Page 145 of On Thin Ice

“Well, I know you and Morgan never got along.”

“Never,” Jacob agreed, failing to keep his smile under wraps now.

“Well, to my shock, he sent along a super complimentary bit about you. About your bravery and steadfastness.” Neal shook his head, like he was still surprised. “I thought you guys had some crazy rivalry. Didn’t you two get into a brawl at your last All Star Game? And he wasn’t evenplaying?”

“Uh, that was highly exaggerated,” Jacob said. Even though it really hadn’t been. Morgan had said something exceptionally shitty and he’d have punched him in the face if a teammate hadn’t held him back. “But we’ve . . .uh . . .buried the hatchet. So to speak.”

“Sounds like it,” Neal said. He paused. “I’m just sorry that you can’t stay. I was hoping you could meet my husband, Jamie, but he’s at practice right now. We thought we might convince you to hang around for dinner, but Sophie said you needed to get back home.”

Jacob figured that they were being very honestandhe trusted Neal so he might as well keep going. “I wish I could, but I’ve got some responsibilities back home. My boyfriend has a hockey game tomorrow, and I’m helping him out with some stuff.”

The corner of Neal’s mouth quirked up. “Yeah, a boyfriend, and a boyfriend who plays hockey?”

“Yeah, uh . . .well, funny that.” Jacob grinned. “The boyfriend is Finn Reynolds.Myboyfriend is Finn Reynolds.”

Neal’s jaw dropped gratifyingly. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Nope,” Jacob said.

Neal still looked shell-shocked, but Jacob was impressed at how quickly he seemed to recover. He patted Jacob on the arm. “Well, congrats are in order, I guess? And I suppose it wasn’t all that interesting that Morgan said such nice things about you.”

“Actually, it is,” Jacob said, chuckling. “I can’t say we’re friends, maybe we’ll never be friends but . . .we’re working on it?”

“If you want my two cents,” Neal said, dropping his voice and looking very amused, “I think that statement he made to my team tells me exactly what side of that argument Morgan falls on.”

Jacob wanted to disagree but as he said goodbye to Neal and his team, he and Sophie grabbing a cab to the airport, he thought that actually maybe Neal was right.

“Hey,” he said to Sophie as they were waiting for the plane, “did you tell Neal’s team to contact Morgan for a quote?”

She had the nerve to look slightly embarrassed. “Yes,” she said, “and before you freak out, I think it was the right call. It means more coming from him than it means coming from someone you were close to when you were playing.”

“How did you know he’d say anything civil?”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “If he didn’t, he wasn’t getting any face time on the podcast and he’sMorgan Reynolds.”

Jacob laughed. “True,” he said. “Still.”

“I know you didn’t want him to be part of this, but . . .”

“With me and Finn, he’s part of this, now,” Jacob finished for her.

“Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn’t have been so blunt about it but the truth is yes, he is. And if you want to be public with Finn—”

“I do,” Jacob said with absolute certainty. “I’m not hiding him.”

“Then this is good. Him saying good stuff about you in public? That’s only good. Those are the quotes people are gonna dig out when they write gossipy stories about you and Finn.”

“Right. Right.” Jacob reached down and squeezed her hand. “Thanks for always looking out for me.”

Sophie smiled. “Thanks formostlymaking it easy.”

Chapter 20

Finnwouldnevergettired of seeing Jacob walk towards him, wearing his black and green Evergreens jacket, his access credentials swinging around his neck.

“Hey,” Jacob said, putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder as he sat on the bench finishing getting dressed for the game. “How are you feeling?”

Finn could feel the warmth of his touch even through all the layers of equipment and he lifted his chin up, wishing that he could have more than a reassuring touch.

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