By the time we reach his mom, my heart rate has calmed enough that I at least feel like I can hold myself steady. The last thing I want to do is be a bumbling idiot in front of this woman, even if she doesn’t know that her son and I are sort of together.

Thankfully, she smiles warmly as we approach and holds out a hand to me. I can’t help noticing the way her hand trembles as she holds it out in the air for me to take. I smile as I take it gently.

“Mom, this is Hannah,” Declan says. “She’s Coach Dunaway’s daughter.”

“Ah! So lovely to meet you.”

As Declan’s mom holds my hand in hers, her eyes briefly dart back and forth between me and Declan, almost like she’s wondering if something is going on between us that we haven’t been totally honest about—and she wouldn’t be wrong.

My stomach flutters.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” I say, trying to hide my nerves.

But when she releases my hand with an easy smile, I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I was just imagining the curious look she gave the two of us. We’ve been doing a good job of keeping things secret and staying under the radar, so she’d have no reason to suspect anything.

My father’s sharp whistle pulls my attention away from Declan’s mom, and when we all glance that way, I see him waving all of the Aces players over.

Declan runs a hand through his dark hair. “I guess that’s my cue. Gotta get to work. I’ll leave you two to get to know each other. Play nice now,” he says with a playful wink and walks over to the rink’s entrance to swap his shoes for ice skates with the rest of the team.

Unsure of what else to do, I walk with his mom closer to the boards.

“He’s doing so well on the team already,” I tell her, searching for a neutral topic to break the ice. And what mother doesn’t want to hear something flattering about their kid? She turns and smiles at me.

“I’ve heard. But I’m not surprised. When something matters to him, he gives it everything he has,” she says, and I can’t tell if her words are as loaded as they sound or if I’m just hearing what I want to hear. “That’s exactly what makes him such a great son. He’d do anything for me.”

Hearing that warms my heart because I’ve already seen just how true it is. “I bet. He’s always had good things to say about you, so you two must be close.”