows open in the living room, letting in the warm, breezy summer air. Yesterday there had been a thunderstorm, and all day today, the air had been clear and bright, like the rain had washed away the haze.

Jesse was putting dishes into the dishwasher, because that was just something he’d started doing , since the first time he’d ever visited my house.

He helped. Without me asking, and without any expectations.

It was just one of the ten billion things I loved about him.

I pulled in a long breath, looking back down at my laptop.

“How did you know I was nervous?” I asked.

“I can tell. You still look good, though.”

“You always say that. Whether I’m nervous or sad or happy or…”

Jesse smiled over at me. “Because you always look hot, babe.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. But whatever you’re nervous about, you can do it.”

I used that energy to reach down to the laptop and just click confirm .

“Okay. I did it,” I said, shutting the laptop and standing up. “I… have two riding lessons booked for this week.”

Jesse put down the towel he was holding, looking up at me. “Really?”

I nodded slowly, crossing over from the living room to the kitchen. The moment I was near him, he reached for my waist, sliding his hands around me to pull me in close.

“One on Tuesday, one on Thursday.”

“Mason,” he said, giving me a quick kiss, his eyes widening afterward. “That’s incredible.”

“I’m still nervous as hell. I don’t know how I got to the point where teaching people horseback riding makes me nervous. I literally used to do it every day.”

“You just fell out of practice.”

“I took fewer clients every week until somehow, I ended up with none,” I said. “I missed it, all the time, Jesse.”

He ran his hands through my hair. “You know your dad would be proud.”

I smiled. “He would clap me on the back and say there he is again. Back in business .”

“I like it.”

I sighed. “Something like that, at least.”

I felt my throat get a little tight, even now.

“I know it isn’t going to be the same, ever again,” Jesse said. “But you can handle anything. Nervous riders, confident riders, total beginners.”

“I know. I’ve known that all along, I think,” I said. “I just miss him.”

Jesse tucked my head in close against his chest, stroking my back. “Proud of you. And you know what? Kane’s going to be proud of you, too. And Finn, and Ori, and even Max and Andrew, probably. Hell, maybe even Thomas at the diner with his cinnamon rolls.”

I puffed out a laugh. “Maybe even him.”

Jesse kissed me again and I felt the same way I always did with him. At home.

A couple of days later, Jesse came over in the late afternoon, waving his phone in the air as he walked in the front door.

“Aced it,” he said.

“ Hah! ” I said, leaning in to tackle him in a hug. “Told you that Physiology was going to be a slam dunk.”

“Going to get an A in both of my summer classes,” he said. “Fuck. I’m back , baby.”

“So tonight we’re really celebrating,” I said.

“Tonight’s not about me, but sure,” Jesse said. “I’ll certainly be accepting free shots at the bar.”

We’d been planning on going to the Hard Spot tonight to celebrate the fact that I was taking riding students again and Jesse was done with his summer classes. Now there was even more reason to party.

Jesse and I walked from my house down to the center of Bestens. We made the walk anytime the day wasn’t too hot, and every time we walked past the spot where he’d picked me up in the rainstorm, he made fun of me.

And told me he loved me.

And told me he was so glad I got in the car with him that night.

Tonight, we walked most of the way hand-in-hand, other than when Jesse crouched down to rescue a lizard from the middle of the road.

We ambled down onto Laurel Ave, and I glanced over at the Red Fox Diner, seeing a little sign on the window.

Closed for the next two hours, sorry! Try some drinks & snacks at the Hard Spot or Hank’s BBQ if you’re in need :-)

“Closed,” I said, furrowing my brow. “Ori and his parents never close that place down, rain or shine. What do you think is up?”

“No clue,” Jesse said. “All I know is I want one of Max’s weird-ass cocktails. Let’s go.”

He tugged me across the street to the Hard Spot. Before we went inside, he paused outside the doors, making me wait for a second.

“I love you more than you could possibly know,” he said before kissing me.

“Have I told you lately that you’re amazing?”

“Only about ten times today. But keep bringing that on, babe.”

I smiled, following after him as he pushed past the doors, walking inside.

As we walked in, the whole bar erupted.

“Surprise!” they said.

I looked up and saw a bunch of little streamers and garland strung around the place, most of which had little drawings of horses dangling from them.

“What?” I said.

“Surprise, love,” Jesse said, beaming at me. “Tonight we celebrate you .”

As we walked into the place I saw why the Red Fox was closed: Ori, his parents, and even Finn and Thomas were all here, ready to… celebrate me , apparently.

What the flipping fuck?

“Wait a minute,” I said to Jesse as Kane came over to pull me into a hug. “This party can’t be for me.”

“Why not?”

“I go to parties. I help organize parties. I’ve loved other people’s surprise parties, right here in this bar. But the parties are never for me .”

“Well, this one is,” Kane said. “You can thank Jesse for that one. He planned this.”

I had a strange feeling rearing its head inside me.

Do I deserve this?

Do I even deserve someone who would think to put me first?

But as Jesse put his arm around me, I wasn’t sure I gave a damn anymore about whether or not I deserved it.

I was lucky enough to have it. And I wasn’t going to let this moment pass me by.

“Jesse told me that you have riding clients lined up for this week,” Kane said. His eyes met mine, and for a rare moment, I saw nothing but pure pride there. “I was so happy to hear that, Mason.”

“Oh no. Don’t make me cry, guys.”

“I know it’s not going to be easy to get back into it, but I think you’ll love what’s on the other side.”

I nodded. “I think so, too.”

Soon, we made our way over toward the bar and had cocktails in our hands within a minute. Max’s creations tonight were a mix of Coke, tequila, mango juice, a hint of thyme, with tiny cut up strawberries floating throughout.

“Bizarre, and incredible,” I said.

“God, that is tasty,” Jesse agreed.

Max nodded at us. “A yellow sticky note fell onto the ground in the back office, and I knew it was the ghost cat trying to put the idea of yellow into my mind. My first thought was mango, and then this cocktail was born.”

I smiled. “Ghost cat, helping people fall in love and helping Max make insane cocktails.”

“Cheers to that,” Jesse said.

Robbie and Andrew found us soon after. They gave me hugs, congratulating me on getting the Minton Ranch riding school back off the ground, and Robbie turned to Jesse afterward.

“Dude,” Robbie said near Jesse’s ear. “I know this isn’t the time or place, but I have some very juicy news for you.”

“I’m intrigued,” Jesse said. “Give me the short version?”

“Elliot ain’t coming back to TNU this upcoming year.”

Jesse’s eyes went wider than I’d ever seen. “You’re kidding me.”

Robbie shook his head. “Just heard from Samuelson a few minutes ago. He’s apparently already packing up his shit at the frat house, and he’ll be gone by tomorrow.”

I could see Jesse trying to hide the urge to jump for absolute joy.

“Any, uh, idea why?” Jesse asked.

“He told Samuelson he didn’t really want to talk about it, but that he thinks college is bullshit, or something,” Robbie said. “Samuelson said that sounded like bullshit, and I agreed.”

“For sure.”

“I think Elliot just can’t take the fact that his last season was shit,” Robbie said. “I used to like that guy, but I’ve really come to think he’s a dickhead.”

“I think that intuition is correct, Robbie,” Jesse said. “I think we have about ten other guys on the team who can replace him for the season and do better, too.”

“Cheers to that ,” Robbie agreed.

Andrew was watching the conversation, too, and he had a smile on his face. “I’m going to have some hot gossip to tell the football team now, that’s for sure.”

“You guys should do a charity event,” Max said from across the bar. “Football players and hockey players unite and play a game of… drumroll please… puckball .”

“Puckball,” Jesse said, grinning.

“TNU fans would love it,” Max said. “All the hockey and football fans, coming together to watch you guys duke it out in a puckball game.”

“Do you have any idea how this puckball game would work?” Andrew asked.

Robbie laughed. “Yeah. What are the rules?”

“Guys, I’m an idea man, not a details man,” Max said, grinning. “Other than when it comes to cocktail ingredients, that is.”

“Well, I’d be down for a puckball game, if we could figure out the details,” Jesse said. “Especially if Elliot isn’t going to be around anymore. Holy shit , that is good news.”

As Max, Andrew, and Robbie got caught up debating what the rules of puckball would be, I pulled Jesse aside, leaning in to kiss him.

“That was insanely good news,” I added.

“I’m in heaven. I get to play my last year of TNU hockey without his face out there on the ice with me.”

“And I’m going to be at every game.”

“Alright, alright, save the makeout sessions for when you two are at home,” Kane said, walking by and carrying a big cake in his hands. “I love you both, but I don’t need to see it. You know what I mean?”

I laughed. “Wait. Look at that cake.”

Jesse was smiling already, though. “I told them to make it—”

“A hockey puck,” I said.

The cake was a gigantic chocolate hockey puck, and on top it said You’re Pucking Delicious .

“You did always say they looked tasty,” Jesse said. “I wanted to make it come true.”

“I love you,” I said.

I leaned in and covered him with more kisses, which made Kane groan in protest, but I didn’t care.

Partying here with these people tonight—a party for me —felt like the start of something beautiful.

Or maybe what I’d been searching for all along had been with me the whole time. I was still a hot mess, but every moment of that had led, ultimately, to this.

The family I still had.

The family I was making .

I had love in dozens of different forms, all around me, and the North Star of it all happened to come in a college hockey player shaped package.

And Jesse really was a star. Whether I was right at his side or mingling with others, I felt like he was with me, all night. It’s how I always felt lately, in reality.

Jesse was always there.

And even through the very hot, very messy way we found each other this summer, I had an inkling in me that we would always be there for each other. That somehow we’d both found our forever person. On the ice. In the heat.

Right here, where we both felt at home.

“To Mason!” Jesse said an hour into the party, holding up his glass, and everyone else in the Hard Spot held theirs up to cheer me, too.

My heart always did funny things when Jesse showed how much he loved me—and how much other people did, too.

He’d helped me learn that I was worthy of it.

And I knew he’d never let me forget how much love was surrounding me, every day.

Thank you for reading!