Kiss My Ice

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18.

My family was not poor. Both my mom and my dad had a steady income that was enough to put me through such an expensive lifestyle as a competitive figure skater. I'd always considered myself to have lived a very privileged life. Up until this moment, I would have considered us to be rich.

But, in comparison to the Gray family? My family might as well have been homeless.

"Wow," I mumbled, eyes wide in admiration at the large mansion of a home that stood before us. I knew that the Gray's had money since they were sponsoring the rink, but I never expected their house to be an actual mansion.

The first indication that the house was going to be insanely expensive should have been the large iron gate that sat at the front of the long winding driveway. A gate that had a code and opened automatically and closed once the car was through. No manual labor needed.

"This is posh."

I chuckled at Mom's choice of words, but she wasn't wrong. The house was overwhelmingly large – both in height and in length. Painted a gorgeous cream color with some dark brown accents by the windows. In front, perfectly trimmed hedges lined the whole front of house, accenting the tall windows nicely. The house held a sense of elegance.

Everything about the property screamed money. There was no other house like it in Whitmore or the surrounding towns. It was a one of a kind million-dollar home. A property that I had no idea even existed.

Dad nudged my side with his elbow, pulling my attention off of the house. I looked up at him, frowned at his wide grin. "Are you ready?"

As I had suspected, both my parents were ecstatic when I told them that the Gray's had invited us to the hockey team cookout. Even with my best efforts to persuade them otherwise, they were adamant that we just had to go. Mom was dying to meet the newest family in town, and Dad wanted to visit with the hockey team.

"Not really," I admitted. No part of me felt ready to have to deal with the whole hockey team at once without back up. Lucy was unfortunately occupied with prior family commitments, and Scott was at his friend's house. The only people I would have were my parents. "But I'm as ready as I will be, so let's just get this over with."

Dad laughed. "That's the spirit, kiddo."

I sucked in a large breath, followed behind my parents closely as they made their way to the front door. The one saving grace I could think of was that I would at the very least have Chris. Plus the other guys I had met at mini golf the other day. Chris, Nate, Josh, Tyler, and Brendon were all easy to get along with. If I could hang out with them, hopefully I would survive the afternoon.

Mom rang the doorbell and the three of us took a step backward, waiting in anticipation for someone to answer. Please don't be Aiden, I repeated in my head over and over. After a minute, the door swung open to reveal a middle-aged woman. I released the air I was holding, grateful to see that it wasn't Aiden or Lance.

A large tooth filled smile took over the woman's face, causing crinkles to form in the corners of her hazel green eyes. She pushed a strand of light hair from her face, extended a hand out to my dad. "You guys must be the Lodge family. I'm so glad that you could make it. I'm Brooke Gray."

Dad's hand wrapped around hers in a firm shake. "Time Lodge." He turned his head, beaming at me with pride. "I'm Zoe's dad."

A glimpse of excitement flashed over Brooke Gray's features at the mention of my name. Her eye contact with my dad broke as she glanced in my direction. Her smile widened.