Page 53 of Westward

“I don’t have any answers for you. We’re taking it slow. And trying to find our way. And if everything blows up in our faces, it’ll be in front of the whole town, and probably the entire world, because that man has a billboard in Times Square at the moment. But if I’m going to go out in a blaze of glory, apparently this is going to be it.”

“My son is a good man, clueless sometimes, but a good man. And we both know that things could be changing soon.” She said the last part softly, and I wasn’t sure the others could hear, and I gave her a tight nod.

“I don’t have any answers, and thinking about what’s going to be coming once training starts makes me want to throw up, so let’s paint instead.”

“Yes, and let’s talk about who Keely’s dating,” Felicity blurted.

“Excuse me? My dating life sucks. I knew moving to a small town would shorten the dating pool or make it shallower, or however that goes, but seriously, there’s nobody here.”

“Excuse me, I do believe that there are a few single men,” Gwen began as we all sat down and started painting. It wasn’t a true paint and sip where somebody was teaching us what to do. We were going for broke with a video tutorial, but this way we could still hang out and pretend we knew what we were doing.

“Do you know single men that I don’t?” Teagan asked dryly.

“Well, there’s Rune, but we all realize that’s not an answer for you.”

“Not at all.”

I grinned at Teagan’s vehement answer.

“There’s Finnian. If you don’t mind that he’s a single father. Though it seems that Ashford Creek has an abundance of single fathers.”

“We should make that the town’s slogan,” Teagan snarked.

“Although I’m afraid of who will show up to town.”

“Finnian is great, and I love those girls. But no. Not a single spark. Not that we tried anything. But he’s here enough with the girls because of Promise. And since I own a business with Promise, that would be a little too complicated. No spark, not worth it.”

“What about Kellan?” I asked, enjoying this game because it had nothing to do with me.

“Kellan is nice,” Keely said with a wince.

“Oh, that sounds like a lovely endorsement,” Teagan shook her head.

“He is nice. I don’t know him that well. And the age thing doesn’t really bother me. We’re not that far apart in age.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a slight age gap,” Felicity said primly.

I met Gwen’s gaze, and we both did our best not to laugh. Considering there was a decent age gap between Felicity and the love of her life, yes, it had to be a special couple in order to make it work. Those two did, but not everybody could.

“What about Sterling?” Teagan asked, speaking of Teagan’s other brother.

“I’m not going to be dating an Ashford.” Keely sighed. “I love you, Teagan, but dating one of your brothers sounds scary. I mean, Callum, Bodhi, Finnian, and Sterling are amazing men. But not for me. Although they are hot.”

“Damn straight,” Felicity said, speaking of her man.

“I don’t want to think about brothers being hot. And frankly, I wouldn’t want any of my friends dating my brothers. Even if that’s kind of difficult when you live in a small town.” Teagan shrugged and did her best to add a little bit of color to whatever she was painting. I was working on flowers and not doing the best job. This wasn’t my forte.

“Well, who’s left?” Felicity asked. “There’s Matthew, and Dustin, and Franklin, and I think a few guys that work at the brewery.”

“Dustin and I went on a date. It did not go well. Not terribly, but I was bored out of my mind.”

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh at the expression on Keely’s face. I sort of wanted to know the story, but then again, if Keely looked ready to throw up and laugh at the same time, maybe I didn’t.

“When does Gray come back to town?” Gwen asked, and I frowned.

“Gray rarely comes back to town,” I whispered. Like Atlas, Gray was also an NHL player. He was a left-winger and younger than all of us. He was closer in age to Keely and Felicity. So he hadn’t grown up in mine and Atlas’s circle, and the fact that not one but two people had made it to the NHL from our small town, let alone Callum, who had made it to the NFL, was a feat in its own.

But Gray did not visit. And nobody exactly knew why.