“I don’t know.I felt...in the middle, I guess.And maybe tried too hard to bust out of that.”
“Eagle Scout?”
“Oh, that was my grandpa—he pushed me into that with Jack.And my dad pushed me into hockey until he realized King Con was the superstar.”
“King Con?”
“That’s his nickname.But when we were kids, he wasn’t near as tough as he is now.”He turned onto King’s Inn Drive.“I saved his hide from being checked more than once.”
Words rose up, fingers in his chest tightening.“Except once.”
“Once?”
“Yeah, we were in a game.He was about eight, and we were playing on the same team, and the kids weren’t allowed to check, but that didn’t stop some of the kids—anyway, Conrad was playing center, and I was down at defenseman, and I still remember it like yesterday.He had the puck, was taking it down the ice, and this one Goliath of a kid just rushed him from all the way across the ice.I saw it before it happened and took off, but no way was I going to get there in time.Con got slammed into the board, lost his helmet, broke his nose, blood everywhere.Total chaos.”
“You got the kid, didn’t you?”
He looked at her.“I got thrown out of the game.Sat out for three more games.”He raised a shoulder.“Sometimes, when I’m really tired, I think—I dream that I’m nine years old again and racing across the ice, trying to get to him.And I can’t.And bam, he’s hit and bleeding, and I wake up in a cold sweat.”
Silence.
Wait.Aw.He hadn’t meant to?—
“Thank you.”
He glanced at her as they pulled into the driveway.There were only a few cars in the lot, but it was Tuesday, so a shoulder day for guests.“What?”
“Suddenly it all makes sense.”
He parked.“What makes sense?”
She unbuckled.“All of it.”Then she smiled.“Okay, Thor, I’m ready to meet the family Stone.”
“The...Kingston family.”
“Whatever.”
“Thor?”
She winked and got out.
He had nothing.But he got out, and the smell of the lake, the stirring of the leaves in the trees, and the beauty of the King’s Inn in the early fall with the wide apron porch, the hanging baskets of flowers, and the serenity just caught him up.
Thiswasn’tgoing to end badly.He’d find Declan.They’d get Axiom.And somehow, they’d figure out how to save the world.
Then he’d disentangle himself from Miss Movie Quotes, and his life would go back to normal.
Stein walked up the steps, and the fragrance of something baking—maybe cookies this late in the day—filtered out through the screen door of the kitchen.Opening the door, he walked through the service entrance, into the pantry area, and followed the smells into the kitchen.
His mother wore a King’s Inn apron, a pair of yoga pants, and a T-shirt, her short blonde hair caught in a bandanna as she plated cookies.
And of all people, his sister Boo, back from Alaska, stood at the kitchen sink, elbows deep in suds.She looked over, grinned.“Seriously?”She shook out her hands, grabbed a towel.
His mother also looked up.“Stein.You’re back.Did you have a nice trip?”
And right then, Jack walked into the kitchen from the other door.“We finished washing the porch—hey, Stein.”But his gaze landed on the woman behind Stein, who walked in to stand beside him.
Jack grinned.
