Page 23 of Small Town, Big Storm

Or where Storm had been a minute before.

Only now…it’s clear skies, soft breezes, and empty grass.

He’s gone.

Familiar, that.

My stomach twists again.

“You okay?”Finn asks.

“Yeah.I just—” I shake my head, ignore the dread inside me that’s growing by the second.“Dinner sounds great.”

“When I grow up,”Holly says dreamily, “I’m going to marry a hockey player.”

I’m tugging the blankets up and over her, tucking her in for the night, and the dreamy statement has me freezing.

Or maybe it’s that I’m barely resisting the urge toflinch.

It’s not like I don’t know how tempting hockey players are—that’s the freaking problem.

It’s that my daughter and I have been spending far too much time with far toomanyof them of late.

Aiden Black and his adorable wife Luna, who introduced us to Chrissy Dawson, née Dubois.

Chrissy owns a cat rescue and her dad, Jean-Michel owns the Eagles hockey team.

Which brought us in contact with Rome and Huddy and West and…Rhodes.

Who brought Finn and Chloe.

Some might say it’s incestual, how much time the hockey players spend together.

Those people clearly didn’t grow up in Cedar Hollow—the layers of connection, everyone knowing everyone.

That’sincestual.

And familiar.

So really, the problem isn’t that Holly loves spending time with them or that they’re genuinely good guys.It isn’t even that it brings up painful memories to hang out with the players and their families.

It’s that…

Storm is back.

And…heknows.

“Mom?”

I clamp my teeth together, focus.“Let’s take one thing at a time, yeah sweetheart?”I finish tucking her in.“Like first grade.Marriage can wait a couple of decades.”

A pause.

Then an aggrieved sigh.But she nods and settles in, saying, “’Kay, Mom.”

God, I love this girl.

I finish reading our chapter—the latest installment in a series of books about warrior cats—then smooth back her hair, flick off the lights, and close the door to her bedroom.