Page 142 of At First Smile
Nine Months Later
“That will be fifteen-seventy-five,” the Tim Hortons clerk says, looking up from the cash register.
I reach for my wallet in my back pocket, only to have Cane Austen slam into my calf. “Ouch. Careful or you’ll have to explain to Carlson why I can’t play next season.”
“I can take him.” Pen flashes a daring smile and adjusts the brim of my Bobcats hat on her head.
Pen wearing my hat will never stop bringing me to my knees. It’s almost as sexy on her as the oversize LA Bobcats Stanley Cup Championship T-shirt she wears. Another article of my clothing she’s stolen from me. Though, I’d give this woman anything she asks for.
“Plus, I believe the deal was that I would be paying for everything on our celebratory trip.” She hip-checks me.
For the last two weeks, we’ve celebrated the Bobcats’ Stanley Cup win in every room of my Hamilton house. The old traditionof escaping there by myself after the season is now replaced with my new favorite thing; escaping anywhere with Pen. Between the intense hockey season and the silver medal win in the Olympics midseason, we’ve only snuck in a few mini trips. Mostly a day or two at a bed and breakfast somewhere.
With Pen’s role at the MVP Foundation, her flexible remote work schedule allows us to do a few more trips together this summer. Minus the week we’ll be together working at MVP’s summer camp. Since starting with the foundation in October, Pen’s not only increased donations but expanded its programming to fund an adaptive sports league for kids in the L.A. and Orange County areas.
“GB has more likes than you.” Pen snorts, enlarging a post on social media of GB, wearing aMy Daddy is a Stanley Cup Champion and All I Got Was This ShirtT-shirt.
It’s not just Pen who’s the social media darling in our house. She and Wes started an account for GB to raise awareness about shelter dogs and the importance of rescuing them. He’s become a bit of a local celebrity, attending events to raise money for animal causes.
“I might ask JoJo to make me one of those shirts too.”
“I did enjoy the special Property of Rowan panties she made for you,” I murmur in her ear and nip at the lobe.
She giggles. “Behave, we’re in public.”
“That didn’t stop you outside the arena after we beat Toronto.”
Eyes wide, she nudges my ribs. “That was a singular event due to you winning Lord Stanley’s Cup.”
Laughing, I pull my phone and earbuds out of my duffle. “We’ve got time before our flight and Finn sent me an advance audiobook copy of his upcoming release.”
“Yes!” She wiggles in her seat. “God, I don’t know which brother I like more, the one who feeds my historical romance addiction or the one who just feeds me.”
Warmth fills me at that. Not just seeing Pen’s closeness with my brothers, but my own with Gillian. We’re not as close as Finn and me, but we’ve formed a nice friendship. On Sundays, after boozy brunch with the bicoastal besties, Pen and I join Gillian for Sunday roast at Axel’s.
“Mom will be totally jealous. She’s finally caught up with the series and is dying to know about Alicia and Tom’s story.” Pen takes one of the earbuds and pops it in her ear.
“Did I tell you my mam and your mom are going wine tasting next week?” I put the other earbud in my ear.
“Who’d have thought our moms would hit it off.”
The way our families have come together is just another way in which we fit. Even with the rightness of this relationship, we put in the work. There are difficult conversations. We argue. We get annoyed. But at the end of the day, we’re a team. We tackle everything together.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Yep.”
I hit play and Wes’s smooth baritone filters into my ears.
A giant grin blooms on Pen’s face.
“The thoughts swirl around me as the Tim Hortons cashier’s disappointed gaze takes me in. Great just another person I’ve disappointed, I think.”
“Tim Hortons?” Brow wrinkled, Pen raises her head at Wes’s words.
“Then the sweetest voice breaks into my thoughts, offering to rescue me. Just as I turn to decline, her smile slams into me, stuttering my breath. The most beautiful honey eyes peer up at me through red-framed glasses…”
“Rowan, what is this?” Pen blinks rapidly.
