She gapes at me. “You asked for this?”
I shake my head. “It fell into our laps. Dad doesn’t even want me to take it.”
Coach Turner crosses his arms over his chest. “Hmph.”
“If it means I get to be closer to you, I’ll go anywhere,” I tell her honestly. “That the team closest to where you’ll be living wants me… It’s fate, bringing us together.”
She squeezes my hand. “You’re moving to Boston, and it has nothing to do with me?”
I nod. “Right. I’d still be moving there if we’d never met.”
Audrey flings her arms around me, crushing me to her. “Oh, thank goodness.”
Her dad squints down at us. “You’re… happy?”
“If he were moving for me, it would be way too soon,” she says. “But he happens to be moving there for reasons that have nothing to do with me. We can date and get to know each other.”
He frowns.
I rise to my full height and offer him my hand. “I’m looking forward to joining the Grizzlies, sir.”
Reluctantly, he shakes my hand. “When did this all start?”
“I saw her this morning and knew she was the one for me,” I tell him honestly. “From the moment I saw her, I knew.”
Coach lets out a noise of dissatisfaction.
“I want to date your daughter, Coach. I want to love her.”
His entire body twitches.
“I’ll be the best damn goaltender you’ve ever seen, but if you want to keep us apart, it won’t work. I don’t care if you send me down to the minors. I’ll still want to be with her.”
He frowns. “I know what you’re capable of in the net. But she’s my daughter.”
“If you think I’m good at protecting the net, imagine how I would protect her heart.” Squaring my shoulders, I don’t back down. “She’s incredible. I’d do anything for her.”
Coach looks me up and down with an assessing gaze. After a moment, he nods. “Welcome to the team, son.”
Audrey opens her mouth. “Dad?—”
He shakes his head. “There will be ground rules. You won’t be joining us on road trips. The night before games, I expect him to get rest. That means?—”
She blushes a brilliant shade of red. “Daddy!”
Coach takes a deep breath. “And I want Sunday dinners. On the weeks we’re home, when there’s no game, I want Sunday dinners.”
“I’ll be there,” she says immediately.
His head swivels to me.
“If you want me there, I’ll be there,” I say with no hesitation. “It would be an honor to sit at your table, Coach.”
He winces.
“And not because you’re my coach and I want to be the best player I can be,” I tell him. “Although that’s true. It’s an honor because I’m crazy about your daughter, and I know that makes you uncomfortable. I’ll do everything I can to prove I’m the right guy to take care of your baby girl. She’ll be safe with me. I—” I swallow. “I want to love her.”
Taking a step back, I reach for Audrey’s hand, and she grabs hold of it without hesitation.
