Page 80 of Puck Lust

“I can’t miss my stories,” she says, lowering herself onto the couch. “Will you come back to sit with me?”

“Definitely. I love…” I peer at the screen behind me. “The Hallmark Channel. You couldn’t keep me away.”

Gram laughs and gives my hand a squeeze. “Oh, you’re such a doll. If only you were just a little older. The girls I play cards with would be so jealous.”

Chuckling, I walk back into the kitchen where cleanup is in full swing. “Gram is a real hoot, yeah?”

Carter snickers. “She’s got a lot of spunk still in her, that’s for sure.”

“What can I do to help? Although,” I say, looking around. “This kitchen is in darn good shape considering the last guest only just left. You Van Kleefs are a pretty efficient bunch.”

“We take pride in our organization,” Ally says with a wide smile. “Mom was a drill sergeant in a past life.”

“Okay, enough,” Carter’s mom says drily. “It’s really because I hate clutter and crumbs,” she says to me. “So I trained them all how to get rid of both when they were young. Luckily, the lessons stuck.”

She points to some half-empty plates. “You can just condense those cookie plates for now.”

Easy enough. I get to work, and out of the corner of my eye, notice Carter’s mom watching me. I paste a smile on my face and look up. “You must be real proud of Carter. He’s a really amazing leader. The team loves him.”

She nods and smiles at Carter, who’s rinsing dishes. “We are. He’s a pretty special guy.”

A silent pause follows. I hate silence, so I look over to Mike. “Hey, Mr. Van Kleef, how was it playing for Boston College? It must have been an insane experience. Number onein the country for hockey. You have to be really proud of that.”

Mike’s face darkens. “It was pretty incredible. Until that injury took me out of the game. It was my biggest disappointment. I don’t usually like to talk about it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say, backpedaling. Carter turns to give me a look, but it’s too late. The words are already out. “I didn’t mean to upset you or anything. I was just really impressed. Your record was amazing.”

“Thanks,” he says shortly, looking away as he returns a pitcher to the refrigerator.

More uncomfortable silence hangs in the air.

Shit. I was only trying to warm the guy up a little bit since he’s the one I’ve spent the least amount of time talking to. I figured hockey was a safe topic.

“Hey, Carter,” Ally hurriedly asks, catching him in the middle of a long drink of water. “How’s Livvie? Does she like Oakland?”

Carter coughs and sputters, his face and neck turning an alarming shade of purple. “She’s, ah, okay. Haven’t really seen her much lately. We’ve both been busy.”

“Oh, that’s a bummer. She’s so sweet. And I always loved when she’d practice her makeup and hair lessons on us.” Gigi looks right at me when she says this.

Odd. What was that look for?

“Do you know Livvie, Jack?” she asks.

Now it’s my turn to choke. Carter obviously hasn’t told his family about his groupie girlfriend and the fact that she’s been tainted by whatever Lane Maxwell drilled her with.

“We met at a concert one night not too long ago,” I say, feeling Carter’s eyes burn into me and something tells me not to make the mistake of latching onto his gaze. “She was…nice.”

Nice. Not a complete whore or a dim bulb or a puck bunnyor any other one of the vivid descriptions searing the tip of my tongue right now.

Not worthy is really the biggest one, though.

Can’t any of them see that she was completely wrong for him? That he deserves someone with half a brain who’ll make him the center of his world?

Like me.

I finish my cookie sorting and take a long sip of water from the bottle Ally gave me after shaking off my “foot in mouth” faux pas. It’s nice to see Carter with his family. They laugh and tease each other, so close, so comfortable with one another.

Sam’s family was like that, too.

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