The Broken Hearts Bakery by Carla Laureano

Author:Carla Laureano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Laureano Creative Media LLC
Published: 2023-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

A cluster of people already stood around the skate rental at the start of the ice trail, many of whom Gemma recognized. Stephen was standing at the front with a clipboard. She waited patiently as the line moved forward. When he looked up, amusement flashed in his eyes. “I should have guessed. School or town?”

“Presumably you’re school?”

He nodded.

“Then town. Naturally.”

Stephen grinned. “Ten bucks for entry, five dollars per crate.”

Gemma didn’t need to ask crate of what?—this had been a Haven Ridge tradition since long before she was born. She traded two ten-dollar bills from her pocket for two paper tickets and a silver arm band, which she tied around her left biceps over her jacket. “You can pick up your snowballs to the left. Good luck.”

“I could say the same for you. You’ll need it.” Gemma followed the flow of silver bands to where the crates the students had been filling earlier that day stood. She smiled at the teenage boy in charge and picked through the stacks until she found the snowballs that were getting firm and icy from sitting in the sun. Not that she wanted them to sting, but she also didn’t want them to blow apart when she lobbed them. She’d been known for her aim in high school; the girls’ softball coach had hounded her for three years after seeing her throw snowballs her freshman year.

“Hey,” she said to the silver arm bands standing around, their crates of snowballs claimed. Most of them were adults, some of whom she knew and others she didn’t, but she was surprised by the handful of teenagers who had opted for town instead of school.

“Gemma Van Buren?”

Gemma turned, shading her eyes against the bright sunshine to focus on the slender guy standing a few feet away. “Benji Balden?”

He smiled, his brown hair flopping into his eyes just as it always had. “One and the same. Nice to see you.”

“Yeah, you too.” She hadn’t thought about Benji in years—he’d been two years ahead of her and as sweet as he had been shy. She only knew him because they’d been on Model UN together her sophomore year. “What have you been up to?”

“I’m a Chaffee County Combined Court judge,” he said with a grin. “And an ultra-marathoner.”

Gemma laughed, surprised that the unassuming boy who’d had to dig deep just to debate had ended up on the bench. The runner thing didn’t surprise her—he’d run track-and-field and had been lightning fast in the 800. She leaned forward to give him a fist bump. “Congrats then. It’s nice to see you.” She was going to ask him more questions, but a familiar voice behind her interrupted her.

“Am I late?” Gemma turned to find Mallory behind her, wearing a silver arm band and grinning broadly.

“Not at all. They haven’t even explained the rules.”

On cue, a whistle pierced the air. All heads turned toward Stephen, who was holding up his clipboard for attention, the whistle hanging around his neck. “Players, gather ’round!”

Members of both teams meandered toward him, leaving a little circle of space around him.

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