I’d seen that intensity. Before we started dating, I was bored one night and may have googled him. I’d quickly become mesmerized by the YouTube videos of him on the ice. He was so focused, so intense. It was as though the second his skates hit the ice, he had the ability to shut the rest of the world out and focus on what needed to be done.

“It didn’t come without sacrifice, though. He gave up a lot of his childhood for his love of hockey.”

I frowned at her inquisitively. “Like what?”

“Like high school dances. He never went to one.” Her eyes grew sad thinking back to the experiences her son had missed out on.

“None?”

“Nope. Not one homecoming, not one prom. He was even voted Snow King his senior year.”

“Snow King?”

“Yeah, for the winter dance. The girls ask the boys to the Snow Dance and they vote for a senior to be the Snow King. Brody won and he couldn’t even go to the dance because he had a tournament in Milwaukee.”

“What are you two yapping about?” Brody bellowed as he came through the back door.

“About you and your boring childhood.” JoAnn winked at him.

“Boring?” He collapsed on the chair next to me. “How was my childhood boring?”

I turned to face him. “You never went to any dances? Ever?”

“Nope. Wouldn’t know how to order a corsage if my life depended on it.” He laughed, stealing a gulp of my iced tea.

“That’s so sad.”

“Not really. Did I miss out on some things? Sure. Has it paid off for me? Hell yes.” He shrugged. “Even if I wasn’t playing hockey now, I was doing what I loved at that time. I’m not really a plan-for-the-future type of guy. I like to live in the moment.”

“You don’t say?” I teased, rolling my eyes.

He reached over and caught my bottom lip in his mouth, leaving me reeling from a quick but passionate kiss. I pushed his chest back gently, embarrassed that his mom was still sitting at the table with us. “Brody!”

JoAnn stood up from the table and went to the oven, removing a pan of freshly made chicken pot pies. “It’s okay.” She laughed. “It’s nice to see Brody showing love to something other than his hockey stick for once.”

Brody cocked an eyebrow and looked back to me as his mom walked away. Leaning in, he whispered, “I’m not the only one who likes to play with my hockey stick.”

I punched him hard in the arm and snapped my head toward his mom, praying she hadn’t heard. He laughed and stood up, walking over to the pantry where he grabbed a loaf of bread.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“Come on.” He held his hand out to me. “Let’s go grab the Twinkies and feed some ducks.”

“Not too long,” JoAnn called out as we headed out the back door. “Lunch will be ready soon.”

“Oh my God.” I laughed as I opened the wooden door to my dad’s workshop and caught a glimpse of Lucy and Piper. They had on clear safety goggles and their little arms were chugging back and forth as fast as they could go, sanding the bench of the picnic table my dad had finished building.

“What?” He held his hands up defensively. “They wanted to help.”

“There are child labor laws against this sort of thing, Dad,” I teased.

Kacie walked over and greeted my dad.

“Hi, Mr. Murphy. Good to see you again.”

“No, no. None of that. Call me Bob, please.” He bent down and gave her a quick hug. “Good to see you too. And on much better terms this time.”

“Absolutely.” Kacie sighed. She walked up behind the girls and peeked over them to get a better look. “Are you two behaving?”

“Mom! Back up!” Lucy pushed Kacie’s stomach back gently. “Mr. Bob says you can’t be in here without protection. You need goggles.” With that, she marched over to a big bucket near the door and grabbed two pairs of clear goggles out of it. She handed one to Kacie and then one to me. I laughed and watched Kacie slip the arms of the goggles over her ears and look up at me, blinking fast. Kacie made anything and everything sexy.

Mental note—swipe a pair before we leave. Maybe we can play a game of lonely housewife meets horny carpenter later.

“You too, Brody.” Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently.

“Yes, ma’am.” I followed the little drill sergeant’s instructions and put my glasses on immediately.

“This is really cool.” Kacie looked at the bench closely. “I love the grain in the wood.”

“We had to take down a bunch of old trees around the property last year and I didn’t want the wood going to waste. I’ve made a few for local people already. Figure I’ll just keep makin’ ‘em.” He shrugged.

Kacie studied his face with a sweet smile. More than likely, she was confused by my father. He was the most southern northerner you’d ever meet. Living the simple life was all that really ever mattered to him. He never got caught up in the famous part of my life. Mom jumped at the chance to walk a red carpet with me or go to a benefit where she might rub elbows with other celebrities. Dad would rather go through a back entrance and avoid the limelight altogether. As a kid, he wasn’t the kind of dad that was jumping up and down in the stands screaming at me or the refs or the coaches. The games he was able to come to, he just sat and cheered me on quietly. I definitely got my loud, playful spirit from my mom.

“Hey, you guys wanna take a quick walk? I brought bread; we could feed the ducks.”

“We wanna stay here,” Piper whined.

Kacie shook her head. “No, no. Come on. We can come back later.”

“It’s fine by me if they want to stay,” Dad mumbled with a pencil clenched in between his teeth, trying to measure a two-by-four.

“You sure, Dad?”

“Sure, they’re no bother. Besides, I like having someone else in here with me.”

“You okay with that?” I glanced at Kacie who didn’t look convinced.

She crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side, her eyes darting back and forth between Lucy and Piper. “Are you two going to behave?”

They both nodded excitedly and went right back to working.

“Thanks, Mr. Mur—” She pushed her lips into a tiny smile. “Bob.” Dad looked flushed. He nodded once and went right back to his project.

I reached down and took Kacie’s hand in mine, gently pulling her toward the door. “C’mon. We only have a little while before lunch.”

Grinning up at me, she squeezed my hand and happily followed my lead. I took my glasses off and dropped them in the bucket near the door. When she reached up for hers, I gently grabbed her hand, stopping her. “You should leave those on.” I growled, winking at her.

She punched me in the arm playfully after she tossed them in the bucket.

We left my dad’s workshop and turned left, following a dirt path down toward the small lake. Our lake wasn’t nearly as big as the lake at Kacie’s house, but my parents owned this one. The whole thing. Their property wrapped all the way around to the other side and they were the only ones allowed to use it. Every couple years, my dad stocked it with fish. Even though you couldn’t put a boat on it, he liked to sit on a rocker and fish off the pier or the shore.