Fortunately June smiled widely. “I’ve been confused myself these past few weeks. Spending time with all three of you, at work, on the road, and at home… it’s made me happier than I ever thought was possible. I care deeply about each of you.”
She paused to give each of us an individual smile.
“I don’t know how this could possibly work,” she admitted. “For all the reasons Elias said. We work together, which makes things messy. And even if we didn’t, I don’t expect you to want to share me…”
“I will,” Cole said firmly. “I will share you, June. Even if I get a third of your love and affection, that’s more than I could ever want from another woman.”
“Yes,” Elias said. “I also feel this way.”
“Hell, y’all keep taking the words out of my mouth,” I said with a smirk. “I can’t promise I’ll still be all right with it forever, but I feel like we’ve got a good thing going right now. I want to see where it takes us.”
“I’m not going to give you only a third of my heart,” June told us. “I’m going to give all three of you one hundred percent of myself. For as long as it works.”
Being teammates with Cole and Elias meant we were good at picking up on each others’ cues. Like a well-practiced attack on the ice, the three of us moved forward at the same time and wrapped June in a group hug.
“I feel spoiled,” she said.
“Hell, all I’ve ever wanted is a girl to spoil,” I said.
When we pulled apart, June was wiping tears from the corner of her eye. “And about Alice… I’m sorry for pushing you. And forassuming the worst. Whoever she is,whatevershe is, you can tell me when you’re ready.”
“Well,” Cole said, “the thing about Alice is that I’ve never trusted anyone enough to tell about her. But I wantyouto meet her, June.”
“I’d love that,” she said in a small voice.
“The All-Star Break is next week,” Cole explained. “Seems like the perfect time for us to take a trip.”
37
June
The NHL All-Star Break marked the half-way point in the hockey season. The entire league took a week off, except for the players voted to the All Star teams. From the Reapers, both Rhett and Cole were named All Stars.
Rhett was happy to play, since it was his first time being voted an All Star, but Cole declined to play.
“My knee could use a week of rest,” he said while we waited for our plane to take off. We were flying commercial, rather than private, but Cole had bought us Business Class seats. “Besides, this is more important to me than the All Star Game.”
I reached over to squeeze his hand. “I’m glad.”
A car was waiting at the airport in Vancouver to take us to the northern edge of the city. Cole was silent, and my anxiety over this trip began to creep up. He still hadn’t given me any clue as to who Alice was, aside from saying, “Someone important to me. You’ll see.” But I hated the unknown, even if I knew it wasn’t anything bad.
The car dropped us off at a little blue house with a Georgia Reapers banner flying above the Canadian flag. A young-lookingwoman stood on the front porch, her hands shoved into the pockets of her sweatshirt.
I hurried up to her and wrapped her in a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you, Alice. I still don’t know who you are to Cole, because he decided that he wanted this to be a surprise, but if you’re important to him, then you’re important to me. Sorry, I know I’m babbling.”
The woman smirked past me at Cole. “You decided this should be a surprise?”
“I like surprises,” he said while joining us. “June, this is Olivia. Alice’s caretaker.”
“Oh.Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Sorry about that. I’m nervous.”
“Are you kidding? You confused me for a twenty-year-old! You just made my morning.” She turned to Cole. “Alice is nervous, too. She woke up an hour early to get ready.”
Cole put a comforting hand on my back. “Relax. This is a happy day, eh?”
“It is,” I said, then we went inside.
The interior of the house was small, but the furniture was carefully placed around the outer walls to allow as much space to move around. The reason became obvious a moment later, when a young woman in a wheelchair rolled into the room. She used a joystick mounted to the wheelchair to guide herself right up to me.
