Lexie lifted her glass, and Kimber mirrored the gesture, clinking them together. “I’m proud of you,” Lexie told her. “It seems like getting out of Michigan was exactly what you needed.”
“It has been life-changing, to say the least. Who knew coming home, to the place where I grew up, could change me so much.”
“Something to consider,” Lexie said with a small smile, although she didn’t have a home in the way that Kimber did.
Lexie and her parents had moved around so much during Lexie’s formative years that she truly didn’t understand the meaning of the word, or what it would feel like to have that one place where she could go to and always feel safe and loved.
For Lexie, home wasn’t a place. It was people.
And Detroit was where those people lived.
So Detroit was her home now.
Lexie spent the next day with Steve, another engineer she was recruiting, endlessly studying the contracts she needed him to sign. Lexie had even called Berkley several times, grateful to have a best friend that was an attorney who specialized in contract law. Between the three of them, they reworked the deal until Steve was satisfied with the terms. Thankfully, Lexie had been given carte blanche to make changes as necessary. Her boss’s exact words had been, “Show him your tits if you have to. Just get him to sign the damn deal.”
Had a man said those words to her, she would’ve quit on the spot. But her boss was a woman–and a badass one at that—who took no prisoners and could slice you in half with a single sharp look.
Lexie wanted to be her when she grew up.
Though Lexie’s company had in-house counsel, Lexie allowed Berkley to pass the revised contract off to her boss to redraft it. The following morning, Steve promised he would sign it.
Lexie had one final night in LA, and all she wanted to do was have an early dinner, go out for some drinks, and return to her hotel early.
Kimber, of course, had other plans.
As they wove in and out of the traffic clogging up downtown, Lexie asked, “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” Kimber said in a sing-song voice.
A few blocks later, a large event venue came into view, dominating the sky across an entire square city block.
“You didn’t,” Lexie said.
“Surprise!” Kimber said as she turned into a parking lot across the street. “We’re going to a Knights’ game!”
The LA Knights. Also known as the team Mitch had been traded to back in April.
Lexie struggled to keep the panic from her face as Kimber parked the car and got out, chatting excitedly about how much Lexie would love the arena and wasn’t it so fun that they were going to a hockey game together, just like old times?
Lexie could think of a thousand things that would be more enjoyable than willingly putting herself in a position where she would have to see Mitch Frambough.
Getting a root canal.
Having her vagina waxed.
Scooping her eyes out of her head with rusty spoons.
Lexie hadn’t laid eyes on the man in six months, and she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready.
At least she wouldn’t actually have to speak to him. Surely simply seeing him while he worked couldn’t bethatbad.
After all, ithadbeen six months. Sure, the mention of his name still caused her heart to constrict, and she’d moved into a new condo, the old one holding too many memories for her sanity. But she was fine.
Really. She wasfine.
Except, naturally, he was the first player out of the tunnel. And naturally, when he skated onto the ice, he headed directly for where she was seated right on the glass, Lexie had to admit, she was the opposite of fine.
Stunned, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him fast enough, and they locked eyes when he was about a foot away, separated only by the boards and a thick sheet of Plexiglass. When he skated away without recognition dawning, her shoulders relaxed. And then he spun back so fast, he nearly fell over. One of his teammates—the back of his jersey read Huntley—bumped into him and urged him along.
