“Okay.” I grinned. “Let’s play.”
“Play?” Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
I gave her a shocked look. “Have you hit your head lately? You don’t remember our game?”
“Truth or dare?” She laughed, and I was delighted to see the tension easing away her shoulders. “Haven’t we outgrown that?” She brushed her short hair behind her ears, making her look like heryounger self.
“Nah, ‘course not, but we’ll make some adjustments since we’re out here.” I looked out to the ocean. “You can pass by taking a shot. What do you think? Seem fair?”
“Hmm, I think I like this.” She gave me that cute upside-down smile of hers, and her brown eyes held that daring spark I always loved. She held out her hand for a thumb war—the way we always decided who would start. I let her win. The little grin on her face told me she knew.
“Truth,” I said.
“Okay.” She turned to face me and folded her legs criss-cross. “I’ll give you an easy one. How is everyone?”
I stared at her strangely. “That’stooeasy, Al. Don’t you and the girls have those weekly FaceTime calls? You probably know everything already, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” she said, giving me a soft smile, “but everyone always shares the good parts because they don’t want to worry me, ya know? Like what can I do about anything out here?” She gestured around us. “So, give me the truth, how is everyone doing?” She clasped her hands together in her lap, eagerly waiting for my answer.
“Colt and Mer are great, they—”
“The truth,” she reminded me with a stern look.
I smirked. “They’re quite annoying to be around, actually. Colt’s always feeling her up.” I let out a wry chuckle. “I’ll be talking to them in the kitchen and notice his hand is under her sweatshirt resting on her stomach. It’s like, can you not keep your hands to yourselves for, like, two seconds?”
Ali’s face lit up with laughter, making it hard not to smile.
“And Lucy is thriving. She had a hard time with some bullies at school, but figure skating’s really helping her gain confidence. Piper’s coaching her now and they’re looking for a skating partner for her. She’d love to meet you; she watches your skating videos non-stop. And little Cal’s just a baby, very tiny. He’s kind of just a blob right now, can’t even hold his own head up, but his smiles are…Wow.” I let out a breath. “You have to work hard for them, but when you get one, it makes your whole day, I swear. But during the playoffs, Cal wouldn’t sleep, and Colt was losing his mind a little.” I scratched my jaw. “Mer called me up and said Colt was playing like shit because he couldn’t sleep, so she made him sleepover at my place the night before big games. He didn’t want to go one night, but she locked him out of the house.” I laughed at the memory of him banging on my door with his pillow in hand.
“I can totally picture him pouting,” Ali said, biting her lip.
“Oh, he totally was.” I laughed. “And then at my place, I woke up from a dead sleep to see him sleepwalking around my living room, bouncing and stroking a pillow like it was a baby.”
“You’re joking!” she blurted out, totally amused.
“Nope,” I confirmed with an incredulous laugh. “He was losin’ it.”
She shook her head wistfully. “I can’t believe they had ababy. I mean, I guess it was a long time coming for them,” she added with a giggle.
I smirked. “Yeah, I think we were all a little shocked they weren’t teen parents.”
She grinned and took another sip of her drink. “So, what about Piper and Kappy? Ilovedwatching them win the Olympics.”
My eyebrows flew up. “Even though they beat your sister?” Anastasia—Ali’s twin sister—and her partner, Freddie, came in second place to Kappy and Piper at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
“Oh yeah, Annie’s gonna go another four years, Piper wanted to retire. It worked out.” She shrugged. “How’s Kappy doing?”
“It’s been a tough road, finding out he can’t play anymore because of his heart, but I think he was convinced it was a death sentence. Piper’s helping him realize he can live a full life without hockey.”
“He deserves to be happy. They both do. They all do.” A wistful smile danced across her lips.
I paused for a beat, studying her. “But not us?” I asked quietly.
She looked startled. “You’re happy, aren’t you?”
“Are you?” I challenged, holding her golden brown eyes.
She rolled her lips together and squinted into the distance. “Is that your question, Jameson?”
