"Heeey, so, slight problem."
Aelin deflated. "Please don't say that, Mariah. I don't think I can take anymore bad news."
"No, no, sorry, it's great news. I found people for the cabins, too."
Aelin blinked. "Cabins? Plural?"
"Well, originally, I had planned to use all three?—"
"Mar! You didn't tell me that! I just offered one to a friend!"
"Aelin, let me freaking finish, please! I saidoriginally. But then I talked with them after I saw your message, and their teenagers aren’t coming since they have a football camp or something. So they only need the two cabins.”
“Okay.” Aelin exhaled. “So I can still use that third one?”
“Yep, it’s perfect.” Mariah yelled something to one of herkids, then came back with a “Sorry.” Dishes clattered in the sink. “Who did you get to come?”
“Just a friend,” Aelin said. “The guy I’m nannying for over the summer.”
Mariah was silent for a beat. “Friend, huh?”
Aelin groaned. “Don’t do that. If he’s coming, you cannotdo that.”
Mariah laughed out loud. “Okay, so he’s definitely hot.”
“Mar!”
“Okay, okay! I promise. I’ll be on my best behaviour.”
Aelin stared at her ceiling. “I’m not sure that’s comforting.”
“Tucker, do not—!” Mariah yelled into the speaker. “Sorry, I’ve got to run.”
“Love you.”
“Love you most.”
Chapter
Seventeen
Ryan was barelyon the ice before the chirping started.
“Hey, Ryan!” Boyd slapped his goalie stick against the ice. “You gonna spend more time skating or kissing the boards today? Figure it out, bud, we’ve only got an hour.”
“Just practicing for when you inevitably lose an edge in the crease, Boyd,” Ryan shot back, gliding past. “Figured I’d get in some sympathy falls now.”
“Always losing in the crease,” André snorted, gliding by on the right.
Tyler, already bent over his stick and stretching his hamstrings, shook his head. “Ryan’s going to make us all cookies when we’re done, too.”
Ryan smirked, “Only if Suraj here stops puck-chasing long enough to learn what offsides means. Is the fifteenth season the charm? You’d think by now you wouldn’t need Google Maps to stay on your wing.”
Suraj shoved Ryan as he skated past. “Offsides? More like I'm giving the refs cardio, bud. Keeping them fit.”
“At least someone’s fit.” Sean skated past them backward.
Suraj flipped him off with a grin. “At least I’m not out herecollecting penalty minutes like it's a hobby, Sean. PIMs look real cute on your stats sheet.”
