Van

My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, so I'm at the hockey house to grab a few things to take to my mom's while I recover. I'd love to stay at Josie's and let her play nurse, but I'm not sure her house is the best for recuperating.

Right now, though, my uncles and cousins are taking a look around to see what really needs to be fixed. They're convinced the house is unstable, but it's been standing for a hundred years. That's got to be a good sign, right?

"Want me to run up and grab some clothes?" Josie asks.

I kiss her because it's my favorite thing to do. "Nah, Pete left my duffle by the door. I'm all set. I just want to check in with Uncle Brian to see what he thinks."

I don't have to go far. My uncle is in the living room, staring up at the steps. You'd think he'd be checking them for durability, or shaking them for looseness. But he's just staring.

And I guarantee that's because Deano and Mickey have turned our winding staircase into a ski slope.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" I call up to them.

"It's gonna be awesome. Just watch!"

I make my way as fast as I can to the bottom of the steps. "Stop! We're still in season. There's no skiing of any kind!"

Mickey rolls his eyes. "Obviously. That's why the soccer guys are here. But seriously, doesn't it look good?"

"It looks like you threw a bunch of plywood down and held it all together with a staple gun. Then you lined it with trash bags and poured—wait is that vegetable oil?"

"That's exactly what we did," Deano crows. "Did you see the video, too? That guy got major air."

I can embrace the ridiculous, but not the flat-out dangerous. And yes, yes I have grown up a lot since freshman year. "Guys, I‘m telling you, this is a bad idea. Coach will lose his shit and Santos will never speak to me again. Tell your buddies to come down. The ski slopes are closed."

"Fine," they grumble. One of the ‘skiers' doesn't get the message, though, and sets his tube on the top step and leaps onto it, sending him down the DIY path in a blaze of glory.

The guys are annoyed with me, I can tell. And I get it. We've pulled a lot of stunts, but this has to be the?—

I don't even get to finish my thought because it starts raining in my living room.

Instinctively, I reach for Josie, covering her body with mine. Jesus, is that hail?!

"Holy shit!" My cousin Tommy's voice cuts through the noise.

I look up in time to watch the staircase collapse. It's like a scene from a movie. There's an alarming amount of noise, and so much dust.

Mikalski springs into action, pushing everybody back toward the bedrooms and away from the landing that is now basically a cliff. Thankfully, the only guy on the "slopes" slid so fast that he crashed in the dining room.

"What the hell just happened?" Norris dashes into the room then comes to a full stop.

"Jesus. Is that our staircase?"

I look up at the giant, empty space in the middle of my house. "It was."

The End (of this book and the hockey house!)

Thank you so much for reading! If you liked (or loved?!) and Josie's story, I'd be forever grateful for a review.

And don't worry, there's more BU hockey coming soon. Norris and his mystery girl are up next!