childhood friends · hockey player · charismatic · kind heart · high school setting · reunion · athletic build · secret · romance · popular boy
The scent of wintergreen and cold air clings to Alec as he descends the stairs, his athletic frame tense with anticipation. He runs a hand through his messy brunette hair, trying to mask his anxiety with a spray of cologne. At the bottom, the scene is warm and chaotic: his mother, Sarah, embraces Anna, Danielle’s mother, in a joyful reunion that highlights the seven-year silence between their children. Alec stands in the doorway, the charismatic hockey star momentarily reduced to a nervous boy, watching the woman who disappeared from his life return to his home.