Page 20 of Icing on Top

With no other choice, I returned the empty container to my bag and then turned to face him, strictly keeping my eyes on his. Damn it, he had such beautiful eyes. The color of golden honey.

“Coach Zo.” Keira’s mom, Jane, joined us. “Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting?”

Jeremiah turned his charming smile on her. “Not at all. We were just talking about how good her muffins are.”

His eyes widened at the inadvertent innuendo, and I hid a snort behind my hand, disguising it as a cough.

“Daddy, help!” Charlie cried out behind us. “My braid is stuck in the Velcro!”

Saved by Charlie. Again.

“Excuse me.” He sent us each one more smile before darting off to help get Charlie out of her pads.

If Jane noticed his embarrassment, she didn’t give any sign, instead diving into her original reason for approaching me.

“I just wanted to say thank you. Keira adores you, and she’s grown so much in the last month under your coaching. It means a lot to have a female coach.”

She smiled warmly at me and I feared that my cheeks may end up permanently pink.

“Maybe I would have stuck with hockey as a kid if I’d had role models like you to look up to,” she said.

“You played hockey?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, it was nothing. Mostly pond hockey with my brothers and their friends.”

“Pond hockey players are still hockey players,” I insisted. “Do you still play with Keira?”

“When we visit my parents, yes. She’ll get me out there on the ice.” She let out a wistful sigh. “I’ll admit, I miss it. If there was any opportunity for me to play now, I’d take it.”

“There’s rec leagues, isn’t there?”

“Yes, but they only offer co-ed teams. I don’t need a big guy whining at me, because I checked him into the boards too hard. I’d rather be in a women’s league where they can give it right back, you know?” She winked at me.

I laughed with her, but the gears were already turning in my head. We chatted a little longer about her experiences trying to find a place to play before Keira and her father joined us.

“I think these two are ready to get home.” Jane reached out to place her hand on my arm. “It was so lovely getting to talk to you.”

“You, too! It’s always nice to connect with another female player. Pond hockey or not,” I said, my smile warm.

They all waved goodbye, and a quick glance around showed that they were the last of the Puffins team to leave. Except Charlie and Jeremiah.

Even though Charlie had been stripped out of her gear and it’d been packed away, they’d settled in to watch the next game. It looked to be two of the fourteen-and-under teams. Jeremiah looked up and smiled as I slid onto the bleachers next to him.

“Sooo… I might have a kind of crazy idea,” I said.

His brows lifted just a hint, and I took that as my green light.

“Have you ever considered starting a women’s rec league?”

Now his eyebrows pinched together. “I’d thought of having rec leagues here, but”—he waved his hand around—“practically every rink in Denver has them.”

“But they don’t have women’s leagues.”

His mouth opened and closed.

I continued on. “Keira’s mom was just talking to me about how the only way she can play rec is on a co-ed team. And these co-ed teams have these stupid”—I glanced at Charlie—“I mean, ridiculous rules. Like requiring a woman to touch the puck before it can be scored.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Charlie commented from Jeremiah’s other side.