“I’ll meet you at the car,” Jaz said, as if she knew exactly what Mackenzie was thinking. Owen gave me an encouraging smile before he followed his sister further up the path.
“Can I give you a ride home?” I asked, when Mackenzie turned to face me. Maybe I wasn’t going to behave after all.
But she shook her head. “Thanks, but I’m staying at Jaz’s house tonight.”
“Ah, of course.” It was probably for the best. I really wanted to do the right thing by her—no matter how hard it might be.
“Was that what you wanted to talk about, or…” Mackenzie’s voice drifted off.
Before I could reconsider, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the friendship bracelet I’d made. I weighed it in my hand a moment, desperately not wanting to give it to her but knowing that I should.
With a sigh I held it out to her. “I made this for you.”
She frowned. “Is that a friendship bracelet?”
“Yeah. I said I was going to make you one.”
She hesitated. She knew exactly what this meant. It was my acceptance of the fact we could only be friends. “You’ve had this with you all night?”
“I’ve had it with me for days.”
Sadness flickered across her face. But then she reached out to take the bracelet, and my heart cracked at the edges.
“Thank you,” she murmured, turning it over in her hands. She gave me a sad smile as she peered up at me. “Why’d you go with the green beads?”
“It’s my favorite color.” Never more so than right now, as I stared into her eyes.
“And the letters? What does RWYA stand for?”
“They were out of P’s, 4’s, and M’s.”
“Seriously, Parker.”
“It means ready when you are.”
“Ready when I am?” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
“I know being with me could mess with our places on the hockey team. But I also know that a few obstacles have never scared me before.”
I drew in a deep breath before I continued, “I would sneak around with you, if you wanted. I would shout about us from the rooftops, if you asked. But you deserve to be with someone who isn’t some secret. And you shouldn’t have to worry about your place on the team. Our timing is terrible. But I refuse to discount tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that. Even if it’s months from now, or years, I’m ready when you are. Just give me that bracelet back, and I’m happy to say to hell with everything else.”
Her eyes glistened and she stared down at the bracelet. But then she ever so slowly slid it onto her wrist. It was the right decision, but it felt like a punch to the gut.
“See you for training Monday morning?” she said.
“Yeah, I’ll see you then.”
I’d really thought it wouldn’t be too hard to give her the bracelet. That once she had it, I could simply move on. But there was a hollowness inside me that hadn’t been there earlier tonight.
As I watched her walk away with the bracelet, I felt something else leaving me. A sense of hope. Of excitement for what might be possible. Everything about this was tough, but I thought that might be the hardest part.
Chapter 31Mackenzie
I wasn’t sure if it was the bonfire, the bracelets or all the extra time we’d spent together, but I felt a tangible shift in our team practices the next week. We were playing better and enjoying it more. Even my dad threatened to break into a smile.
“Nice work tonight, everyone,” he said, clapping his hands as he called us together at the end of our Thursday night session. “You’re starting to look like a real team. Keep this up and we’ll start winning again.”
I glanced in Parker’s direction. And I wasn’t the only one. We all knew the improvements were thanks to him. He was smiling as he listened to my dad, but didn’t seem to notice the recognition from his teammates, as though all that mattered to him was ensuring the team became the best it could be.
