Page 30 of Heart Checked By the Hockey Heartthrob

My heart is suddenly doing acrobatics in my chest, but not for the reasons it used to.

Behind me, I hear the laughter die down. I feel eyes.

"What... What are you doing here?"

Ryan shrugs, holding up a plate of s'mores like it's a peace offering. "I moved back. Temporarily. Long story. I ran into Liv at the clinic. She mentioned the bonfire. Thought I’d swing by."

He says it like we’re still close. Like showing up here, unannounced, is totally fine.

I glance around. Wes is still near the fire, talking to Beck, but I know he sees this. Ifeelhim seeing it. That crackle of tension, that invisible string that always pulls taut when he’s near—it hums now with a deeper vibration.

Ryan follows my gaze. "Is that... your hockey player?"

I flinch.

He laughs, low and knowing. "Didn’t peg you for the jock type."

I cross my arms. "You never really knew my type."

He holds up his hands in mock surrender. "Fair. Fair. No need to be prickly. Look, I was just hoping to catch up. No pressure. Coffee sometime?"

There it is.

The invitation. The old rhythm. Ryan always made things sound like harmless suggestions, just two friends catching up. Until you were five coffees deep and he was laying out a five-year plan that involved moving to Phoenix and living near his mother.

I hesitate. Not because I want to say yes. But because I’m realizing, in real time, how much Idon’twant to.

"I don’t think that’s a good idea," I say finally.

Ryan raises an eyebrow. "No?"

I manage a polite smile. "No. It’s... it’s good to see you, Ryan. Really. But I’m not in that place."

He tilts his head. "Still hung up on him?"

"It’s not about that."

It is. And it isn’t. It’s about all of it.

Ryan reads it on my face and nods, but there’s a flicker of something else there—regret? Amusement? It vanishes too quickly.

"Well, if you change your mind..."

He says it like we’re still close. Like showing up here, unannounced, is totally fine.

Before I can respond, Griff steps into the scene like a buffer. “Ryan,” he says flatly.

Ryan turns, smiling. “Griffin Shaw. Man, long time. You’re still around here?”

Griff doesn’t offer a hand. “Still here. Still don’t like surprises.”

Ryan chuckles like it’s nothing, shifting the plate of s’mores. “Didn’t mean to crash. Just thought I’d see who was still in town.”

“You saw,” Griff says, arms folded. “Now what?”

Ryan’s smile fades just a little. “Easy, man. I didn’t know Wes would be here.”

Griff doesn’t blink. “But you knew Quinn would.”

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