“My dad has never had a girlfriend. You are the first person he has ever brought around. Don’t mess it up.”
“I will do my best,” she said.
“I like you,” the girl said. “If you do love him, that would be okay with me.”
There it was. The blessing from the daughter. Neve swallowed heavily. She didn’t have it in her to explain that there probably wasn’t going to be any relationship. That after these few strange minutes in the car, Olive would probably never see her again. Once they got back to Denver, there was every chance that she and Tor were going to be right back where they’d started. Head coach. Journalist. The divide between them was too great.
Firefighters ripped back the sliding door with a Jaws of Life wrench. Neve moved out, letting the paramedics have access.
Tor’s hair stood wild. His shirt bottom hung untucked. His gaze was unfocused. “Is she... What... Did...”
“Olive’s going to be fine.” Neve took both his hands.
He glanced down. Blood streaked her fingers.
“That hers?”
Neve nodded. “She hit her head.”
He kicked a piece of ice across the road. “Goddamn it.”
“It’s going to look worse than it is. She’s talking. I saw her move her fingers and legs.”
He heaved a ragged exhalation. “Her cousins?”
“One seems in shock. The other has a broken collarbone. Tell you what, why don’t you ride with her in the ambulance? If you give me the keys to your car, I can follow along after.”
He dug in his pockets and fished out the keys. “Thank you...” He hesitated, as if he wanted to say more, but just then they removed Olive on a stretcher.
“Go to her,” Neve said. And she watched him climb up after his daughter into the ambulance. The other three were taken out on stretchers as well. She got the name of the hospital and walked back to the Porsche alone. Cars went by at a slow pace, everyone rubbernecking at the action.
When she got back into his car, behind the wheel, nerves set in. Her teeth clattered. Her hands shook. She’d been so frightened. But she knew her words were true. Olive was going to be okay. Maybe this was the payment the universe demanded—she and Tor couldn’t work out, but the trade-off meant that a little girl got to keep her life.
She sniffed. Cedar. Pine. It smelled like him.
Two tears stole down her face. She glanced in the rearview and rubbed them away. She’d gotten out of her rut all right. In the past forty-eight hours, not only had she found her missing sex drive, but also a part of her heart that she hadn’t realized was missing. A part that came in the form of a six-foot-tall, surly coach.
She wouldn’t regret the experience. She wouldn’t regret any of it. Putting the car into First, she steeled her jaw. No matter what happened, she’d always have the memory of these two perfect days.
Gaining a little speed, she got the car into Second and then dropped it into Third, huffing a frustrated breath. After all, there was no way in hell she’d be able to cover the hockey beat in Denver if she was having a relationship with the head coach. Zero. Zilch. The conflict of interest was simply too great. Today proved it.
Their relationship was hopeless, doomed from the start.
Chapter Eighteen
Tor felt like he owed the universe a favor. His little girl was going to be okay. She had a small concussion and a few bumps and bruises. Otherwise she was fine. Everyone else in the car had avoided serious injuries. A stroke of luck, the paramedics had said, seeing as there had been no guardrail on that particular stretch of road. If Amber had fishtailed left instead of right? He didn’t want to think about the consequences too hard.
Maddy walked out to the lobby. “Hey, you.” She plopped into the seat next to him. “What a day.”
“Hell of a way to start a honeymoon,” he said gruffly, then took a sip from his lukewarm coffee.
“A ticket to Tahiti can be replaced,” she said. “Our little girl can’t.”
That was the best part of Maddy. She always said “our” daughter. Never “my.” She valued him as Olive’s father and never tried to demean him or diminish him in her eyes. For that, he’d been grateful and always did the same. They weren’t right as a couple, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be right as parents.
“Very true.”
“Where’s your date? From the wedding. The striking brunette.”
