Page 63 of Just A Little Joy
Before the moment could get too heavy, Maddie bounced on her toes. “Can we take a picture? All four of us? Please? My team won’t believe me unless there’s proof.”
Before I said anything, Casey stepped right beside me—closer than before—his arm brushing mine, warm through all the layers. For someone who could be so skittish about anything deep, he hadn’t hesitated at all. That alone made something molten shift under my skin.
He moved like he belonged there, tucked into my side without hesitation, and it hit deeper than I expected.
Her mom joined Maddie’s other side. I rested my hand on the small of Casey’s back without thinking. He moved in lightly, like he’d been waiting for the public claiming.
Maddie took what felt like thirty photos and, according to her, half of them were blurry. Her bells jingled the whole time.
“Can I post it on my mom’s feed?” she asked breathlessly. “So everybody sees?”
“That’s fine with me,” I said. “Just make sure you tag me so my old teammates know I’ve still got the best fans.”
A younger version of me never imagined I would want to be seen beside someone like Casey.
Her mom hesitated, eyes flicking to Casey. “Are you all right with that, sweetheart? If not, that’s completely fine.”
It hit me slow but sure—she saw his future reality faster than I did. Should’ve been me. Maddie was right. I was no superstar, but odds were high some kind of splash would be made. Casey was entirely too tucked in to me to claim we were nothing more than friends. I’d never deny him, or what I was, but that didn’t mean he wanted the attention that came with it.
My queerness was about to become more than low-key speculation.
Casey looked at me first—not her—and whatever he saw in my face must’ve calmed something in him. His breath clouded in the cold.
I felt that look all the way to my ribs, a silent check that I was still choosing him.
“Yeah,” he said softly. “Go ahead.”
That yes meant everything. Maddie cheered. Her mom let out this shaky, relieved laugh like she’d finally caught up to the moment.
Standing there with Casey warm at my side, with bells jingling, cinnamon in the air, and a kid who reminded me so much of myself, hurtled me back in time to Montreal. My dad let me stand by the tunnel for hours just to see Étienne Bouchard walk out in his suit like he owned the whole world. Other parents complained or dragged their kid away. Every time I checked to make sure it was still okay, he smiled and nodded. No hint that he was losing money by the bar being closed, so I could catch a two-second glimpse of my hero.
But looking at Maddie’s shining face now, and Casey leaning against me like the whole world made a little more sense when we touched? I understood it perfectly.
FOURTEEN
CASEY
“Daddy, I’m not sure that the hot chocolate is enough to keep me warm.”
Maddie had insisted on posting the pictures immediately and then said goodbye, and seconds later, Travis’s notifications started going off like crazy. He glanced at his phone, saw the numbers climbing exponentially, and promptly turned off his phone and tucked it into his pocket. We stopped to get hot chocolate and then headed down to Glass Beach. I was absolutely freezing, but I wasn’t going to complain because it was gorgeous. Up on the shore, there was a mixture of rocks, broken seashells, sand dollars, and itty-bitty pieces of sea glass tossed in the middle like little treasures, waiting to be found. Travis found a shopping bag stuffed somewhere in his SUV and obligingly walked behind me as I stopped to dig through the sand with a stake, looking for treasures.
“I think you’re right, but maybe if we’re not in the water, it won’t be too bad. That wind is something else though.”
“When I get home tonight, I think I’m going to sleep in the shower with the hot water on,” I added with a laugh. “A bath would be better, but it's hard to stretch out in it.”
“But my house has one big enough, and I’d very much like a sleepover with you tonight.”
As he spoke the words, Daddy grabbed my hand and dragged me closer so he could press a kiss against my lips. His body was like a radiator. I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled closer. He responded by hugging me tight. Suddenly, I wasn’t nearly as cold as I was before the heat radiated off him and seeped into my bones.
“Daddy, are they really doing scholarships at the rink?” I meant to ask him earlier, but I got distracted by the idea of going to Glass Beach.
“Well, maybe not technically announced, but we’ve talked about it and intend to do it, so maybe I just jumped the gun and put Maddie at the front of the line for it.”
“It was really sweet of you to take care of it for her without making her mom feel bad about it.”
“Yeah, I got my fair share of scholarships growing up, so it seems only fair.”
“I thought your dad owned his own business?”