She huffs out a laugh and turns to me, looking down at her phone and letting out a deep sigh. “It’s so stupid.”

  “I’m sure it’s not. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. We can just sit here, or you can tell me to go away and leave you alone. I promise I won’t be offended. I deal with football players all day who are so out of touch with their feelings those feelings might as well exist in another dimension. Literally nothing offends me.”

  Her lips curve up in a small smile, and she sets her phone down on the bench behind her, giving it a wary look before she turns back to me. “It’s the group chat for the play.”

  I wince internally, because I don’t have to have kids of my own to know that nothing good ever happens in a group chat full of teenagers. Riley looks like she wants to say more, so I wait, giving her the space to talk when she’s ready. Ready comes sooner than I thought it would, in a flood of words and teenage angst.

  “We had rehearsal during a free period to do blocking for ‘Voulez-Vous.’ It’s the song we sing during Sophie’s bachelorette party scene, and it’s pretty complicated choreography with a lot of the cast on stage during the song. I know my lines backwards and forwards, and I can usually pick up choreography fast, so I don’t know what happened, but I had, like, an off day or something. There’s a part of the song we had to do over and over again because I kept messing it up, and I just felt like such an idiot. I could tell that the director was irritated, and every time we had to go again the rest of the cast would grumble about it, and that just made it worse, you know?”

  She looks at me like she’s begging me to understand, and I nod. “I do know. You were already anxious because you were struggling, and then when it felt like everyone was annoyed at you for that, it made your anxiety worse, which made it even harder to get the choreography right. It was like a perfect storm of suckage.”

  “Exactly,” she says glumly. “Anyway, the practice from hell finally ended, and I got through the rest of the day and then came here to watch Ethan’s game. Ethan wanted to stay longer and skate, and my dad got permission to use the rink, so I figured, why not? I put on skates too and put in my earbuds and blasted music. It felt really good to skate around as fast as I could—like the faster I skated, the less what happened today mattered. There was even some Celine Dion on my playlist. She kind of rocks. I totally get why you named your car after her.”

  I smile, because I know that feeling so well. The ice has always been my sanctuary. The place where nothing matters except for how fast I can skate and the way the cold rink air feels on my face as I fly. And the Celine comment? Forget it. This girl is cool as shit. “That’s how skating makes me feel too.”

  She nods, like she gets it, but when her face falls, I know we’re getting to the cause of her tears. “But then all of a sudden, I started getting notifications in the group chat. Tara—the understudy for Sophie—was talking about practice today and how awful it was and how maybe I didn’t have what it took be the lead. She said since I’m only a freshman, I should step aside and let her take over because she’s a senior and she already has all the choreography memorized so she wouldn’t hold anyone back the way I did today.”

  Riley’s shoulders slump and she hangs her head, defeat in every line of her body. The shot of protectiveness is so sudden and so strong, I have to restrain myself from searching out this little shit’s address and taking care of her myself. Instead, I reach back into my bag and grab a handful of snack size M&M’s packages in various flavors, dropping them onto the bench between us. “Take your pick, Ry.”

  She looks from the M&M’s to me. “Why?”

  I smile at her befuddlement. “Because when I have a bad day, I need emotional support M&M’s. Your day has been a trash fire, so I think you need all the M&M’s you can eat.”

  Her mouth tips up in a real, genuine smile before she grabs a bag of peanut M&M’s, tearing open the package and tossing a couple into her mouth.

  “Good choice,” I say approvingly. “My mom always says peanut M&M’s are the best flavor for when you’re in your feelings.”

  Riley sighs, swallowing the candy. “I’m definitely in my feelings because there’s more.”

  I tear open my own bag of peanut M&M’s in solidarity and settle in for the rest of the story. “Lay it on me.”

  She glances over at her phone and makes a face. “So of course other people started agreeing with Tara, saying that a freshman never should have gotten the lead and that I wasn’t good enough to play Sophie. That I should just step down now before I ruin the whole show. It was…” Her voice breaks, her eyes filling with tears, and I set down my M&M’s, taking her hand and squeezing, my heart aching for her because sometimes it just absolutely sucks to be thirteen. “It was mean,” she whispers. “It was really, really mean. And, like, I know she’s just jealous that I got the part and she didn’t, but…” She trails off.

  “But that doesn’t make it hurt any less, does it?”

  She shakes her head. “Nope.”

  “Let me ask you a question. What do you like about acting?”

  Riley considers that for a second. “I like that I get to pretend to be other people. To have experiences that I haven’t had yet.” She shakes her head, like she’s trying to figure out how to explain herself. “I like being me, but I also like pretending to be a girl getting married to the love of her life and trying to figure out who her dad is on a Greek Island. Or a teenager on a dance show, like when I was in Hairspray last year. I got to be Fiona in Shrek the Musical and Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka, and it was just so much fun. It’s like I get to be me but then I get to be all these other people too, and it’s just really cool.”

  “It makes you happy.”

  She nods. “So, so happy. It’s my favorite thing in the world.”

  “Girls like Tara can see that. She knows how much you love being Sophie. How much joy you get from it. I don’t have to see you act to know that you do it with your whole heart, and I bet you light up the stage. Tara knows you got this role because you deserve it, and I promise you, that makes her ragey. You have something she wants, and you got it because you earned it. The only way for her to make herself feel better about that is to try and tear you down.” I squeeze her hand again, waiting until she looks at me. “High school can be the worst sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. The best thing you can do is to find something you love, which you’ve already done, and stick to the people you know have your back.”

  “Zoe does,” Riley says with a smile.

  “Does she?” Riley and Zoe’s friendship makes me unreasonably happy. I’ve known Zoe since she was born, and I’ve had a front row seat to watching her grow up, maybe even helping to raise her a little, just the way Molly, Julie, and Hallie helped my mom raise me.

  Riley nods, reaching for her phone and unlocking it, opening her messages and handing the phone to me.

  Zoe

  Fuck that girl, Ry. She wouldn’t know good acting if it hit her on her stupidly wide, way too shiny forehead.

  You’re the best Sophie that there ever was.

  Mute that dumb group chat. We don’t need it anyway.

  “Zoe’s a really good friend, just like her mom.”

  “She is. I’m glad I met her this year.”

  Setting down her phone, I take Riley’s other hand too. “Focus on how much you love the play and the people who care about you, like Zoe. You’re close to your brother, and you have a dad who would walk over hot coals for you.” I consider my next words, whether it’s an offer I should be making considering all the complexity between Cam and me, and then figure, What the hell? “And if you ever need someone else to talk to who was once a thirteen-year-old girl in ninth grade and knows what it’s like, you can always talk to me.”

  Riley glances out at the ice and then back to me. “Would it be okay if I, like, texted you sometimes? You’re really easy to talk to, and you give good advice.”

  I have to swallow down the emotion that bubbles up in my throat at Riley’s question. The vulnerability in her voice. Nothing in the world would make me say no to her right now. “Of course.”

  She unlocks her phone again and hands it to me so I can put in my number, and when I give it back to her, she tucks it away in her backpack before grabbing another bag of M&M’s—peanut butter this time—and gives me a wicked grin. “So, what’s going on between you and my dad?”

  I inhale sharply, letting out a sputtering cough. “What?”

  Riley rolls her eyes. “I’m not blind. I see the way he looks at you. I’ve never seen my dad look at any other woman like that, ever. I’ve never even really seen him with another woman at all. He definitely likes you. Do you like him, too?”

  “We work together,” I say lamely, and my answer definitely doesn’t impress Riley because the look she gives me says, very clearly, You are so full of shit.

  “Okay,” she says. “But I think you should definitely like him. He’s pretty great—you know, for a dad—and you’re super cool.”

  I don’t know what it says about me that I feel like I won something by being labeled cool by a thirteen-year-old girl, but before I can figure it out, Cam skates over and leans on the boards, arms crossed, glancing at me and then at Riley. When he focuses on her, his eyes narrow a fraction, concern flashing over his face, and I know he sees the remains of her tears. “What’s going on over here?”

  “Just talking,” Riley says casually, leaning back on the bench and crossing her legs in front of her.

  When Cam looks at me, I see the question he doesn’t ask out loud.

  Is she okay?

  I nod, giving him a small smile. Relief replaces concern, and the gratitude in his eyes almost knocks me over. I’ve always had my mom’s ability to read people and situations easily, and I assess this one in an instant. Cam has been parenting on his own for years. He makes it look practically effortless, but being the sole source of emotional support for two kids can’t be easy, especially with the demands of his job and all the time he spends away with the team.

  Cam is lonely.

  The same thought I had that first day in my office comes back to me, except this time, I don’t remind myself to be objective. I can’t. Because Ethan hugged me after I made that goal, and Riley opened up to me, and every time Cam looks at me, I never want him to look away. And I’m self-aware enough to understand what that means.

  Eventually, one way or another, this is happening.

  I just hope I can keep it from taking down my entire professional life in the process.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CAM

  Me

  Hey, Wildcat.

  Maddy

  Who is this?

  Me

  Are there a lot of men in your life who call you Wildcat?

  Maddy

  You know, who could even say?

  Me

  And here I thought I was one of a kind.

  Maddy

  Trust me, you are definitely one of a kind.

  Me

  I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.

  Maddy

  I didn’t say that was a good thing.

  Me

  Being one of a kind means you think of me, and if you’re thinking of me, it’s always a good thing.

  Maddy

  You’re really easy to please, you know that?

  Me

  When it comes to you? All you have to do is exist and I’m pleased.

  Maddy

  Jesus, Cam, I’m going to expire from that level of swoon.

  How did you get my number anyway?

  Me

  Stick with me, baby. It’s swoon city up in here.

  I got your number from Tyler. It seemed criminal that I know what you look like naked and I know what your favorite snacks are, but I didn’t even have your phone number.

  Maddy

  Why did you tell him you needed it?

  Me

  Was I supposed to give him a reason?

  Maddy

  I mean, kind of?

  My family is like a giant game of telephone. First Tyler is telling his mom that you asked for my phone number, and twenty minutes later I’m getting a call from my grandma asking me why I never told her I was getting married.

  Me

  Wow, way to jump the gun, Wildcat, but I like how you’re thinking.

  I think you would look gorgeous in white.

  Maddy

  I look gorgeous in everything.

  Me

  You look especially gorgeous in nothing at all.

  Maddy

  Okay, so I guess I walked right into that one.

  Me

  You sure did. I’ll bring you extra M&M’s tomorrow to thank you for that visual image.

  Maddy

  You shouldn’t be thinking about me naked.

  Me

  Too late, Maddy. Way, way too late.

  Maddy

  You’re thinking of me naked right now, aren’t you?

  Me

  There hasn’t been a single day in the last six weeks that I haven’t thought about you naked.

  But especially right now.

  Maddy

  Why especially now?

  Me

  I’m at the Fairmont.

  Maddy

  Another mom-funded hotel sojourn?

  Me

  Once a month, like clockwork. She’s good that way.

  Maddy

  You going to meet a girl in a bar this time and take her back to your room for a night of unhinged debauchery?

  Me

  Definitely not. I’m a one-woman kind of guy when it comes to my unhinged hotel room debauchery.

  Maddy

  And I assume I’m the woman?

  Me

  Fucking right you are. And tonight, my memories of that night are…particularly vivid.

  Maddy

  Well, they should be. I am very, very good at sex.

  Me

  Wildcat, you rocked my whole entire world, in more ways than one. But that’s not the only reason for my vivid memories.

  Maddy

  What’s the other one?

  Me

  That I happen to be lying on the very same bed where you moaned into my ear to fuck you harder and clawed at my back so hard you left marks that didn’t fade for days so…that’s what I’m thinking about right now.

  Maddy

  Well, shit. Now that’s what I’m thinking about, too.

  Oh, holy hell.

  I squeeze my phone tightly as all the blood in my body rushes to my cock so fast I get lightheaded. In retrospect, it was probably a mistake to request the same room as I had last month when I met Maddy, but when I was standing at the check-in desk, I got…sentimental? Horny? Maybe both. Probably both. But whatever it was, I found myself asking if room twenty-two-ten was available, and when it was, I knew there was no way I could spend an entire night there without talking to her. Hence my impromptu text to Tyler for Maddy’s number for an undefined “work thing.”

  He’s too much of a puppy dog to wonder too hard about why I needed her number, but if Drew finds out, I’ll literally never hear the end of it. He may be an irreverent playboy, but I also know he has a latent romantic streak a mile wide, and he is solidly team Cam and Maddy.

  And honestly? Same.

  I should have known this is where I would end up when this night started. Alone at ten p.m. in the hotel room that was the scene of one of the hottest nights of my entire life, cock hard as a rock, and the girl I can’t get out of my goddamn head all the way on the other side of town. Especially since running into her at the rink last week. The way she played hockey with Ethan and talked Riley through some serious mean girl shit at school. Neither of my kids have stopped talking about her since, and so she’s burrowed even deeper into my head. Into my heart.