Chapter 1

Stephanie

I close the classroom door behind me and take a calming breath. Because Kayla is hard at work at her seat, I resist the urge to march over to Brielle’s classroom and demand to know what in the world Aiden sees in that man. He’s absolutely infuriating! How in the world can they be friends? Aiden is quiet, reserved. Yes, he’s downright scary at times; but he’s come a long way from the grump he used to be. How can he possibly be friends with that...that...I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Unbidden, Sebastian’s face comes to mind. I used to think he was gorgeous with his glacier blue eyes and that dark blond hair that he keeps just a little long on top. And of course, he’s a professional athlete; so he’s got all that going for him. Aiden once described him as a golden retriever, and I get the sentiment now. He”s like a puppy—an overgrown, untrainable, annoying puppy. He’s everything I can’t stand in men. He”s cocky, flirty, and thinks the world should bow to him simply because he’s an athlete. He thinks he’s above the rules, thinks he can just flirt his way out of any situation. Well, I am not that kind of female. I’m not going to—

“Miss Winston.”

Kayla’s soft voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Yes, Kayla.”

“I’m sorry.”

Her words soften the anger pulsing through me. “Thank you. You will still fail the assignment, but if you stay on top of all your other work, you’ll be okay.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” she says softly. She goes back to work, and I make my way to my desk as students start filing in for class. I push thoughts of the annoying hockey player from my mind. I need to focus on the next hour.

I don’t get a chance to meet up with Brielle until after school when I head over to her classroom. “Had a run-in with one of your fiancé”s buddies today,” I tell her as I stride inside.

Brielle looks up from her computer with a grimace. “Yeah, I know.”

“How did you know?”

“I ran into Sebastian and Kayla first thing this morning. He told me his plan.” She finally looks up from her computer. “How did it go?”

“He tried to flirt his way into getting his niece out of her assignment.”

She cringes. “Yeah, I figured he’d try to do that.” Her words rub me the wrong way, igniting the anger I already have towards this guy. But before I can say anything, Brielle stands and starts packing up. “Aiden doesn’t have a game tonight. I need to grab stuff to make dinner for us.”

I nod. I know during hockey season she doesn’t get to see him much. “All right. Have a good night. Tell him I said hi.”

“Will do.” She hugs me on her way out the door. “See you tomorrow.”

I make my way slowly back to my classroom and pack up to head home. On the way to my car, my phone rings. A glance reveals that it’s my parents, prompting a sigh before I answer. “Hey.”

There’s background noise before I hear, “Stephanie, how’s our favorite daughter?” my dad asks.

I’m their only daughter, but I keep that to myself. “Fine. How are you guys?”

“We’re good. We just took on two more prestigious cases, so we’re busier than ever,” my mom says.

“That’s great.” My words are unenthusiastic, but that doesn’t matter to them.

“When are you coming home next?” my mom asks.

I grimace as I unlock my car and slide inside. “I’m not sure. What important court dates do you have coming up?” I ask to redirect the conversation. My parents aren’t bad people; they’re just driven. They’re both lawyers and really good at what they do. They probably shouldn’t have had kids; they’ve never really had the time for me. It used to bother me when I was little, but I’m used to it now. I don’t know why they push so hard for me to come visit. Whenever I do, they spend the entire time working anyway.

“When are you going to give up teaching and come join our team?” my father asks. It’s the same question they ask every time they call. They’ve never understood my desire to teach, especially at a low-income school. Money has always been the bottom line for them, and they just can’t understand why I would teach and make a meager living when I could be working with them instead.

“I love my job teaching,” I remind them, even though it doesn’t always feel that way. Sometimes it seems that way less and less.

“Stephanie, when are you going to come home?” my mother asks. “You need to meet a nice man and settle down. I was just talking to William about you. You need to give him a chance. He says—

Panic blooms in my chest. “I’m dating,” I blurt out before she can continue.

Silence falls over the line. “What did you say?” my mom asks.

I squeeze my eyes shut. Yeah, what did I say? Realizing I’m stuck now, I continue. “I uh, I’m dating.” I hold my breath and wait for them to detonate.

“Who?” That’s all my father asks.

I blindly think through the single men I know. My mind lands on Rob; he’s a single teacher at our school. But before I can say anything about who he is, my mother blurts out, “He better not be one of those teachers at that school.”

“Oh, no, he’s a...not a teacher,” I stumble over my words. My mind pings a million miles an hour, trying to figure out how I’m going to get out of this. I decide to just come clean when my mother speaks again.

“This is good. This means you’re finally coming to your senses and developing roots. That’s the first step in identifying what you want in your future. So who is this lucky man?” And just like that, my mouth goes dry. Because I have nothing. “There is a man, right?” my mother asks.

“Yes,” I croak. And then my mind pings to my run-in today. “He’s a hockey player,” I blurt out.

The line goes silent. Again. “A hockey player?” my dad asks. I can already hear the disapproval in his voice. Something deep within me pushes me to make this believable.

“Yes, he’s a player in the AHF. He’s a...a forward.” I think that’s what Aiden called him. “He’s tall and fast and shoots the puck into the net.” I nearly roll my eyes at that one. Seriously? “And he makes a ton of money.” I take a shaky breath; that last part was completely for my parents’ benefit. I would never go after a guy simply because he had money; that kind of thing doesn’t matter to me. If I marry someday, it will be for love. Nothing else. Whoa. I rein my crazy thoughts back in; nobody’s talking about marriage. I hold my breath as I wait for my parents to say something.

“This is...Steve?” my mom asks, trying to get my father to handle this.

“Hockey, you say?” my dad asks again.

“Uh, yeah.” My voice is a little breathless.

“What team does he play for?” he asks, surprising me. He’s never followed sports, as far as I know.

“The Green Thunder,” I supply.

“Hmmm.

“We should meet him soon,” my mother says, causing me to give a nervous laugh.

“Oh, no, that’s not necessary. We’re not even serious yet. Anyway, so you were going to tell me about what cases you’re currently working on.” Thankfully, my parents fall for my bait and get sidetracked talking about their work. When I hang up a few minutes later, I feel like I sufficiently redirected.

I sigh and put my head against the seat. “I can’t believe I did that,” I mutter to myself. I shake my head and start my car and make the ten-minute drive over to Anna’s Coffee Co. I need caffeine therapy STAT.

“Hey, Stephanie,” Anna calls out from behind the counter.

“Hey.”

“What can I get for you today?”

“As much caffeine and sugar as you can give me,” I tell her.

She laughs. “Uh, oh. Rough day?”

I shake my head. “You have no idea.”

A few minutes later, I walk back out to my car with my large toasted marshmallow cold brew with extra whipped cream in hand. I take my first sip and breathe out a sigh of contentment. That’s what I needed. After a few more sips, I feel ready to make the drive home. I pull up in front of my small condo and park and stare at the exterior for a few minutes before I finally make my way inside. I drop my bag off on the chair in the kitchen and head back to my room to change out of my heels and put on slippers. A few minutes later, I spread out at the kitchen table, ready to get to work. I have to grade these essays before tomorrow. I like being able to hand papers back to my students the next day. I remember waiting forever to get papers back as a student when I was in school; I refuse to do that to my students. I take another drink of coffee and get to work.

Time passes quickly, and before long, it’s dark out. I stand and stretch, working out the kinks. I head over to the refrigerator, looking for something easy for dinner and wonder absently what Brielle made for dinner. She’s a much better cook than me. But Aiden’s finally home for a night; I’m not going to bother them. I know they don’t get much time together.

I end up making some pasta and sit at the table a few minutes later, eating my pasta and feeling melancholy. I don’t know why. I haven’t felt this way for a while. I’m sure some of it is due to Brielle not being able to spend as much time with me anymore. We used to do everything together, but she has Aiden now. And while I don’t wish her anything but absolute happiness, lately I’ve felt increasingly more lonely. I look across the table at my history papers spread out and sigh. I used to enjoy teaching so much. But lately, it’s been a struggle. It”s definitely not my first love anymore, but it’s okay. I just have to find the joy in it again.

I finish my pasta and get back to work. It’s late when I finally crawl into bed. And though I’m tired, I can’t get my brain to turn off from my huge blunder today. I can’t believe I told my parents I was dating a hockey player. At least nobody knows about it, and nobody ever will. My parents will forget about it when I don’t bring it up again. If they eventually remember, I’ll just tell them we broke up. The one thing I know for sure is that Sebastian Hart can never know. And as long as I’m careful, he never will.