Page 74 of Her Goal
“There’s no such place. Do you mean Hockey Town? You live here.”
Mami says, “We received a letter from his parents, requesting a betrothal to our daughter. Your father is working out the dowry.”
I nearly choke. Never mind. I’m already dead. “His parents? He doesn’t know who his father is. Never met him.”
Jess says, “How many Robo …whositscan there be in the world?”
As my family returns to the bingo game, I circle the wagons with the women who I thought were my friends. Unfortunately, they have me surrounded.
“I know I said I wanted my hockey honey, but there is one guy that’s off-limits,” I say with a pout.
“Says who?” Margo asks.
“Where are you all coming from?”
Margo smiles. “The food at the anniversary party was so good, when we heard y’all were here at the bingo hall, we couldn’t resist.”
Heidi says, “You’re looking for a hockey player.”
I all but stomp my foot. “Anyone but him.”
“From the looks of things, you’ve been pining over him for years,” Whit says.
We went to the same high school, but she was several grades ahead. Plus, it was Hunter who I wanted to be my real boyfriend. At least, I thought so. Maybe I’ve had it all wrong.
“Why are you so resistant? Sometimes we find love in the least likely places … like reality TV dating contests,” Delaney says with a shimmy.
“I’ve barely crossed thelikeline, let’s not discuss love.”
“You’ve known him since you were kids, right? Did he do something stupid like say you had cooties?” Margo asks.
Worse.
My sister rolls her eyes. “Leah wanted Hunter to be one of the Smith siblings.”
“I did not …” Think of Hunter as a brother.
Now I’m confused because maybe I did. If he became part of my family, that would fix him. He’d laugh and not at the expense of others. Knock the chip off his shoulder because having multiple siblings who share a small space humbles a person.
“Wait. Are we talking about Hudson?” Gracie asks.
“And Hunter.”
“The twin.”
“Where is the other Robo brother?”
I shrug. “He was in a band. Tried to make it big in New York City. Joined some kind of alternative hippie community in Amsterdam last I heard.”
“Perhaps he needed an extended vacation. A long one.”
It’s never occurred to me to leave Cobbiton, but the Roboveitcheks are not about small-town living.
Ella bounces on her toes. “If we win the Stanley, Jack is hosting everyone at the island resort—it was ranked top globally for vacays.”
They babble about how amazing that would be while Heidi looks at me with concern. “I was too preoccupied with my own social status in high school to remember much about Hunter, but is he okay?”
My lips twist with uncertainty at the answer to that. “It’s like he took a vow of silence to never speak to anyone again.”
