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I roll my eyes but chuckle. He’s expecting me to react to his bragging, so I do. “You know I’ve been holding back, right?” I tell him. “I grew up with a sister who’s a dancer too. I’ve been doing it as long as you have.”

Beckett gives me a slight grin. “Holding back? Why would you do that?”

In the beginning, it was because I thought the whole thing was kind of stupid and I had a terrible attitude, but I say to him, “To make you look good. Make you feel better about yourself. You have a much more fragile ego than I do.”

Beckett throws his head back and laughs. “Okay, bring it on. We are definitely doing a dance off next game.” He looks at Sutton. “I love the goalie idea and we should definitely go ahead with that, but you have to give me another shot at Lawson.”

She’s grinning widely as she looks between us. “What if you dance together? Not a competition dance-off but a routine you do together?”

Beckett claps his hands together. “Yes. Fuck yes. Something NSYNC. “It’s Gonna Be Me”?”

I nod when he looks at me. “I’m in,” I say.

But Sutton shakes her head.

“No?” I ask.

“Oh, yes to the dancing. But it’s definitely going to be Britney Spears. “Crazy”.”

I think about that for a second, then start laughing. “Yes. For sure.”

Beckett grins. “We’re going to kill it.”

Everyone gets to work, sweeping, knocking down cobwebs, and washing the windows.

Sutton, of course, grabs a broom from someone and pitches in.

At some point, she makes her way over to me, at the far end of the barn from where Beckett and Teddy are having a “sword fight,” with broom handles.

“I was thinking,” she says.

“Yeah?”

“At the barn party, we should have a whole spread of food. I’m thinking things like chili and rice and cornbread and sides feel very fall-ish and barn-party-esque.” She shrugs. “I would suggest a crawfish boil typically, but we have those before every hockey game.”

“I agree. That sounds great.”

“And I’m sure we could turn it into a big potluck.”

“Awesome. Let me know if you want help organizing that.” I have no idea how to do that, but I want to pull this party off.

She laughs. “You remember who my one of my best friends and boss is?”

I grin. “I was hoping you would say Nora would help with that.”

She smiles up at me. “And then I think that we should have a dessert table.”

Oh, I think I know where this is going.

“Definitely need dessert,” I say.

“And I think all of it should be all pumpkin desserts.”

Fuck, yes.

I lean in, acknowledging her flirting and turning it up a notch. “So what I hear you saying is you want me to walk around hard all night.”

Her mouth drops open, but then she laughs. “That’s not what I said.”