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Instead of doing that, he said, “Shovels are in the garage,” and Remy nodded and headed out the door.

It took them a good twenty minutes to clear out the front of the house. By the time they were done, Remy’s cheeks were bright red, and they’d both opened their parkas because they’d worked up such a sweat.

“The snow’s a lot lighter than back home,” Remy commented as they finished up. He held out his hand for Jed’s shovel and leaned it with his up against the side of the garage. “I wonder if it still works for snowballs.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Jed said, moving toward the garage entrance.

“What d’you mean?” Remy asked, scooping up a huge handful and quickly packing it. He clearly had experience.

Well. Jed hadn’t had a snowball fight in decades, probably. But if that’s how Remy wanted to play it⁠—

“Let’s put it this way.” Jed leaned down and grabbed his own handful. “Don’t start what you can’t finish.”

“Oh, it’s on.” Remy grinned and hurled the snowball at him, catching him in the neck. “Sorry, not sorry.”

Then it was all-out war, until Jed decided he’d had enough and grabbed Remy’s wrist to keep him from throwing again. Remy twisted, trying to shake him, but he was off-balance and ended up pulling them both down into one of the deep drifts next to the driveway.

“Damn.” Remy gasped as snow went down the back of his hoodie. “That’s cold.”

He pushed at Jed, who’d landed half on top of him and frozen in place, because Remy felt so solid and right underneath him that it took his breath away for a minute. Remy didn’t seem quite as affected. When he didn’t succeed in pushing Jed off, he grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it in Jed’s face.

“Jesus!” Jed came to his senses and rolled to the side so that he was lying on his back next to Remy, looking up into the trees, the branches still laden. “You don’t fight fair, do you.”

“I mean, there were no rules,” Remy pointed out, so Jed scooped up another handful and rolled back over to dump it on Remy’s face.

Remy grabbed at his wrist and tugged so that Jed dropped the snow but ended up on top of Remy again, staring into those bright eyes and flushed cheeks and parted lips puffing out frosty breaths so close to him that he could feel the warm air on his face.

This time Remy didn’t push back. He didn’t move at all, just lay there looking up at Jed, holding his gaze.

Jed’s mind blanked out, and then he thought, I wonder if that’s what heart eyes look like, and, He doesn’t look like he wants me to move. He wondered what his own face looked like and whether Remy could tell what he was thinking.

For a moment, Remy seemed to be staring at Jed’s lips like he was on the cusp of taking advantage of their position himself. But then he blinked and said, “Okay, point made. You win.”

So Jed pushed himself up and offered Remy a hand, and said, “You didn’t do too bad yourself, for a youngster who’s only seen that wet slop they call snow on the East Coast.”

As he led the way back into the house, Remy mumbled something about going to take a hot shower, and Jed said yeah, that sounded about right. And if he jerked off in the shower thinking about pink cheeks and warm breaths, well, he was only human, and no one else needed to know.

It felt like something had shifted the next morning. Maybe not in an obvious way. Jed was still up first, still put on the coffee and did some yoga and meditation alone before Remy woke up. Remy still made smoothies. But there was something in his smile as he handed Jed his travel cup that was more unguarded than he’d ever been before.

It made Jed start to hope that maybe there was something to what Hal had said after all. Of course, that didn’t mean Remy would take it any further. And the last thing Jed needed was to get even more tied up in knots over Remy, only to see him take off in a few months. But fuck, it was getting harder each day to tell himself he didn’t want to test out whether Remy wanted him.

Everything about Remy hit Jed just right, and it was churning him up inside. It was like he was a teenager fresh off the ranch again, finally getting a firsthand look at a life he’d dreamed about but even more scared to reach out and grab it because he had so much more to lose now. All the peace and composure he’d worked so hard to build and maintain over his career. The knowledge that he could be content, by himself, with what he already had.

Was he really ready to risk all that, when if he stayed silent he could have a few more months of smiles and blushes and easy evenings together?

Thankfully, Remy seemed oblivious to Jed’s struggle. He sat there finishing his coffee and scrolling on his phone while Jed sipped his smoothie and thought his undoubtedly ridiculous thoughts.

“Hey,” Remy said, looking up after a moment. “I never asked whether you’re going to be around for the All-Star break. I thought I might go back to Montreal for a few days, but Lily’s saying she wants to come down for the weekend.”

“Yeah, I’ll be around.” Jed dragged his thoughts back to logistics and real life with some effort. “Maybe get some time outside if the weather’s nice. You know I’ve got another bedroom—your sister’s welcome to stay here, if you want.”

“Really? That would be awesome. But I have to warn you, Lily talks more than I do. And she’ll probably, like, try to get to know you.”

“I think I can handle it.” Jed was more than a little curious about Lily by this point. He knew how important she was to Remy, that she was the reason Remy might want to leave after the end of the season. Which Jed was not going to think about anymore today.

“You say that now,” Remy said, brow wrinkling adorably. Yes, adorably. And it was not the first time Jed had had that thought about Remy. He couldn’t believe how far gone he was.

“You haven’t experienced a full-on Lily inquisition,” Remy continued. “But I guess I’ll just let you see what she’s like. I really appreciate it. She would’ve wanted to see where I’m living anyway; she’s like that. And she’s only eighteen—I didn’t want to put her up in a hotel downtown by herself.”