Darkroom: A Moo U Hockey Romance, Kate Willoughby [best books to read for young adults .TXT] 📗

away from the regionals. But for those of us who knew and loved Hudson—including his parents—tonight’s game was critical.

I hoped I wouldn’t run into them. It was a big arena. There would be four thousand people here tonight. But of course, as Ruby and I were walking toward our seats, I saw them walking toward us.

“Shit,” I said under my breath.

“What’s going on?” Ruby asked.

“Hudson’s parents, straight ahead.”

“You mean Daddy Cock Waffle?” she asked.

“In the flesh,” I said as I put on a smile.

“Indi, darling,” Marlene said, hugging me. “I was hoping we’d see you.” She looked very put together in her black jeans, houndstooth poncho and white scarf.

After introducing Ruby, I slid a cool glance toward his dad, who actually looked uncomfortable. “And how are you, Mr. Forte?”

“I’ll be better after I get something off my chest. And call me Dom. I owe you an apology, a big one,” he said, looking me straight in the eye. “I did you a disservice the last time I saw you. I was way out of line and I said some things I regret.”

“Thank you, Dom. I appreciate that.”

As opposed to the last time he’d apologized to me, at the dinner table on Thanksgiving, this time he seemed sincere.

“I want you to let me know if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you. Anything. I mean it.”

“How about dinner after the game?” I asked, deciding if Hudson and I were going to have a future together, I needed to try to get along with his dad.

He grinned and I suddenly saw a startling resemblance between him and his son.

“Done!” he exclaimed.

“Oh my God, it’d D-Day Forte!”

Heads turned and several starry-eyed hockey fans began to walk toward us.

“We’ll play a game of ‘You’re Full of Shit: Hockey Edition.’ You’ll love it,” he said, winking at me as the fans descended.

Ruby and I had center-ice seats with a one-eighty view of the playing surface. As usual, the excitement was palpable, and the air was filled with the aromas of hot dogs, popcorn and the excited chatter of Burlington hockey fans.

Hudson needn’t have told me to keep my eyes on him. I couldn’t help myself. Even when he was on the bench, I loved seeing him in his element. Most of the time he was all business, focused on the job he had to do on the ice. But every once in a while, he’d smile at something a teammate said and I would end up smiling too.

On the ice, he was precision, focus and skill in motion. Every move he made seemed calculated. His passes were connecting. His shots on goal were decisive and it was thrilling to watch him win board battles, steal pucks, and, of course, score goals.

I cheered when he scored the first goal of the game, twelve minutes into the period. It was a beautiful wrist shot that went right above the goalie’s left shoulder.

When he scored again in the second period, the puck had come from AJ and Hudson did this little deflection thing with his stick blade and it caromed into the net.

Then, best of all, he scored one more time at the end of the game. As the clock counted down, the Huskies pulled their goalie so they could have an extra man on the ice. Whenever a team did that, the action was especially fierce. Tonight, Northeastern needed to get one more goal to tie the game which would throw the game into overtime. But our boys weren’t going to let that happen.

I was on the edge of my seat, like everyone else in the arena. The other team was furiously trying to score and ours were just as furiously trying to stop them. Hudson was out there when the puck squirted out from a scrum in the corner. Quick as lightning, he scooped it up, took two strides and slapped it toward the other side of the rink.

Where the net stood empty.

I held my breath as the puck sailed down the ice. The crowd roared when it became clear it was going to make it in. I leapt to my feet, screaming. So did Ruby. We jump-hugged as the horn sounded. Hats sailed through the air and even though the beret I was wearing belonged to Ruby, I threw it as hard as I could toward the ice.

“Hey!” she yelled in surprise

“I’ll buy you a new one,” I yelled back, laughing and giddy as Hudson turned toward us and saluted me with his stick.

T H E

E N D

Thank you for reading Darkroom by Kate Willoughby. Did you know there’s an adorable epilogue for Indi and Hudson? Visit them in California!

You can get all the links to the next Moo U books right here. Or turn the page for more great recommendations for Kate Willoughby and World of True North titles!

You Will Also Enjoy…

More Moo U Hockey:

Blindsided by Victoria Denault

Slapshot by Rebecca Jenshak

Holdout by Jaqueline Snowe

Gametime by Jami Davenport

Overtime by Kat Mizera

Halftime by Kim Findlay

Playmaker by Sierra Hill

Snowballed by Melanie Ting

Goalkeeper by Andi Burns

And more!

Kate Willoughby’s Hockey Romances:

The San Francisco Dragons Series

The In the Zone Series

The Hockey on Tap Series

Acknowledgments

As always, I have a lot of people to thank. This book wouldn’t have happened if not for Lisa B. Kamps and Lynda Aicher who provided much needed encouragement when I was writing my proposal. I owe a debt of gratitude to Melanie Ting, a friend, confidant and beta reader who isn’t afraid to tell me she doesn’t like my characters (LOL!) A big thank you to Kristine and Kelsey Koelzer for answering my numerous questions about college hockey captains. Thank you Andi Burns for beta reading the manuscript specifically for the hearing loss aspect. As always, I depended on the expertise of Kim Cannon, my copy editor, and Melissa Johnston, my developmental editor. Without them…I don’t even want to think about it. The gals in Chatzy, Jaymee Jacobs, Jami Davenport, Kat Mizera, Kelly Jamieson,