Briggs pointed at Rider. “See, this is why you’re valuable. Risk management.”
Rider took a sip of water. “I was calling you dumb.”
“I receive correction selectively.”
Bliss leaned forward, already glowing with the kind of planning energy that made men nervous and women stronger. “We can make it a whole weekend. Cabins Friday, game Friday night, food after, maybe skating Saturday if there’s a rink or something nearby, then everyone comes home Sunday.”
Cade looked down at her. “You made that itinerary in nine seconds.”
“I’m efficient.”
“You’re terrifying.”
“You’re attracted to it.”
“I never denied that.”
Easton groaned. “Breakfast was a mistake.”
I leaned into his shoulder. “You brought me here.”
“I’m learning consequences.”
Ryan shook his head, but his mouth had softened. “I’m serious, though. I want you guys there.”
The table settled at that.
There it was in the way he didn’t say anything else, in the way his fingers tapped once against his coffee mug, then stopped. Ryan didn’t ask for much. He gave. He showed up. He tutored Charm with literature and pretended it was casual. He drove back and forth from Flint like exhaustion was a minor inconvenience. He sent money where it was needed and wore every hard part of his life like decoration instead of weight.
Asking us to come mattered.
Easton nodded first. “We’ll be there.”
My heart bumped at the easy we.
I looked at him, and his thumb brushed my thigh beneath the table like he knew exactly what the word had done.
Cade nodded next. “We’re there.”
Bliss smiled. “Obviously.”
Briggs lifted his coffee like a toast. “I will personally heckle the opposition with class and volume.”
Rider glanced at him. “You only have one of those.”
“Volume carries the class.”
Charm hadn’t spoken.
Ryan looked at her then, and the noise around us seemed to shift around the line between them. “You coming, Charm?”
Her face smoothed instantly, polished and bright, every bit the girl who knew how to look unbothered while her hands betrayed her beneath the table.
“For a weekend in cabins with hockey players?” she asked. “That sounds like the beginning of a Dateline episode.”
Ryan’s mouth curved. “I’ll protect you from the goalies.”
Briggs gasped. “I am a gentleman.”
