Time to Shine
Time to Shine follows Landon Stackhouse, a backup goalie called up from the AHL to the NHL's Calgary Outlaws, fully expecting to just warm the bench. What he doesn't expect is Casey Hicks - Calgary's star winger, relentlessly social, incapable of silence, and so desperate not to go home to an empty house that he invites Landon, a man he barely knows, to move into his mansion rent-free. Landon, quiet and self-contained and carrying a grief he hasn't dealt with since his sister Erin passed, takes the basement room and tries to stay out of the way. That plan lasts about as long as it takes Casey to show up with grapes as a peace offering and talk Landon into watching movies on the couch.
The feelings sneak up on both of them in different ways. Casey is severely terrified of the dark and during a blackout, Landon who sits in the dark wearing a goalie mask, has scared Casey so much that it "fries all his circuits". Landon apologies and stays to calm Casey. They then shares their secrets with each other (Casey's phobia of the dark, and Landon's sister passes away). That's also the first night when they sleeps together in the same bed.
From there, the feelings keep building with nowhere to go. Landon is a virgin processing years of survivor's guilt, and it's Casey who makes him feel, for the first time, like he might deserve good things. Landon jealousy spirals when Casey's hookup from the night before makes breakfast. A $2,500 lilac cashmere sweater at Holt Renfrew that Casey insists Landon try on - and Landon eventually buys because Casey loves it. A handjob in the dark in a Minnesota hotel room that neither of them brings up afterward. Feelings keep developing between them.
The kiss finally happens at the team Christmas party. Landon pulls Casey outside into the snow and asks if it would be a terrible idea, Casey says it's a good idea, a great idea, and they rush home right after. Then Landon's parents arrive the next morning, Casey plays perfect host, and Landon comes out to his family at a Hicks family Christmas in Banff. His parents already knew, and they apologise for leaving him alone with his grief when he was a teenager. It's a quiet, devastating, necessary scene. Then Outlaw's backup goalie - Morin - gets cleared to play, which means Landon gets sent back down to Saskatoon, and the goodbye is heartbreaking and neither of them make any promises to continue the relationship.
Casey falls apart without him. His game suffers. His teammate Lee tells him over lunch in Philadelphia to stop moping and fight for it. So Casey, being jacked on a double choc chip Frappuccino, makes the decision to reroute his flight at the Toronto airport and shows up outside Landon's team bus in the freezing Saskatoon cold. He tells Landon he loves him. Landon says it back. They agree to make it work despite the distance. Antton accidentally breaks his arm in March, Landon gets emergency recalled to Calgary, and earns the starting spot for good. The epilogue puts them hosting the team Christmas party together a year later, fully public. Casey proposes to Landon, and Landon says yes. And they get their happily ever after at the 'best party ever'.
Official Book Synopsis
For Landon Stackhouse, being called up from the Calgary farm team is exciting and terrifying, even if, as the backup goalie, he rarely leaves the bench. A quiet loner by nature, Landon knows he gives off strong “don’t talk to me” vibes. The only player who doesn’t seem to notice is Calgary’s superstar young winger, Casey Hicks.
Casey treats Landon like an old friend, even though they’ve only interacted briefly in the past. He’s endlessly charming and completely laid-back in a way that Landon absolutely can’t relate to. They couldn’t have less in common, but Landon needs a place to live that’s not a hotel room and Casey has just bought a massive house—and hates being alone.
As roommates, Casey refuses to be defeated by Landon’s one-word answers. As friends, Landon comes to notice a few things about Casey, like his wide, easy smile and sparkling green-blue eyes. Spending the holidays together only intensifies their bromance-turned-romance. But as the new year approaches, the countdown to the end of Landon’s time in Calgary is on.
“Poke check king!”
“Yeah. If you peel a banana there’s a whole recipe for banana bread inside.”
Scientifically speaking, Landon knew it wasn’t actual sunshine that was filling his chest, but it sure felt like it.
An hour later, standing in front of the giant timetable in the domestic departures terminal, he got an idea. It was probably not a good one, but in that moment he was jacked on a Venti Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino and anything seemed possible.
