Page 116 of Rule 1: Never Accidentally Marry Your Teammate

Finn who texted me yesterday, Finn who stopped texting me after I said we couldn’t return.

Well, of course, he’s a reasonable person. I wouldn’t have fallen for him if he didn’t possess some modicum of logical reasoning ability, and us not being together is definitely logical.

“Nice day,” Luke says, striving for optimism.

“Uh-huh,” I say faintly. “Really...pretty.”

Luke gives me a sympathetic look.

“Shit,” Troy says.

Luke frowns. “Dude. We’re not supposed to scare him.”

“I’m not scared,” I say, because I don’t want to admit that the prospect of seeing Finn does crazy things to my body. I can probably get through the day without fainting like a nineteenth-century, absurdly tightly corseted virgin, but I’m not certain. I also thought I wouldn’t fall in the first twenty seconds of stepping onto NHL ice. Maybe I’ll drop my weights when I see him or walk into a rowing machine or something.

I mean, it’s doubtful, but I’m not confident I can make it through the day without something happening.

I look on the other side of the river, as if I can see his car approaching. But all I see are tourists and locals and...

My heart clinches. “Shit.”

“He sees them too,” Luke says.

Paparazzi stalk the front of the arena. Their cameras are pointed at me. I wonder if they’ve already taken pictures.

I hope my face looked appropriately bland. Because I don’t want to see it plastered on magazines with articles about how Finn finally came to his senses or something.

No way.

“I don’t suppose there’s another entrance?” I ask faintly.

“Sometimes the only way is through,” Luke says.

“I think the tourist entrance will be worse,” Troy says.

“How do I—” I bite my lip, self-consciousness settlingover me.

“You look good,” Luke says reassuringly. “Very, um, casual. Which is an important quality in showing Finn that you don’t care about him.”

“Not a good quality in showing him what’s missing,” I say, then I tense. “Sorry, guys. You don’t want to hear that.”

“Nah, we just think you have crazy taste. Finn? That ugly guy?”

“Say something funny,” Luke tells me suddenly.

“Way to put pressure on a heartbroken man,” Troy says.

Luke chuckles.

Troy’s eyes widen. “Dude.”

Luke’s chuckle loudens. “Ha, ha, ha.”

I blink, then I start to laugh. “He, he, he.”

Luke elbows Troy, then glances at the paparazzi. Troy blinks.

“Oh.”