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“Are you seriously pushing me out the door?”

“Yes, I am.” Tamara, on the other hand, seemed amused. “You need to clear your head.” She sounded quite stern.

“Oh, Kyle. Tamara neglected to say you were sitting right here.” Austin put his messenger bag in the chair next to me and put his coat on.

“You two go have fun.”

I stood, and she gently pushed Austin in front of me. A smile lit up his face, and it extended up to his eyes. It was gorgeous. A little heat rose in my cheeks at the power of that smile directed at me.

“I’m coaching some of the kids in an after-school program that you help support. I thought you’d like to come along.”

We walked out of his office, heading for the stairs down to the lobby. “That sounds awesome. I’ve wanted to see the foundation at work. But middle of the day…”

I nodded. Missing part of a work day can be tough for parents, and it’s one of the reasons why the after-school programs were so important. It gave kids a place to go. “Today it’s important because one of the volunteers is home sick, so you’re going to be working—just not here.”

“Oh God, not on the ice I hope.” He stepped back with terror in his eyes.

“I wouldn’t do that to you. There’s plenty to do off-ice.” I gently took his forearm to keep him moving forward.

“What are you up to after?” The momentary tension drained from Austin as we walked. “I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that I’m not allowed back here for the rest of the day, even though it’s a bonkers day.”

I studied him and worried I’d gone too far. “If it’s really not a good time, we can raincheck on this.” I meant it, and I hoped I conveyed that.

He thought, but he also kept walking. “No. It’s good. It might be good to focus on something else for a while and let other parts of my brain work on the problems.”

“Alright then. One afternoon of fun coming up. And to answer your question, I’ve got nothing planned after this until practice in the morning. Did you have anything in mind?”

“I have no doubt we can figure out something.”

Score! I had an afternoon with Austin and he seemed happy to get away. I hoped this was good for both of us.

EIGHTEEN

AUSTIN

I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE BEEN in an alternate universe. Picked up and whisked away on a midday outing. That had never happened.

The choice of outing was excellent. Like I told him, I’d always wanted to do something like this. Kyle definitely pushed me out of my routine in great ways.

“What’s the plan with the kids?”

“We’ve got young people from three community centers coming by to try out donated gear. If they like it, they get to keep it. They get to try out the gear on ice, skate around, and shoot a little if they want. I’ll be out there coaching. One of the local rinks is also going to sign up students for a discounted hockey class, which your foundation also underwrites.”

“Do you do this sort of thing a lot?”

He nodded. “As often as I can. Sports was so good to me I like to help others find that for themselves.”

We pulled up in the arena parking lot by the player entrance. A cluster of vans was nearby and that must mean at least some of the kids were here. “That’s why I started the foundation. I wanted to help get kids into whatever after school thing they wanted to do without worrying about paying for it. Give kids what I didn’t have myself.”

“I want to start something like that one day. I’m trying to, you know, structure my finances smartly while I’m earning this good money. I already make ridiculous amounts of money, and I need to make it work for me, my family, and the community.”

“Another way we’re sort of alike,” I said as we got out of the SUV. “We want to make sure we don’t lose our money.”

“You might be right.” He smirked at me.

We walked inside, and there were a few people around, some were players I recognized.

We headed into the locker room where a couple people put away things. It looked like laundry, maybe from the morning practice. Kyle said hello to the guys.