Page 45 of You, Again

“Thirty,” MK piped in, interested in spite of herself.

“Too bad you didn’t bring skates.” I sighed.

She bolted to her feet. “I have skates in my dad’s office. I can get them now.”

“That was kind of genius,” Nolan commented.

“Bribery, man. Works every time.”

“Nah, I think it’s you. She’s curious about you. Be prepared for the ‘fifty questions in ten minutes’ game,” he warned with a laugh.

He wasn’t joking.

Mary-Kate skated out like a boss, wobbling slightly as she stopped in front of Nolan and me. “How many goals do I have to get? Is there a time clock? Do I have to put them in the corners or just anywhere? Are you going to play goalie? Are you—”

“Hold up, steamroller. You don’t have a stick yet. Use mine.” I pushed my stick into her hands, biting the inside of my cheek when she giggled.

“It’s too big for me.” So were the kneepads Nolan insisted she wear, but we wouldn’t be out here for long. Her yellow shorts, T-shirt, and pink Disney princess sweatshirt weren’t exactly ideal for rink time.

“Oh. You didn’t know you’d have to use this one?” I scratched my head in faux confusion.

She went quiet, swiveling expertly on her skates to face the net. “Okay, I can probably do it, but—”

“I was kidding. Guncle Nol is grabbing a pee wee stick for you.” I picked up one of the cones Nolan had left out for us and dropped it on the blue line. “Can you score from here?”

MK snickered. “No way. Why did you call Uncle Nolan guncle?”

“Guncle is gay uncle…or so I’ve heard.” I moved the cone in between the two face-off circles. “How about here?”

“Still kind of far.”

I nudged the cone forward a couple of feet. “All right, but we don’t want to get too close to the crease.”

“What’s the crease?”

“The crease is where the goalie works. A player can skate through the crease, but the puck has to reach the crease before a player can score. Of course, if the goalie is out of the net, anything goes.”

She wrinkled her nose in comical confusion. “I don’t know what that means.”

I chuckled. “Never mind. You just need to score. No need to worry about being offside today. Ignore the blue line behind you and—”

“What’s the blue line?”

I threw my hands in the air and skated to the line. “This. The line that’s blue.”

“Why is it blue?” she asked.

“Are you punkin’ me, kid?”

MK snickered. “Yes. But I have one more question.”

“Make it good,” I mock grumbled.

She pulled a funny face and fixed her glasses. “No, I changed my mind. I don’t think I’m supposed to ask.”

“Ahh, must be a nosy question. I’ll give you a hall pass. Go for it…one question.”

“Do you like my uncle?” she blurted.