“Don’t laugh,” Max says. “Where do you think it comes from? Those Stone women.”

“Okay, let’s go,” I say, getting up, and Viktor and Evan finally open their bag and get their things on. I walk out to the ice and see that Dylan is skating with MC. They both skate for the puck, and MC is a touch faster because he’s taller.

“Bring the puck back!” my father yells and makes them, and Dylan lifts MC’s stick, and just like that, he’s skating down the ice toward my father.

“That yours?” Matthew asks from beside me, and I nod. “That kid is going to make it.”

“What?” I ask him.

“See the way he skates there?” He points at Dylan who skates as if he’s gliding. “You can’t teach that, and if you do, you get it when you’re fourteen.” He turns and looks back. “Max, check out the kid.”

“Where?” Evan asks. “I have to go one-on-one with him.”

“He’s eight,” I say, and Viktor just laughs. I look at them with their New York shirts.

“You couldn’t just wear Stone Camp shirts?” I ask, and they all shake their heads.

“Assholes,” I say and skate on the ice to my father.

“Hey, Dad,” I say and then look in the corner where Dylan is fighting MC for the puck. He fakes right but then puts his stick between his own legs and knocks it away from MC, who just smirks at him as he shoots it in the net. I’m lucky that we had an empty ice this morning while all the other campers are on the other three rinks.

“That kid is …” my father starts, and Matthew joins us.

“He’s better than you guys were.” He laughs and skates to Dylan, and he starts to tell him and point at him and then to the center of the ice.

“Come on, Dylan,” Evan says, skating on the ice. “Let’s see who’s number one now.”

Dylan smiles and spits out his mouth guard. “Justin is number one.” He skates to me, and I put my hand on his head.

“Let’s show them what we’re made of, kid.” I smile to him and skate to the middle of the ice. “Dylan and me against Evan and Michael.”

“Let’s go, Michael!” Evan yells.

“Uncle Evan, I don’t want to,” he moans, getting off the bench and coming over to us. “It’s summer. Mom said I don’t have to play hockey in the summer.”

“You know Uncle Evan,” MC starts to say. “Uncle Justin did score more points than you last year.” He smirks and stands next to Matthew who just shakes his head. “Stats don’t lie, right?”

“Could be but my numbers are still higher than M&M over there,” he says and looks at me. “We doing this?”