Page 35 of Power Play

“Major Juniors?” she parroted.

“Where’d you find this one, Dumoulin?” Erik Schultz called from next to his sister, Chloe.

Okay, being mean wasn’t necessary.

“It’s the professional league for players sixteen to twenty,” I clarified for her.

She nodded. “So you lived next to each other?”

“For two years in high school, yeah.”

“You never told me about that.” She shook her head at Jason.

“What brings you here, Taylor?” Jason’s dad pulled me away from the tension building between Jason and his girlfriend.

“I graduated recently and was having a hard time finding a job out east. I met some of these women in Raleigh, and we hit it off.” There was so much information I’d excluded, but that was a long story for another time.

“What are the odds of that?” His mom beamed. “Since you’re here, we must go to dinner and catch up.”

Must we?

I tried not to cringe. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. I always loved Jason’s family and they were so welcoming, but things weren’t the same. I wasn’t the girlfriend. Vampire was.

“When do you guys leave?” I’d be conveniently busy until then.

“We’re here until the end of the week,” his dad answered.

Oh, boy. That was longer than I expected. Could I really avoid them for four or five days?

“When are you free?” His mom was so eager. So happy to see me. I couldn’t say no. Not after how loving and accepting they’d been. Plus, I did want to catch up, just without Jason there.

“I can make any night work. Just let me know.” I gave her my number while avoiding Jason’s glare. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, but what did he expect me to do?

Sydney appeared with Brandon and their boys and rescued me from committing to anything else. As soon as we were in the safety of their SUV, I relaxed.

“That looked fun,” Brandon teased.

“Could have used you guys a few minutes earlier,” I grumbled.

“And miss you making plans with his family? No way.” Sydney twisted in her seat to smile at me. “I do feel bad about the girlfriend though.”

I groaned. “That was so awkward.”

She lightly slapped Brandon’s arm. “Did you know about that?”

“Hey! No hitting,” Milo called out.

Sydney apologized without missing a beat.

“No, he’s never mentioned dating anyone,” Brandon replied.

“Dad, does this mean no more games?” Finn asked.

“Not until September, bud.”

The twins sighed.

“I wonder why he hadn’t told anyone,” Sydney mused.