She turned and there he was. Jasper Dawson stood with Lucy near the VIP entrance to the arena. No more than five eight, he always managed to seem bigger than he was, even when he was standing next to the very tall Lucy.

“I cannot believe it is Shelby Blanton right in front of my eyes.” He came over, his walk as fast as ever. “How are you and why didn’t you tell anyone that I’m your stepdad? Lucy just told me she had no idea about our connection.”

Emotion clogging her throat, she blinked away the wetness gathering in her eyes. This man was going to make her cry. She had no idea that he’d remember her and yet, here he was calling himself her dad. “Well, you’ll always be my favorite stepdad, but I wanted to earn a spot here on my own, of course.”

“You sure did that,” he said, grinning at her as if he really was her proud papa. “Give me a hug.”

She had absolutely no intention of saying no. The hug was solid, comforting, and just what she didn’t realize she needed.

“You know,” he said after the hug. “The hardest part of divorcing your mother was not getting to hang out with you anymore.”

“Yeah, we moved to Florida as soon as the papers were signed.” Not an exaggeration. She and her mom had driven a U-Haul to the lawyer’s office and had left straight after.

“I’m glad to have you back here like old times.” He turned to Lucy and Ian. “We used to watch the games right behind the bench, and she’d always manage to beat me when it came to Ice Knights trivia and I’d have to buy her one of those deep-fried-Oreo monstrosities.”

“I can’t believe you remember that.”

“We were friends,” he said. “I hope we can be again. Your mom’s doing okay, I hope.”

Oh Lord. Whatever it was with her mom and the men she married, she never left a single one mad. They all came back around. “Yeah, she’s in the ’burbs just north of Harbor City.”

Jasper got a faraway look in his eye that left him with a big smile on his face. “I’ll have to look her up.”

“Watch out—she’s still herself,” Shelby warned.

“That’s what I always loved about her.” He glanced over at Ian. “I’m looking forward to seeing you out on the ice tonight. We have your dad in the owner’s suite. I’m sure he’d love to see both of his boys score.”

Ian tensed beside her but just mumbled something that sounded like “yes, sir.” Then Jasper and Lucy took the executives-only elevator up to the owner’s suite.

“The team owner used to be your stepdad?” Ian asked after the doors closed.