quick hug, with Sarah doing the same, before they went out to the parking lot.
I felt a little out of place being surrounded by families and girlfriends waiting for the players they came to cheer on, but I was still riding the high from Corby making it clear he wanted me here so I felt less awkward than I normally would. Avoiding the clusters of people, I headed toward a spot against the wall next to the rink’s entrance where nobody else was hanging out. Leaning against the hard surface, I had a clear view of the door Corby would come through.
About ten minutes later, he was the first guy to appear. His blond hair was wet, and his blue eyes lit up when he spotted me waiting for him. Our gazes locked as he stood in the doorway, but my gaze jerked up when someone stepped in front of me. Recognizing my neighbor, I stifled my groan of frustration. I didn’t want to insult him, but he wasn’t the person I was looking forward to talking to right now. “Hey, Mr. Whitney.”
“It’s good to see you at a game, Emmeline. I didn't realize you were a fan of hockey. I don’t think I have ever noticed you at the rink before.”
My cheeks filled with heat as I explained, “This is the first time I’ve been. One of the players invited me to watch the game.”
“If the team continues to play like they did tonight, maybe we’ll turn you into a fan.” He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Corby walking across the lobby toward us before turning back to me. “It was remiss of me not to think of introducing you to Corby when he moved in with us. I’m not sure if you’ve already heard, but Eleanor and I became his foster parents over the summer.”
“Yeah, I heard something about that.” It was silly of me not to tell Mr. Whitney that Corby was the player I had come to watch, especially since he was going to find out soon enough. But no way was I going to admit too much. I didn’t trust myself to keep my mouth closed and was scared I would start babbling about why I had discovered that the sexy hockey player had moved in with my neighbors.
“With you living down the street and attending Black Mountain Academy in the same class, I’m sure Corby would have appreciated meeting you before school began.”
“You’re probably right.” My cheeks were flaming as I thought about all the low-key stalking I’d done of Corby over the summer. I couldn’t begin to imagine how I would have reacted if Mr. Whitney or his wife had reached out to my mother to set something up to introduce the two of us. She would’ve sniffed out my crush on Corby for sure, and then all kinds of heck would have broken loose. “It’s always nice to see a familiar face at school.”
“True.” Mr. Whitney nodded and turned to Corby as he came up beside him. “Corby, have you met Emmeline Cushing? Her family lives down the street from us. They’re the house with the Art Deco entry gate with all the decorative scrollwork.”
My mother had picked out the most ostentatious gate she could find, so I wasn’t surprised that he was using it as a landmark. But I still rolled my eyes at the description, making Corby grin. “Yup, I met Emmeline on the first day of school. She was the student they had show me around to my classrooms.”
“Ah”—Mr. Whitney’s gaze slid in my direction, and his eyes gleamed with speculation—“I guess you showed up too soon for Emmeline to have the chance to tell me how you’d met.”
“We haven’t really hung out since then,” Corby added, drawing Mr. Whitney’s attention which gave me the chance to let out a soft sigh of relief. “I wasn’t sure she even remembered my invite to the game after all this time.”
“It’s great that she did.” Mr. Whitney looked at me again. “This was the perfect game to watch for your first time at the rink.”
I wasn’t sure how good of a game it had been except that our team won, but I smiled and nodded anyway. “I don’t know much about hockey, but Corby’s three goals were certainly impressive.”
“That they were.” Mr. Whitney clapped Corby on the back. “I had high hopes for your first game as a Cougar, and you did even better than I expected.”
Corby moved to my