Home Matched (Salt Lake Pumas Book 4) Read online

  “I love your dress,” she offered in return with another smile. Charlotte, I quickly decided, was going to be my favorite.

  “Thanks.” Her appreciation was reassuring. Not knowing how different fashions might be here, my nerves had tied themselves in knots in case I unknowingly made myself look like a clown.

  Trying to resist the urge to lick the lip gloss off my lips, my restless energy danced through my fingers, drumming against my thighs. “Did you all get ready together?” I asked, trying not to feel envious. “You look great.”

  Lisa smiled, lifting a hand to smooth her own hair. “Yeah. Sometimes, I feel like the getting ready is more fun than the actual dance.” Looking around at the huge gulf between the girls on one side of the room and the guys on the other, it was easy to see her point.

  This wasn’t any different than my old high school, I realized. Boys didn’t dare to ask the girls out and the girls probably didn’t even want to have the guys ask them out. Except, as I glanced across the room, my blue eyes met a pair of green eyes.

  My breath caught. Like something told it to stay in, told me that this was important. It took me a moment to realize that there was a face there, too, not just the greenest eyes I’d ever seen.

  Charlotte noticed my amazement, laughing slightly. “Well, guess you’ve caught Sam’s attention,” she teased. I pulled my gaze away to look at her instead. “He’s the hockey captain,” she explained.

  Feeling like my heart was in my throat, I swallowed. “Oh.” That explained the broad shoulders barely contained by the fabric of his shirt. And the confidence that radiated off him as he laughed at something one of his friends said next to him.

  Without even checking the rest of the room, I knew Sam was the best-looking boy in it. Jealously, I tore my gaze away, turning my head left and right as if that would show me how many other girls were out for Sam’s attention. There was no way I was the only one.

  But maybe I could make being the new girl work for me. Maybe not knowing who I was would make me mysterious.

  “Does he have a girlfriend?”

  That startled a laugh from Charlotte. I was a little glad that both Lisa and Mia had moved on to a conversation between them, not hearing what I said.

  “He doesn’t,” Charlotte answered, moving closer to me so the words would stay between us. I’d made the right choice, I felt, picking Charlotte as my favorite. “Unless, of course, you count hockey as a girlfriend,” she laughed.

  In my previous school, football had been the big sport; I’d seen players treat it like they were in a relationship with it. So I kind of got it. But from how Sam looked at me across the room, it felt like I could give hockey a run for its money.

  “Oh!” Charlotte’s eyes widened. “He’s coming over!”

  And sure enough, Sam was. He walked across the dance floor like he was ready to bat anyone out of his way. Had there been anyone there, at least. It was almost possible to imagine what he looked like sliding across the ice on his skates. Hockey had never interested me. Suddenly, I wanted to learn everything about it!

  “Hi,” he said as soon as he had approached us, turning briefly to Charlotte to acknowledge her but almost instantly looking back at me. “I’m Sam. You’re new right? I can’t dance, so can you show me?”

  A squeak of surprise passed my lips before I could catch it. Luckily, it just made Sam laugh. And oh, his chuckle made my knees go weak. It was hard to believe Sam was my age, he looked and acted so much older. But surely no 12th grader would be caught dead at an 11th-grade dance? Not to mention, Charlotte would’ve mentioned it.

  “I can dance.” It wasn’t completely a lie. I’d danced with boys at school dances before. It made my heart skip a beat to think that Sam might not have danced with other girls. Or maybe he just wanted to give me a reason to say yes.

  Charlotte’s hand found the small of my back, giving me a discreet push forward. Reaching out, my hands joined Sam’s, guiding him a little distance away, where we’d have room to move.

  “I’m Helena.” Despite the music, we could hear each other perfectly. “I just moved here this week.”

  “Yeah.” Sam nodded like he already knew this. “I’ve seen you around.” How had I not seen him if he’d seen me? Surely it would have been hard to miss Sam? And yet, here we were, him telling me he knew about me already. Or at least he knew I was new. It didn’t seem like Sam minded that I hadn’t known who he was until now.

  His hand awkwardly settled against my side. Even through my dress, I could tell that Sam was strong. I’d danced with boys before, but it hadn’t felt like this! My hand came to rest against Sam’s shoulder. When he stepped on my toe, I realized that I would have to lead.

  “Sorry,” he apologized. “I told you I don’t know how to dance.” And he had warned me, that was true. This was proof that he truly didn’t know how to dance. Knowing that he had wanted to dance with me anyway was thrilling.

  “You’re doing great.” I would have let Sam step on my toes until they were black and blue if it meant feeling his arms around me! But hopefully, with a little direction, I wouldn’t actually need to.

  As I tried to lead the way, it didn’t feel like I was taking control. Instead, we were working together, finding our way across the floor in circles that might have left me dizzy had I been looking anywhere but into Sam’s eyes.

  “So, you’re the hockey captain? That must be exciting.”

  “It is exciting.” Sam’s whole face lit up. It was impossible not to smile back. Even without saying anything more, it was easy to tell he loved hockey. At that moment, I was sure that before the end of the school year, I would know all the rules.

  As we moved across the dance floor, with Sam stepping on my feet only a few more times, I smiled up at him. He returned that smile so easily that I once again found my breath catching. Thankfully, the music kept him from hearing it.

  “You’re good at this,” he complimented. “Thank you for teaching me.” And I didn’t think I was, not very much anyway. But perhaps if he taught me about hockey, I could teach him how to not step on my toes when we danced.

  I could have danced with Sam all night. But as we moved, I caught glimpses of Charlotte watching us, giving me a thumbs up that made me bite back a laugh. I was eager to run back to her, to share the excitement of Sam wanting to dance with me.

  As the song ended, I let Sam pull away. “If I come to watch a hockey practice next week, will you explain the rules to me after?” His eyes widened a fraction of a second before his smile did, making him look both surprised and pleased that I had asked.

  “Yeah, of course! I’d love to teach you,” he agreed eagerly. I had absolutely no doubt he meant it. A blush spread across my cheeks but there was nothing I could do about that. Besides, it didn’t seem like Sam minded. If anything, it made his smile widen even more.

  He gave my hand a quick squeeze before pulling back. “I play number 53,” he informed me. That was clearly important to him, so I made a mental note of it. “We’ve got practice every day at four and finish around six, come any time.” And I realized he’d told me his number so I could look out for him.

  I definitely wanted to.

  “I’ll come on Monday.” A storm of butterflies swept through my stomach, leaving me feeling more excited than I had about anything since I left Halton Hills. As I walked away from Sam, Charlotte bounced forward to meet me, a look of conspiratorial delight on her face.

  Glancing back at the handsome hockey player, I realized mom had been right. Making friends wasn’t that hard after all!

  PRESENT DAY

  Charlotte had made sure to give me plenty of advance notice of Sam Levesque coming back to town. Months to prepare should have left me feeling completely comfortable with the idea of running into my ex-fiancé.

  It wasn’t as if Sam was the first ex-boyfriend I’d run into. Living in a small town, there was no way to avoid bumping into guys who’d turned out not to be The One when filling up my car with gas o
r buying a Christmas present for my dad.

  There had been a few semi-serious boyfriends since Sam. The older I got, the less it felt like a big deal.

  But none of those boyfriends had even been someone I’d thought about marrying. And none of them had gone on to play professional hockey for the NHL.

  She wouldn’t admit it, but even Charlotte was a little intimidated to meet her fiancé’s superstar older brother.

  Which was why I sought her out, carrying a bottle of our favorite dark spiced rum, the minute I arrived at her engagement party.

  “So?” I asked, grabbing two glasses. “Was he suitably impressed by you and how happy you make Pat? If he wasn’t, I’ll kick his ass.”

  Maybe I was putting on a bit of bravado. But Charlotte had been my best friend for over ten years. If Sam wasn’t impressed by her, he deserved an ass-kicking.

  The way Charlotte laughed was a good indication that I wouldn’t have to fight Sam for her. That would have put a dampener on the party. Nonetheless, despite whatever awkwardness it might cause, I would have done it for Charlotte. She deserved for Sam to like how happy she made his brother.

  “He was actually really nice,” she promised. “I... God, I know we’ve all grown up but Sam looks grown up, you know?” Except I didn’t know. I had somewhat actively avoided looking around too much in case I saw him. It was dumb, but it was still what was happening.

  Charlotte must have sensed it. She reached out with her free hand, rubbing circles over my arm. “Is it going to be weird for you?” And wasn’t that the golden question!

  “Of course not.” Bringing my chin higher helped me to be more confident. “How many times have I run into Jake? Or have you run into Matt? We’re all adults; we’re perfectly capable of behaving like it.”

  Charlotte knew me too well to look entirely like she believed me. But this was her engagement party; we weren’t going to ruin it talking about a relationship that had ended over a decade ago.

  We’d barely even been real adults when we broke up. Things would be different now. We were 30!

  “It might be awkward for five minutes,” I allowed. “But after that, we’ll be civil to each other and we’ll remember that it all ended a decade ago.”

  “Alright,” Charlotte shrugged. “I’m not going to question how you deal with this.” That was probably for the best. I felt like if she did, I would quickly have to admit that I wasn’t exactly sure just how I was going to handle anything. It felt like forever since Sam and I had last seen each other. Probably because it was.

  A lot of things had changed in ten years. I’d become a lawyer and moved back to Lunengrove. It had taken a while to readjust, but now I couldn’t imagine not living here, not being a part of this town. Home was home and cities had never been as nice to me as Lunengrove.

  “Can we talk about how nice this party is?” Charlotte asked, drawing me back to said party. I laughed, looking around. It was very nice, just the sort of party Charlotte deserved. “I’m getting married!” she informed me with a small squee.

  “You are! And we’re going to have the most brilliant summer ever so you have loads of memories to look back on.” As maid of honor, it was up to me to plan a lot of those memories. Lucky for Charlotte, I was exceptionally good at planning things. Not to mention, we’d known each other for so long that her tastes were as familiar to me as my own.

  Seeing that Charlotte’s drink was running low, I poured us both some rum, topping up the glasses with mixer before pressing one into Charlotte’s hand. “Once you’ve had a few drinks, you’re going to want to dance,” I predicated. “And I set up a special Spotify account for Pat to play from with only the best dancing tunes.”

  “Oh! You’re such a great friend, Helena!” Charlotte exclaimed, making me laugh as she pulled me into a hug. Maybe the few drinks weren’t going to take too long. She was very far from drunk, but a light sort of tipsy was perfectly fine!

  She took a sip of the drink I’d given her, giving me another wide smile. “You will dance with me,” she informed me. “I mean, sure, I’ll dance with Pat, but I want to dance with you, too. You’re my best maid of honor after all!”

  Laughing, I nodded my head. “Of course. I have to get into practice for dancing at your wedding.” Charlotte was the only wedding on my schedule for this year; the rate had definitely slowed down. In my early 20s, it felt as though invitations to weddings turned up with every mail delivery. Now that we were 30, it was much less frequent.

  So, in a way, it was true that the practice would be helpful. There weren’t a lot of dancing venues in Lunengrove. It was something I had expected to love about living in the big city.

  But the truth was, dancing with a bunch of strangers in a club was a totally different vibe to dancing with my friends at a celebration of some big event in their life. Whether it was at a wedding, a Christening, or an engagement party, this was much more my speed.

  “Okay, you finish that, I’ll go and talk to Pat about the music,” I instructed. “I’ll meet you in the living room in 15 minutes?”

  “Plan!” Charlotte nodded. “I’m going to go find my mom, I must thank her for the cakes she’s made.” We hadn’t had the cake yet, but it did look spectacular. Charlotte’s mom was renowned for making excellent cakes. She was also meant to make Charlotte’s wedding cake, which Charlotte was very excited about.

  Having agreed to start our dancing soon, I went off to find Pat. It hadn’t occurred to me that finding Pat would also mean finding his best man - Sam. The two men were stood by the table with the engagement presents. I couldn’t tell what they were talking about from here. Whatever it was, it seemed to make Sam laugh, his whole face lighting up.

  Despite how hard I had tried, it was impossible not to let my heart skip a small beat at the sight. He’d always looked so good when he laughed. And Charlotte was right, the past two years had been very kind to him.

  Putting on my brave face, I determined to meet the lion in its den. My pride would not allow me to run from this. Or even to hide until a later moment. Better to get the awkward part over with while I was still stone-cold sober.

  Two seconds later, all my smart thinking went out the window. Sam’s gaze lifted. I could feel the moment that he recognized me. A hot shudder ran down my spine, scorching me all the way to my toes.

  Oh my word. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as simple as I’d pretended.

  With an effort, my feet continued on their path towards the Levesque brothers. “Pat, Sam.” My lips tried to find the shape of a smile.

  “Helena!” Pat exclaimed with the sort of excitement he only reserved for me. When he and Charlotte had first started going out, it had been a bit weird. Pat had always felt almost like a baby brother to me. After all, Sam and I had dated for long enough that I’d gotten to know Pat well.

  But he had definitely grown up. He and Charlotte matched in ways I couldn’t have even imagined. He made her happy. That instantly put my awkwardness to one side; they were happy and that was what mattered.

  Sam and I, on the other hand…

  It was so strange to see him, to be so close to him. After a decade, it felt surreal. The last time I’d seen Sam was... him dropping me off at the airport. Before we’d even agreed that we were truly over. We were going to ‘take a break’. That break turned into a broken engagement.

  After ten years, I was over it. But seeing Sam did bring memories back. Not, however, the bad ones.

  “You look good, Helena,” Sam told me. Pat’s eyes widened like he’d forgotten that Sam and I even knew each other. It made me laugh, shaking my head. This whole situation was bizarre.

  “I do,” I agreed, mostly to break the tension. Pat chuckled while Sam’s polite smile stretched into something more genuine. I’d forgotten what a rush it gave me to make Sam grin like that.

  I did look good. And I could honestly say that it wasn’t because Sam was going to be at the party. My choices had been more about getting a chance to wear the more fun ite
ms in my wardrobe. Working as a lawyer, even in a small town, meant my weekday wardrobe consisted almost entirely of suits.

  “I just came over to help you set up the music,” I informed Pat. Briefly, my gaze moved to Sam. “I’ll just steal him for a second. You can have him right back.”

  And as easy as that, my first meeting with Sam in ten years came to an end. It had been short, polite, and to the point. Exactly as I had imagined.

  So why did I feel as though something was missing?

  Chapter Three

  Sam

  While I hadn’t spent long thinking about what seeing Helena would be like again, I definitely had spent some time on it. What actually happened wasn’t too dissimilar from what I had imagined. Even without seeing Helena, I had known she’d look stunning. Helena always looked stunning.

  Ten years had only done her justice. Her hair looked soft, the black curls falling over her shoulders and hugging her face perfectly. The piercing color of her eyes was as blue as I remembered it. Even after ten years, and maybe especially after ten years, Helena made my breath catch just like she had all those years ago when we’d first met as teenagers.

  Our run-in was brief. As I watched Helena and Pat leave, I wondered if it should have been more. Helena and I hadn’t left things on good terms, but we hadn’t exactly left them on bad terms either. We’d broken up and it had sucked. But that was ten years ago.

  A voice in my head asked if I genuinely thought Helena and I could just brush it all under the carpet and be friendly. I had no idea. I didn’t even know if that was something either of us wanted. Or whether it was something I wanted.

  Muting the voice in my head, I carried on with the party. I found Charlotte again, hoping to make sure she knew that I wanted to get to know her better. It was weird knowing that we’d been in school together and had kind of grown up together, and now she was marrying my baby brother.