some of the stepdad stuff had happened after all. As much as I hadn’t been the world’s greatest student, I was pretty good at helping her with her homework. I deferred to Devin on disciplinary issues and stayed out of it when they butted heads, but she’d started coming to me when she had trouble with assignments. Sometimes even when I was on the road and she had to FaceTime me, she’d hit me up to walk her through something that was making her struggle. None of us were quite sure why I’d made the cut over her parents and Nick, but it worked, so we all just rolled with it.
Even better, my parents absolutely adored Devin and Dallas. They’d all met during the playoffs last season, and we’d taken a trip to visit them during the off season. After years of thinking they’d never be grandparents, my folks were in heaven. They’d finally figured out FaceTime, and spent hours chatting with all three of us. They sent truckloads of presents for Christmas and birthdays—Dallas’s, Devin’s, and mine—and they were counting down the days until we had a chance to visit again. So were we.
My life was unrecognizable from what it had been before I’d met Devin, and I loved it.
“Hey. Kelly.” Coach gave my shoulder a hard smack. “You just going to hang out in here all night?”
I shook myself, and realized that while I’d been reminiscing, the team had started down the chute. “Um. No, Coach. I’m on my way.”
Oh fuck. Here we go.
I followed my team out to our bench, and my heart went even wilder.
Devin was in the middle of the ice with a microphone in his hand. He started every game like this with a quick introduction and welcome. Good thing he’d learned to skate, since it meant coming out onto the ice with a microphone instead of using the booming loudspeakers.
While Devin did his usual intro, I took a deep breath.
“You got nothing to worry about,” Kuznetsov said.
“Damn right.” Maddox gave my shoulder a friendly punch. “You got this, man.”
I smiled despite my racing heart. “Thanks, guys.”
A moment later, Devin wrapped up his spiel. “All right, that’s all I’ve got.” He gestured toward the benches. “How about some hockey?”
The fans applauded, and the two teams again skated out onto the ice.
I took a deep breath, swallowed my nerves, and followed them.
“Hold on a second,” Kuznetsov said into a microphone. “Don’t go anywhere, Devin.”
Devin halted, looking around with wide eyes.
Kuznetsov, Maddox, and I skated toward center ice, and Kuznetsov said, “We’ve got a little surprise for you.”
Devin looked at me. I grinned and shrugged.
Maddox took the microphone from Kuznetsov and cleared his throat. “So, all these nights we’ve been doing for kids who can’t come to regular games? That’s all been because of this guy.” He slung an arm around Devin’s shoulders, nearly knocking him off his skates. “And we thought it was time we gave a little something back to him.”
Devin’s face was the picture of confusion, but then he zeroed in on the bench. In particular, on Dallas, who was now skating out onto the ice with a plaque in her hands. “What’s…”
She beamed as she skated to a perfect stop beside us.
“We’ll keep this short,” Maddox said, “because they’d all rather watch us play hockey than listen to me talk. But Devin McKenzie is the guy who got this whole thing started, and he's done a ton of work to make sure there are games for all of our fans.” He clapped Devin’s shoulder and gestured at Dallas. “So this is for you, to say thanks.”
As the fans in the stands applauded, Devin leaned down and hugged Dallas, and they exchanged a few murmured words I didn’t catch. As he rose, he held up the plaque in one hand, and in the mic he was still holding, said, “Thank you all. I really appreciate it.” He gave the plaque back to Dallas, who headed for the bench with it. Then he turned to us. “So, um, how about—”
“Um. Actually.” I cleared my throat, and I didn’t think my heart had ever beat this fast. “There’s one more thing.”
His eyebrows rose.
Maddox held out his microphone. I eyed it warily, but hell, I’d already made it this far. Pretending I wasn’t more nervous than I’d ever been in my life, I took off my gloves, handed them to Kuznetsov, and then took the mic from Maddox.