“No! God, no!”
“Okay.” She was smiling brightly at me, but her voice dripped with skepticism.
“I don’t.” I repeated. “He’s the human equivalent of a pebble in my shoe.”
“Impossible to ignore?”
“More like always irritating and slowly driving me insane.”
Paige only looked more intrigued. “Well, I think you’d make a very cute couple.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. You guys kind of looked like one on the ice today.” She raised her eyebrows knowingly.
We entered the dining room before I could dispute Paige’s comment, and she introduced me to Parker’s mom. Mrs. Darling immediately came over and gathered my hands in hers. “It’s so lovely to meet you, Mackenzie.”
“You too, Mrs. Darling.”
“Please, call me Amy,” she replied. “I was at the game yesterday, and I just wanted to say, I think you’re incredible.”
“You—you do?”
She nodded. “Yes, I was completely in awe of you. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to join an all-boys team. But I can see why they wanted you; some of the saves you made were brilliant.”
“I missed three,” I murmured.
Amy laughed. “Well, that happens in the NHL too, you know. And when that Chargers player slammed into you?” She shook her head. “Awful. But you got back up and kept playing like it was nothing. It was very brave. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”
I could feel myself blinking back tears. I wished I could have heard those words from my dad, but it still meant so much hearing them from Amy.
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you. You’re an inspiration. There were three young girls in the row in front of me, and I heard them talking about how they wanted to try out for hockey too. Our townneeds more people like you.”
All I could do was nod. Amy’s praise had left me totally speechless. The boys saved me from having to respond as they all barreled into the room. But their mom’s words stuck with me. I just wanted to play hockey. I never dreamed I’d inspire others to want to play too.
“Who’s hungry?” Amy asked, waving at everyone to find a seat at the table.
I ended up sitting between Cammie and Paige. Other than at the lake today, I’d never actually spoken to Parker’s sister. She was beautiful, intimidatingly so. And like the other Darling siblings, she exuded a don’t-mess-with-me energy. Her aggression on the ice, both while training with her figure skating partner and playing pond hockey, only reinforced it. But right now, she was giving me a wry smile.
“If it’s too difficult to swallow, just use your napkin to spit your food out,” she said.
I laughed awkwardly. “What?”
“And if you’re desperate, our dog Stanley will eat just about anything.”
“What are you talking about?” I whispered, leaning closer.
Cammie smirked. “Just warning you about dinner. Be prepared…”
I turned to inspect the food on my plate. The meal looked perfectly fine. But as I glanced around the table and noticed how everyone else was cautiously checking their dinner too, I had to wonder what exactly I’d gotten myself into. There was no backing out now, though, so I picked up a taco and prepared to take a bite. What was the worst that could happen?
Chapter 25Parker
I was beginning to wonder if I might be one of those people who enjoy pain. Whenever Mackenzie was close to me, I found myself relishing the way she tormented me and wishing she might torture me a little more. When we’d been sitting in the den, her leg brushing against mine, my skin had buzzed with electric awareness. It was like my body’s defenses were kicking in and alerting me to danger. But it was a little hard to take the warning seriously when the sensation sparking between us felt so good.
“What’s wrong with you?” Grayson said quietly as we made our way to dinner.
