Sticks and Stones

When Cooper Briggs shows up back in town, the last thing I expect is for him to take over my ice. Even worse? How much he still gets to me.

I rebuilt my life after the hit that ended my hockey career. Curling wasn’t the plan, but somewhere along the way, it became the thing that gave me a way back onto the ice without breaking all over again.

Then Cooper walks in like he belongs here. Like there aren’t years of history between us—or one moment I’ve never been able to forget.

Now we’re stuck sharing a rink, which means seeing way more of each other than I’d like. But when a storm traps us there overnight, avoiding Cooper gets a whole lot harder. So does avoiding everything we’ve never said.

Because the truth is, I haven’t let go of what happened.

The worse truth?

I’m starting to wonder if Cooper is the one thing I don’t want to let go of.