Levi Starr waved before disappearing into the warming house. And then Axel took the ice at goal and suddenly, they had a pickup game, practicing with shots on goal, passing the puck around.

Dodge started to sweat, his lungs opening up, his body turning loose, the old adrenaline and skills returning like a sweet song inside him.

More cars pulled up, a few people took the stands.

Kids lined the boards, calling out.

“Ready for that race?” Goodwin shouted. He leaned over, his hands on his knees, gliding around the ice.

Dodge shot the puck at goal, then headed over to the side and handed his stick off to one of the kids, who took it with wide eyes. “I’ll be back for that,” Dodge said.

Then he skated down to the end of the ice.

“Lines?” Goodwin said.

“You bet.”

The others had cleared off to the sides, and for a moment, Dodge was seventeen and trying to hold his position as fastest on the team. Fastest, strongest, fiercest.

He glanced at Goodwin, who was grinning.

“What’s the bet?” Dodge said.

“Loser buys pizza.”

“No prob—”

“For everyone.”

And it was then that Dodge’s gaze traveled to the gathered spectators. He always had a sense of when she was around, as if his heart just knew it, a radar that centered right on Echo Yazzie.

Now his eyes fell right on her. She wasn’t hard to miss. She had climbed the bleachers up to the fifth row, ventured out to the middle, her usual spot, only this time she was standing, as if trying to decide whether to stay and watch.

She wore a red jacket, her hair in two bronze braids tucked back by a headband. And wouldn’t you know it, she was looking right at him.

A strange and unfamiliar heat rose from deep inside, building, until it roared through him.

He looked at Goodwin. And smiled. “Hope you brought your wallet.”

seven

How Echo found herself in the stands, cheering for Dodge as he outskated Goodwin Starr, she had no idea.

One moment she was driving into town with her dad after checking on Holly, intent on confirming Peyton’s whereabouts with Hank.

The next she was walking over from the city parking lot to the rinks and climbing the stands to watch Dodge warm up.

Oh, he still had moves. Only these were stronger, bolder, more powerful moves. She knew he’d filled out. She well remembered the way he’d held her at the vet’s office, but seeing him skate, handle a stick and puck, listening to him laugh—

Oh, his laugh. It found the dark places inside her and filled them up with a light, a desire that could nearly choke her.

She should run. But like the lure of a car accident, she couldn’t help but stare, even if she had a head-on collision with the man.