Page 128 of Puck Me Secretly

He continued. “When Max was five, he came apart. Big temper tantrums. Acting out. No one could handle him. One day Sharon showed up with Max and his stuff. She disappeared for seven years.”

Holy shit.

“Where did she go?”

He squinted. “Not sure. Max was beside himself. So, I stuck him in every sport I could think of. I figured he needed to channel his emotions somewhere.”

Poor Max. I sat in silence, trying to imagine a cute blue-eyed boy whose mom had abandoned him. The thought broke my heart.

Ronny stared at me with familiar eyes. “The sport that stuck was hockey. Kid looked like he was born on skates. We never looked back. Only problem was Sharon hates hockey.”

“Why?”

He turned to study me as if to see if I could handle the truth. “That’s Max’s story to tell you.”

Which meant it was bad.

“Okay.”

“Sharon despised hockey, and she fought against him playingevery step of the way. She never forgave Max when he pursued hockey.”

I tried to process this. I couldn’t even imagine what Max’s life had been like. I always thought Max was averse to commitment because he wanted to play the field. It never crossed my mind he might not know how to commit.

“I don’t know what to say.” I didn’t. This conversation was leaving me speechless.

“Max has come a long way.”

I felt like this was too personal, too intimate to be sharing with me.

I cleared my throat. “Why are you telling me this?”

“You’re the first girl he’s ever introduced me to.”

“I don’t know if you’d qualify this as him introducing us.”

“He’s been in front of the media acting like a total jackass for the entire world to see, but I’ve never met a single girlfriend. When I’d get tickets for his games I’d pick them up at the front gate. Tonight, he warned me no less than six times to be on my best behavior.”

I could feel myself blush. “I care about him.”

“I can see that.” He cleared his throat. “Max is bad at talking about himself, but I think this is stuff you should know.”

The words blurted out of me. “I don’t know what is going on with us.”

He turned and studied my expression. “Max is crazy about you.”

My mouth dropped open. “What? Did he tell you that?”

He winked at me. “He didn’t have to.”

I stared at the ice. The third period was about to start and the players were streaming back onto the ice. Max, as if he could sense my gaze, looked up at me. His smile was beautiful.

I smiled back, losing myself in his gaze. Was he crazy about me? Was that even possible? That seemed like leaps and bounds from where I thought we were.

Ronny nudged me with his shoulder. “One request.”

“Anything.”

“Please be gentle with his heart. His mom was the first and last woman he ever loved and she broke his heart. He’s kept that thing tucked away so long, I’m not sure he knows how to use it, but I see a shift in him. He feels things. And it scares him.”

---