Page 45

“So, are you two ready for Nationals?” Mer asked with an excited smile.

Kappy’s strong hands massaged my legs on his lap. “Yeah, they should just fork over the medals right now,” he said with a confident smirk. “They’re ours.”

“I like his confidence,” Mer said to me with a laugh.

“I have confidence, too,” Colt said with a frown, coming up behind his wife to plant a kiss on her cheek. His hand drifted right to her pregnant belly, and he whispered something in her ear, making her giggle like a lovestruck teenager.

JP came into the room, tipping back a bottle of beer and wearing one of Lucy’s princess crowns. His eyes immediately went to Kappy’s hands on my legs. “Okay, I’m used to these two being all handsy.” He jerked a thumb at Colt and Mer. “But you guys can’t do that, too. ”

I fully knew how it felt to be a third wheel, so I tried to pull my legs back, but Kappy held me tighter.

“Ignore him,” Kappy whispered to me. “He could be handsy too if he got off his ass and actually did what I told him to do,” he said a touch louder.

JP rolled his eyes and took another pull of his beer, but now I was curious what Kappy advised him to do.

Mer coughed into her hand. “It’s too bad Annie and Freddie made it to Nationals,” she said, attempting to change the subject. “That bitch tried to hurt you guys. She should be arrested for assault.”

“Remember when you kissed her?” Colt snickered.

“She kissed me,” Kappy burst out. “And don’t remind me. Gonna make me sick.”

“Sick? Who’s sick?” Lucy called from upstairs.

Kappy’s body froze. “Oh no,” he whispered. “Not again.”

Colt’s face lit up with a grin. “Uncle Kappy’s sick!”

Kappy’s eyes widened. “What the fuck?” he whispered tersely. “Why are you always doing this to me?”

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked, alarmed now.

“I’ll help!” Lucy hollered as she jumped down the last three steps. Her brown hair was tied up in little buns and she still wore her tights and dress from skating practice earlier in the day.

Kappy gave her a cheeky smile. “You don’t need to. I was using it as an expression, Lu. I’m feeling great! Promise!”

Lucy frowned while studying his face. She reached to touch his forehead and gave him a grave look. “You need medical intervention, Richard.” She gave him a firm nod. “Wait here,” she said before speeding off to the kitchen.

Mer rolled her lips together to keep from laughing. “She’s playing doctor. She needs to go mix up some medicine for him,” she explained to me.

“Medicine? More like anything she sees in the fridge,” Kappy complained. “I can’t do this anymore.” He shook his head and carefully removed my legs from his lap. “I’m sorry, babe, but I need to go hide.” He pointed a finger at Colt. “And you need to tell Lu that—”

Colt shoved him back on the couch. “If you crush my daughter’s medical school aspirations, I will crush you.”

“I will, too,” JP said with a shit-eating grin on his face .

A minute later, Lucy carefully walked into the living room holding a full mug.

One whiff from the mug had me almost gagging.

“Drink it, Richard,” Lucy ordered.

“But I don’t need it!” he said, trying to placate her with a smile.

“Drink it! You need to feel better to skate!” she ordered with wide chocolate brown eyes.

He looked to me for help.

I struggled to keep a straight face. “Yeah, we need you in top shape to skate.”

“What?” he strangled out. The pure desperation on his face made me giggle.

“C’mon, Richard.” Lucy tapped her foot impatiently.

Reaching for the mug, he took a very small sip of the drink, almost gagged, but managed to swallow it down.

“Good boy, Richard Charles Kappers!” Lucy said with a bright smile before scampering back to the kitchen.

Colt cracked up laughing. “Yeah, good boy, Richard.”

“You guys are mean,” Kappy grumbled, wiping his mouth on his shirt and grabbing his water bottle.

“So, are you two fully dating now? Or just having fun?” JP asked.

Kappy continued guzzling from his water bottle. Unsure of what to say, I felt like shrinking on the spot. We hadn’t really talked about it or defined anything, so I had no clue how to answer that question.

Kappy’s eyes locked on mine. “I’ve only ever planned to be with one girl,” he said, squeezing my thigh. His words and earnest eyes were like a warm blanket, settling the unease in my chest.

“Didn’t you date that Brandi girl?” Colt asked, making Mer smack him upside the head.

“No,” Kappy snapped. “And besides, we were on a break.”

“Ehhh,” I said, making him look alarmed, but then I laughed and patted his cheek.

He stole my hand in his and repeated, “We were on a break,” before kissing me fiercely.

My hand went to his neck, and I giggled against his lips. Part of me wanted to pry and define, but I shoved those feelings down. We needed our gold medal first. We had all the time in the world after the Olympics for our relationship.

After.

I paused as the realization dawned on me .

The vision I had for my life always ended when I stood on that top podium. When I thought of the future, that was as far as I could see. But now, I was starting to carefully construct an after. An after with Richard, whatever that looked like.

Our friends continued chatting, but Kappy’s features creased with concern. “You good?”

“Huh?”

“You froze up, you good?” he repeated.

My heart warmed. “I’m good. Thank you.”

A worried line appeared between his brows. “For what?”

“Noticing me,” I whispered. No matter how hard we tried to hide it, we saw the truth in each other, and I was grateful for that every day.

His face softened, and it looked like he was going to tell me something, but then the doorbell rang, distracting him.

“Hans is here!” Lucy hollered, running to the front door.

Standing in the hallway threshold, Hans brushed off the snow coating his hat and jacket.

“Happy New Years, little one,” he said, petting Lucy’s head.

His bright blue eyes drifted over the group, then landed on us.

“Ah, finally.” A satisfied smile spread on his weathered face as he peeled off his jacket and handed it to Colt.

“And now it can finally come out in the open.” His eyes narrowed on us.

“It was you two who crashed my zam back at Centre Ice, wasn’t it? ”

I went to speak, but Kappy covered my mouth. “We admit nothing,” he said firmly, making me laugh against his hand.