“She’s really going to play hockey, isn’t she?” Zoe said, sniffling.
Mattias nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”
I was too overwrought to do anything but take his hand and squeeze.
For the next half hour, we sat there and witnessed Sophie beginning to realize her dream. Once the kids started to leave the ice, Mattias climbed down the bleachers and helped the coach get Sophie out of her gear.
“Mom?” Zoe asked once he was well out of our hearing.
“Hmm?”
“I think he’s a keeper.”
I laughed, still sniffling. “Oh, you do, huh?”
“Yeah,” Izzy said.
“Definitely,” Evie added. “He’s not the kind of guy you let get away from you. So you need to do something about that.”
I got the distinct sense that my girls were ganging up on me, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. “Do something about it like what?”
Izzy shrugged, and Evie said, “I don’t know.”
But Zoe didn’t brush it off. “Something like asking him to come live with us.”
“What?” I didn’t even attempt to hide my shock. That wasn’t something we’d ever talked about, whether my girls were around or not. “Why do you think he should come live with us?”
“Because you love him. So do we.” Zoe gave me a look that clearly said I was being slow. “It just makes sense.”
“What makes sense?” Mattias asked when he and Sophie clomped back up the stairs.
“You coming to live with us,” Izzy answered.
He nodded, looking at her before turning his gaze to each of my girls in turn. Then he settled that gaze on me, and I nearly melted into the aluminum bench I was sitting on. “Is everyone on board with that?” he asked cautiously.
“Yes!”
“Absolutely.”
“Mm-hmm.”
My daughters were going to be the death of me.
Sophie was still holding his hand, and she tugged on it until he looked down at her. “Will you come live with us?” she asked.
He squeezed her hand and winked before looking over at me. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on what your mom has to say about that.”
“Oh, please, Mom!” she said. “I need Bergy to help me skate. I got to get a lot better by next year so I can play hockey.”
Her sisters chimed in with a chorus of “Please,” not that it would have made a difference. I already knew what I wanted, and I already knew what I thought would be best for not only myself but also my daughters.
I narrowed my eyes up at him. “I say,” I said slowly, “that if Beefy wants to come live with us, he can. But only if he keeps bringing me flowers every now and then. And maybe if we can arrange to meet his sister sometime this summer.”
He laughed. “It’s a deal.”
And we all knew how Mattias felt about deals. Once he made a deal with someone, he followed through on his end of it.
Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.
If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. You can find out more on her website, her blog, at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.
HOME ICE is Book 7.5, a novella in the Portland Storm hockey romance series written by USA Today bestselling author Catherine Gayle. If you enjoy it, look for the other books in the series in the following order.
BREAKAWAY
ON THE FLY
TAKING A SHOT
LIGHT THE LAMP
DELAY OF GAME
DOUBLE MAJOR
IN THE ZONE
HOLIDAY HAT TRICK
COMEBACK
DROPPING GLOVES
HOME ICE
There are also currently two boxed sets of books within the series, if you would prefer to purchase them in that way.
PORTLAND STORM: THE FIRST PERIOD (Contains Breakaway, On the Fly, Taking a Shot, and Light the Lamp)
PORTLAND STORM: THE SECOND PERIOD (Contains Delay of Game, Double Major, In the Zone, Holiday Hat Trick, and Comeback)
MISTLETOE MISCONDUCT will release as part of a charity anthology on November 17, 2015. LOSING AN EDGE will release on February 18, 2016. GAME BREAKER will release on July 21, 2016. Also, join Catherine’s mailing list to receive ICE BREAKER, a Portland Storm short story prequel that you can’t get anywhere else.
Want to join in the Portland Storm discussion? Join the Facebook reader group.
If you enjoy this book and want to try more of the same, be sure to look for the spinoff series, the Tulsa Thunderbirds. Book 1, BURY THE HATCHET, is available now. Look for Book 2, SMOKE SIGNALS, on October 22, 2015, and Book 3, GHOST DANCE, on May 5, 2016. The T-Birds also have a reader group on Facebook.
Home Ice (Portland Storm Book 11) Page 10