Page 62 of On Thin Ice

The chocolate was rich on his tongue, stirring up all the memories of when he’d needed one of these.

It was a good reminder of why they were here.

“I did this after every bad practice. Every wretched game.” Jacob stopped at the edge of the cliff. Portland in all her shimmering golden glory was laid out beneath them, and because for once it wasn’t raining, the stars created a sparkling canopy overhead.

“You never played here,” Finn said matter-of-factly.

Changing the subject again. On Saturday night, Jacob had called him out for deflecting, but he wasn’t going to do it tonight.

“I didn’t,” Jacob said. “But they had overlooks in Pittsburgh. Milkshakes, too.”

“Funny how that works.” Finn took a deep breath. Let it out again.

Jacob heard it and hoped that it was helping. Decided that he’d be safe offering a little more.

“And,” he said, “after I retired and moved here, I did this enough times. Plenty of bad days, even though I wasn’t playing anymore.”

“Because you weren’t playing anymore,” Finn guessed.

Jacob nodded. Finn still hadn’t looked over at him. He was still gazing out at the lights below, and he told himself that was better.

Easier, anyway.

This was supposed to be for Finn’s peace of mind, and if he could find it that was the most important thing.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it,” Finn said, “I needed it because Iamplaying, and you needed it because you’re not anymore.”

“Hockey’s a blessing and a curse,” Jacob said pragmatically.

Finn sighed.

“You wanna talk about it?” Jacob said after a long moment. He was nearly done with his milkshake, and he had a feeling Finn was nearly done with his, too, since the cup was dangling at the end of his fingers, at his side.

“Not really.” Finn finally looked over and made a face. “Tell me more about Jackie and . . .Trista?”

“Krista. Ugh, they’re just . . .so smart. More than book smart. They always seem to know when I’m in a bad mood, and they just . . .miraculously drag me out of it, I don’t even know how. Every time, I would’ve sworn to you nobody on earth could, but they just push and tease and cuddle up to me, and the next thing I know, I’m smiling and even laughing. Wrestling with them on the ground. Letting them doodle all over my face. Losing spectacularly to them at Mario Kart.”

“I think I could probably give them a run for their money.”

“You’d think so, but you’d lose, anyway,” Jacob said.

Finn flashed him a smile, and it reminded him of how Jackie and Krista always managed it with him, and now he’d done it too.

Maybe not as effortlessly as them, but things with his nieces were so much simpler. The situation with Finn was layered. Messy.

“Sounds like it. Maybe I could . . .” Finn trailed off, and Jacob had a feeling he was thinking of saying,Maybe I could meet them someday.

But why would he have a reason to? He wouldn’t.

Jacob was just his coach.

“Maybe you could meet them someday,” Jacob said, because he was an idiot and a total sucker for attempting to eradicate that melancholy tone out of Finn’s voice.

“I’d like that a lot,” Finn said, shooting him a small smile.

“You’ve met Bryan already, after all.” Jacob knew he was trying to justify it, even though there was no real reason.

“Yeah,” Finn agreed. He let out another unsteady breath. “Zach had us run a shootout drill today.”

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