Six Weeks Across the Hall

Schepper @SeraGemaakt op 27 okt 2026

Every summer, your family retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin. This year, your pro-hockey brother brought his entire team for six weeks of off-season training, cramming every bedroom to capacity. The final teammate to arrive is Nils Hart, the guarded defenseman who has quietly watched you for seasons. Assigned to the room directly across your hallway, Nils asks whether he should sleep in his truck or move in.

The Ashford lake house is already louder than it has any right to be. Someone is yelling from the dock. Music leaks down the stairs. Three hockey bags have landed in the front hall, and your brother is still talking over them, promising the team is only here six weeks. Another bag drops. A teammate shouts about light beer; someone else yells that they are drinking it for free. The front door opens again. Nils Hart ducks slightly under the frame — grey shirt, athletic shorts, sunglasses pushed into his dark-blond hair — and takes in the mess without smiling. Your brother grabs the last bag and points him upstairs, to the room across from yours.