26. Harlow
Harlow
“It’s freezing,” Kasey said as she shivered into her brown leather jacket, the restaurant door closing behind us as we stepped out onto Main Street.
I nodded, following her lead and tucking my hands into the sleeves of my knitted sweater. While it wasn’t actually below zero, it was an unusually cold night for early October. But admittedly, it was the perfect cozy weather for dinner and a hockey game.
The hot ramen from Kaneko’s was warming me from the inside out, and hopefully the sake cocktails we’d enjoyed would kick in to fight the cold soon, too.
“So, who else is playing tonight, besides Colt and Jude, of course?”
Kasey tapped a finger against her chin as we walked through the streets of Autumn Creek. “Ben, Luca, I think Arden is a ref. Oh, and Trevor Callahan.” She wrinkled her nose at that name. “And probably Wells.”
“Wells?” That didn’t ring a bell.
“Dawson. You would’ve seen him around Sweater Weather—he’s like the size of a damn tree, dark hair, tattoos, looks like he needs a haircut.
” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kasey bite her lip to cut herself off from rambling.
“Anyway, he’s a firefighter and grew up with Jude, Colt, and me. You’ll meet him soon.”
I laughed, covering my mouth with my sleeve. “Kasey, do you have a crush?”
She elbowed me and we broke into a fit of giggles on the sidewalk. “Absolutely not! He broke my heart when I was enamoured by him as a little teenager. He’s just a friend now. Never again.” She shuddered.
“If you say so.”
Her sage green eyes landed on me. “But talking about crushes. Issy told me something interesting when she grabbed a coffee yesterday.”
Shit. I knew I was careless to make out with the town’s poster boy on Isabella’s farm, even if she had left. Does she have cameras? Oh god, what did she see?
I shouldn’t feel so guilty for giving into the temptation that had been brewing between Jude and me.
We were both consenting adults who made out in a truck.
So what? But I couldn’t help worrying. Some people—like Kasey—might get their hopes up about Jude finally being in a relationship, and others would surely judge me for not being good enough.
Either way, I was supposed to be leaving soon.
And this town cared deeply about him, they wouldn’t let me get away with breaking his heart. I don’t think I’d survive that either.
Yes, he was a sexy farmer fantasy. But he was a real person, too.
I’d totally gotten lost in the moment. After a cold shower that night, I’d decided that I needed to push those thoughts about Jude deep down and lock them away.
I hadn’t seen much of him in the past day or so since the kiss either, just a quick wave as I jumped in Kasey’s car to catch a ride to town.
Clearly we were on the same page. No big deal. That kiss was a one-time thing. And I absolutely did not need the entire town talking about us when there was no us.
Kasey’s voice broke through my thoughts. “Just that you and Jude were getting close while feeding the alpacas. All cozy in the mud.” She laughed.
I almost let out a sigh of relief. She doesn’t know about the kiss. “It was nothing, don’t worry.”
“Nothing?”
“I fell over.”
“Sure, sure.” She smiled, drawing out the words as we turned toward the high school where the charity game would be taking place. I learned yesterday at work that the tickets were even raising money for the local food bank.
“You promise to explain what’s going on during the game, right?” I asked, eager to change the subject.
“Of course.” She linked our arms as we walked up to the indoor rink beside Foxtail High. “But you’ve watched hockey before, right? Surely you saw an NHL game or two in Vancouver!”
I shrugged. “I was a kid, my family wasn’t that into it.”
There hadn’t exactly been many opportunities growing up abroad. And I was familiar with the disappointed look I got whenever I met a hockey fan in the UK and they found out I was Canadian, but didn’t know much about what was going on in the league.
“What?” she squealed. “We’ll have to go to a Freeze game soon.”
“We should!” My body felt lighter for a second as I smiled to myself.
I knew I’d neglected making friends for a long time and instead put energy into my job.
My work-life balance had been a mess, and the only people I had time to chat with were Marcus or my grandma.
I hadn’t gone on a fun outing with a friend in so long. I’d isolated myself in London.
But I didn’t feel alone anymore, not in Autumn Creek. The Bramleys had certainly made me feel welcome.
The rink was covered by a roof made of wooden beams, with red and orange flags hanging from the walls, along with a banner reading Home of the Foxes.
There had been a couple framed jerseys as we walked in, too. Some red—the high school colours—and others which were sky and navy blue, with a snarling wolf in the centre, signed by Ottawa Freeze players themselves. Apparently, one of the stars was from Autumn Creek.
Kasey and I grabbed a pint of cider before we found our seats. I held it tightly as I looked around the room. The rink wasn’t massive, but it was still impressive how almost every seat was filled. The entire town had shown up for this.
Some familiar faces—Margot and Nash, Payton, Nora—waved at us from across the bleachers. Kasey smiled at others who I didn’t know yet, but were here to support, as well.
The lights dimmed and a spotlight focused on the entrance to the ice where the two teams entered. Half wore yellow jerseys, the others wore red, both with a graphic of falling leaves on the chest.
I recognized Jude immediately. Even taller than usual with skates on, he threw his arms over two other impossibly tall players.
One with the same red jersey but with tattoos peeking out from the neckline, the other wearing a yellow jersey gave Jude a playful shove—that must be Colt.
The three of them skated around on the ice and then crouched to the ground to stretch.
Before long, the game was starting.
A loud whistle blew, signalling the puck drop. Kasey whispered, “That’s Dawn out there, she’s a brutal ref.”
I coughed, almost choking on my cider. “Dawn? As in my boss Dawn?”
Kasey nodded, and I turned back to the game with a laugh. This town was too close knit.
With only a few minutes of the first period gone, there was already yelling from the sidelines and banging on the plexiglass. Okay, Autumn Creek really gets into their charity hockey.
I think I even heard Payton screaming “Come on. That was embellishment, ref!” as her husband shoved Trevor Callahan, who fell against the boards.
The game moved too quickly for me to recognize the intricacies, but the basics were easy enough to follow. Kasey tried to explain the rest of the details between Dawn and Arden’s shouts and whistles.
But my eyes weren’t exactly stuck on the puck.
As the crowd’s eyes snapped to the other end of the rink, mine couldn’t help but follow Jude.
He played defensively, diving at anyone who came near red’s goal and chasing down yellow’s offense, smashing them into the boards.
I didn’t want to find it hot, but seeing him shove another player out of the way and steal the puck—I mean, yeah, it was fucking hot.
He was a natural on the ice—confident, strong, and just a little cocky. There was something about his slight arrogance and watching him from the stands that turned me on.
Unfortunately.
That, along with the memories from Isabella’s farm, muddled my brain.
It didn’t help that he was leading his team to a win, and I was caught up in cheering for him.
I was stuck between memories of him holding me against him with a fierce grip, and scenes of him gliding effortlessly down the ice, to a backing track of cheering from the entire town.
I pressed my thighs together and bit my lip to try to distract myself. Luckily, Kasey seemed lost in her own world, following the game closely, because my heated looks toward Jude were way too obvious.
In the last period, Dawn blew the whistle. “Jude, seriously? Two minutes for tripping.” She really was relentless, completely at odds with her chilled-out hippy persona that I was used to. But she was like the mother of Autumn Creek, corralling the chaos.
Jude sat in the box, his legs spread wide as he rested his head back against the glass.
His tongue ran along his mouth guard mindlessly, and I watched the movement far too closely, almost melting into my chair.
Maybe I’d just read a few too many hockey romance books in my time, and gone back to them again and again to reread and draw in the pages.
Or, maybe knowing what his lips felt like on mine had fried my brain.
I should look away, focus on the game, pull myself together—
Oh.
He stretched his neck from side to side with a smirk, as his penalty counted down. Then he met my gaze across the small arena. Those golden eyes that I loved to stare back at, were dark and hooded, and his skin was glistening with sweat.
His brows raised, as if to ask if I was enjoying myself.
I replied with a thumbs up. He jumped up to get back on the ice, and I pressed a hand against my neck.
My fingers were cold after finishing my cider, but my skin felt like it was on fire.
Beneath the surface, my pulse was racing and every brush of fabric against my skin was driving me insane.
“Hey.” I nudged Kasey. “I think I’ll drive home with you, if that’s all right.”
Jude had offered to drive me back, but I wasn’t going to allow that to happen now. It was a recipe for trouble.
“Yeah?”
“Tired,” I replied with a white lie.
She nodded and snapped back to the game, already shouting, “Shoot the fucking puck,” as she clapped her hands. Then she grinned as the tattooed man in red scored as if he’d followed her command. We cheered together as our team—sorry, Colt—won.
I was glad to have a break from my overthinking—there was something so satisfying about the primal rush of pleasure of your team winning—and I was glad not to be catching a ride with Jude tonight.
But as my adrenaline cooled off, I was still left with a brain full of scorching thoughts. I needed to get home.