“I missed you out there today,” I say.
Her eyes flick up to mine. “I was there watching.”
“I know.” I reach out and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. My fingers brush her jaw. “It wasn’t the same.”
She’s quiet. The cold air moves between us, her breath fogging in pale clouds.
“I got news,” I say. “After the game. The Scouts….”
Something shifts in her face. “Zane-”
“It’s happening. They want me to do the development season after my exams in January…”
She stares at me for a long moment. Then she smiles, thekind that makes her whole face change.
“That’s-” She shakes her head. “That’s incredible. Zane, that’s everything you wanted.”
“Yeah,” I say. “It is.”
But I’m not looking at my future. I’m looking at her.
She sees it. I know she does, because her smile falters before she pulls it back.
“Really, you should be celebrating,” she says again. “Not standing out here in the cold with me.”
“I missed you out there,” I say again, lower this time. “And I missed the way you looked at me when you thought I wasn’t watching.”
“You saw that?”
“I always saw you. Every time you walked onto the ice.” I reach for her again, my hand finding her waist, pulling her closer.
Her hands come up, fingers curling into the front of my hoodie.
“Gosh, it sounds like you were really into Lee.”
“I was really intoyou. From the very start.”
I kiss her, slower this time, and her fingers slide into my hair, and for a moment there’s nothing else. No scandal. No Scouts and career decisions. Just her, just me, just how her body fits against mine.
She breaks the kiss first, but she doesn’t pull away. Her forehead rests against my shoulder, her breath coming faster than the cold air explains.
“I had a call with Markus,” she says quietly.
I still. “Your brother.”
“He saw the articles.” She stops. “About whether I’ve ruined his career. Whether Dad would be ashamed.”
My hands tighten on her waist. “Leonora-”
“He said he was proud.” Her voice is steady. “He also told me about something. A case. From the eighties. Justine Blainey.”
“Who’s that?”
“She was twelve. She wanted to play on a boys’ hockey team in Ontario. They said no, so she sued. The court said excluding her was discriminatory. She didn’t win everything. It was complicated. But she fought. And she changed things.”
I watch her face.
“What are you going to do with that?” I ask.
