Just a few weeks to figure out if love is worth the fallout.
Starting now.
Lucy
One day after Ryder saves my charity game, I'm hiding in my shop.
Not my finest moment, but I can't face him. Can't be in the same room without remembering how close we came to kissing. Twice. How he risked professional favors and his own recovery to fix a problem I couldn't solve.
How he looked at me like I mattered more than hockey.
The Frost and Ivy is quiet at seven in the morning. Just me and the books and the white lights that stay on year-round. I make coffee in the espresso machine, the familiar ritual doing nothingto calm my nerves. The scent of coffee and old books wraps around me, but today it feels suffocating instead of comforting.
This is mine. My dream. The thing I built when everyone said it was impossible.
But right now all I can think about is Ryder's voice yesterday: "This matters to you. So it matters to me."
My phone lights up. Emma's name flashes.
"Where are you? Dad's making French toast, and Maisie is asking for Aunt Lulu."
I text back: "Shop. Had inventory to catch up on."
Emma: "You're avoiding him."
I stare at the screen. Type and delete three different responses before settling on: "I don't know what to say to him."
Emma: "Try thank you. Or maybe just kiss him already."
Emma: "Kidding. Mostly. Call me later?"
I set the phone face down and try to focus on work. Reorganize the new release table. Straighten shelves that don't need straightening. Make a list of orders that can wait another week.
By ten, I've accomplished nothing except wearing a path in the floorboards.
The bell above the door chimes.
I look up, customer smile ready. It dies when I see Natalie.
She's carrying two paper cups from her bakery and wearing an expression I know too well. The one that says she has questions and won't leave until she gets answers.
"Don't you have a bakery to run?" I ask.
"Closed on Wednesdays during December. You know that." She sets a cup in front of me. "Also, you're avoiding me."
"I'm not avoiding you."
"You've sent exactly two texts since yesterday. Both saying you're fine." She drops into the reading chair across from me. "So what happened?"
"Nothing happened."
"Lucy." She says my name like a warning. "The whole town is talking about how Ryder Blackwood called in NHL players for your charity game. Jessica from the hospital board won't shut up about it. Your event went from maybe-canceled to sold-out in twelve hours." She leans forward. "So I'll ask again. What happened?"
I wrap my hands around the coffee cup. Take a sip. Buy myself time.
The truth comes tumbling out anyway.
"He saved it. I was falling apart because the game was going to be canceled and I'd let everyone down. And he just... fixed it. Made a few calls and got Cade Sterling and Alexei Petrov to commit. Three NHL players, Nat. For a small-town charity game." The words rush out faster. "He risked professional favors. He's risking his shoulder recovery. And when I asked him why, he said it mattered to me, so it mattered to him."
