Page 88 of Match Penalty

"Have you considered the third option? One where your dad gets a puck past JP, and you leave with him."

"What?" I bark, my eyebrows almost hitting my hairline. "Have you forgotten everything that's happened? The one night stand in San Diego, the DUI, the return to my stadium and my team, him leading me on and then bringing Angelica back to rub my face in it all? You think I would chase him to Canada after all of that?"

"Love is complicated and messy. It rarely makes any damn sense, because if it did, you're dad and I wouldn't have ended up together. If we had met in Seattle, it never would have worked. It took a phony vacation rental booking and a hurricane to force us to make it work. Maybe what you both need is a new scenario—your own hurricane that forces you together. Maybe the farm team could be that for you two."

"I think you're starting to mix your fictional books with real life. There's no way that works out in the end. Happily ever afters are only in novels," I tell her.

There's a glint in her eyes as she stares back. "Yeah, well, we'll see about that."

The home game arrives too soon. Brynn insists I can't hide in my office forever, so here I sit in my dad's seats, with Brynn and Milo beside me, trying to focus on the ice instead of the hollow feeling in my chest. The familiar buzz of pre-game excitement vibrates all around the arena, but I feel disconnected from it all, like I'm watching through someone else's eyes.

Then I see her.

My heart stops, then plummets. Angelica sits in JP's seats. She's elegant in a Hawkeyes jersey, her smile bright as she chats with the other players' families, filling the space I thought would someday be meant for me. Sitting in JP's seats, wearing his jersey like a claim. The stark reality is that JP and I won't ever happen.

"Cammy?" Brynn's voice seems far away as she gives Milo a snack. She's sees where my eyes land. "Is that her?"

"Yeah," I barely whisper.

She grabs for the diaper bag as if she's preparing to leave. "We can go. Or head up to the Owner’s Box with the rest of the girls. We don't have to sit here."

"No," I manage, but my voice cracks. "I need to be here. I need to see this with my own eyes."

JP skates out for warmups, and something inside me breaks. Not because he looks different, but because he doesn't. He's still the same JP who held me against the broom closet wall, who pulled his jersey over my head like I belonged to him. Who made me believe, that I got to keep him forever.

Then it happens. JP glances up toward his seats, toward Angelica. There's something in his expression; a softness I used to think was reserved for me. His eyes drift over to where I sit with Brynn, and for a moment, our gaze locks. There's a sadness in them. Is it for me? Is it for him? I have no idea.

And then I realize… maybe I've seen about as much as I can handle.

"I don't know what I was thinking coming down here. I should go back up and finish my work," I say, my knee bouncing as we watch the puck drop and the game get underway.

"Cammy—"

I turn back to her. I love Brynn more than anything for being the optimist in this situation, but hope is hard to come by when the truth is a blonde in his jersey two aisles away.

"She answered his phone while he was in the shower, Brynn. She was comfortable enough to answer his phone knowing it was me. And now she's here, in his seats, wearing his team's colors." Each word feels like sandpaper scratching all the way down my throat.

On the ice, JP blocks shots with perfect precision, like nothing in his world is broken. Like my heart isn't shattering in the stands above him.

"I can't watch this," I say suddenly, standing. "I need to go check on the auction preparations for tomorrow."

"The team needs you here, supporting. I already saw everything going on upstairs—you're ready. And Juliet said that this is going to be the best auction ever."

I glance over again, unable to help myself, seeing Angelica's soft blonde hair as she laughs with another group sitting behind her.

I feel my heart physically breaking in two. "I've come to a decision. I know exactly what I'm hoping for tomorrow at the auction."

"And what's that?" Brynn asks, holding onto Milo as he waves at the players rushing past.

Angelica catches my eye, and I dart my vision away. "That Dad doesn't miss."

Later that night, I stand alone on the ice, staring out at the empty arena. The silence feels different now, heavier. Tomorrow, everything changes.

If Dad makes the shot, JP leaves.

If Dad misses, I walk away from my home, my family, my whole life here.

Either way, it feels like losing.

---