Betty doesn’t hesitate, just beelines for the kitchen, muttering something about the state of my soul and the healing properties of chamomile. Zoe hangs up our coats, checks her phone, then drops her bag onto the counter.
“Sit,” she orders, pointing at a stool by the kitchen island.
It’s easier than arguing, so I sink onto it and rest my elbows on the counter, eyes unfocused. My body feels separate from me, heavy and uncooperative.
Betty fusses with mugs, then turns to us. “Someone start talking. What the devil happened after Rat Daddy got flattened? The broadcast cut to commercial, and by the time it came back,the refs were dragging men off the ice like it was a brawl at the bingo hall.”
Zoe snorts, sliding onto the stool beside me and handing me a hoodie she grabbed from the couch. “Logan decided to go full gladiator. Dropped gloves, went for the guy’s throat. Then got his head bounced off the ice for his trouble.”
Betty’s hand flies to her chest with a gasp. “Oh, lord above.”
I slowly wrap myself up in the hoodie which still smells like him, then stare back down at the counter. “He hit the ice—headfirst.”
Zoe nods. “And then Lady Chaos here stormed the tunnel like she was leading a revolution.”
Betty’s head swivels between us, eyes wide. “You went down there? Oh, sweet girl…”
“I couldn’t just sit there,” I say, my voice cracking. “He wasn’t moving. I thought—” My throat closes. “I thought he might not wake up.”
Betty’s expression softens, her hand finding mine across the counter. “Well, thank God he did.”
“He’s okay,” Zoe adds quickly. “Concussion protocol. He’s being benched and Chase is staying with him tonight—team policy. Someone’s supposed to be with him for the first twenty-four hours.”
I blink. “Chase?”
“Yeah.” Zoe smirks. “He text me again just before. Logan has to have someone stay tonight—usually the team let a wife or girlfriend do it, but… uhh, as far as they know, Logan’s single. So Chase volunteered. Which is hilarious, because I’ve seen that man burn toast and lose a remote in the same thirty seconds, so god knows why they’d let him look after another human.”
She’s joking. I know, because I’ve seen the way Chase looked after her when she could barely look after herself. But that’s Zoe’s armor: humor when things get too heavy. So despitemyself, I let a small sound escape—something close to a laugh, though it trembles on the way out.
The memory hits again. Logan slumped in the med room, Eli in the doorway, the wordmistakestill echoing in my chest.
I press a hand to my face. “Eli saw us.”
That’s all I have to say. Betty’s expression shifts from concern to something sharper, surprise and protection all rolled into one.
“Oh, Sugarplum…” she murmurs.
Zoe sighs, leaning forward on her elbows. “It was intense. He walked in while Logan was still half out of it, and Lulu was draped over him crying and declaring her love. Wrong time, wrong words, wrong everything.”
I swallow hard, the weight of it sinking in all over again. “He lost it. And then Logan… he said it was a mistake.”
Betty’s frown deepens. “And you think he meantyou?”
I nod, watching her eyes dart to Zoe for confirmation, who shakes her head quickly.
“No chance. The man could barely remember his own name. I once watched Chase try to walk through a glass door after a hit like that. Logan probably doesn’t even remember what he said.”
“Still,” I whisper, “he said it.”
Betty sets a mug in front of me, and a glass of wine in front of Zoe. “And tomorrow, he’ll unsay it. Men say all kinds of nonsense with head injuries. Half the neighborhood’s husbands could use that excuse, if only we could concuss them.” She waves a hand. “He probably meant something else entirely, mark my words.”
That earns a shaky breath of laughter from me, even as tears sting the back of my eyes.
Zoe gestures at the steaming mug in front of me. “Drink that, then you’re going to bed. You’ve got your showcase tomorrow, and you’ll need your brain intact for whatever the PTA banshees have in store.”
“Maybe I should call him,” I murmur, more to myself than to them.
“He needs rest, babe.Youneed rest. Focus on the showcase, then when he’s lucid, you can sort it out.”
