“Why? We were really close once, right? Why does spending time together have to be complicated?”
“Um, maybe because I’m your daughter’s teacher?”
He chuckled softly and I was relieved he wasn’t angry. “There is that.”
“Also, my brother is technically your boss. And he wasn’t your biggest fan in the first place.”
“You think Andy is going to trade me if he catches me hanging out with his sister?”
I gave a light laugh, but there was a part of me that believed that was exactly what would happen. I had barely been able to restrain my brother from going after Liam the last time he’d hurt me.
“Look,” he said, his voice gentle now. “I know it’s complicated. I’m not saying we should rush into anything. I just know that I’ve missed you for twelve years. And now that we’re in the same city it would feel…I don’t know. Really stupid. It would feel phenomenally stupid not to spend time with you now that I have the chance again.”
“It would,” I agreed, unable to lie to him.
“At the very least, I’ve really missed your friendship. Couldn’t we pick up where we left off and go from there?”
But we hadn’t left off as friends. At least not on my part. The last time I’d seen Liam O’Conner in Minnesota, I’d been heartbroken and in love with him.
I couldn’t exactly admit that, though. So instead, I forced some cheer into my voice and said, “sure. We could definitely be friends again.”
“Good. I would really like that, Gracie.”
There was another long beat of silence. “I should probably go,” I finally said. “The kids will be rambunctious as always tomorrow morning whether I get some rest or not.”
“Okay,” he replied, and I wanted to just sink into the warmth in his voice. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Have a safe flight home.”
“Sleep well, Gracie.”
I murmured a good night and disconnected the call. I lay there holding the phone for a long moment, not sure I’d be able to sleep at all, despite the truth of what I’d told him about the kids’ energy levels.
It was all fine and good to agree to be friends with the only guy I had ever loved. But I was afraid that in practice, it was going to be a lot harder than it sounded. The last time we’d been together for any real length of time, I’d spent half the hours wishing he would love me, and the other half pretending I wasn’t head- over-heels. It was exhausting.
I may be older and wiser now, but I had a feeling that where Liam O’Conner was concerned, my heart was just as foolish as it ever was. And I wasn’t sure I would be able to pretend with him again.
CHAPTER 13
Losing hockey games was never any fun. And while pre-season games counted for virtually nothing, it was hard not to notice the toll our losing record was having on morale. The rookies were nervous, the veterans frustrated. Jay and I did our best to encourage and calm everyone in the locker room, but it was increasingly feeling like a pointless exercise.
Most coaches would look at a skid like this in the pre-season as an opportunity to change it up, try out some prospects, play around with the lines. But Dillion seemed stubbornly determined to stick to the original playbook. I couldn’t understand it—we were already getting our asses kicked out there. Why not shake things up to see what happened?
Things at home weren’t a whole lot better. Chloe had actually called Josie back at the beginning of the week. Instead of easing our daughter’s bad mood, the phone call only seemed to make it worse. Josie retreated into herself even more, rarely talking to me unless I pressed. She’d even stopped talking about the dog I’d promised to get her, brushing me off whenever I brought it up.
Even more worrying, she was pulling back from Evelyn and Peter as well. Both reported that she was quiet and distant after school.
After three days of this, Evelyn finally got Josie to tell her about the phone call with Chloe. Apparently, Josie had asked her when she might visit and Chloe had blown her off. Of course she did. And now our daughter was reeling all over again, wondering when she was going to see her mother.
I was worried sick about her.
So life was shitty at the rink and life was shitty at home. About the only thing I seemed to have going for me that week was my nightly phone calls with Grace.
Talking to her the night of our first pre-season game had been both exciting and painful. Hearing her voice in my ear while I sat alone in a depressing hotel room was a luxury I had never thought to dream about. After our kiss, I had been afraid she was going to shut down on me. Instead, she finally seemed to be getting comfortable with me, teasing and joking around right back just the way she used to.
I hadn’t realized how much I was dreading that she might regret the kiss. God knew thatIdidn’t regret it, not for a second. It had only been a light brush of my lips over hers, a fleeting moment of closeness, but I fucking relished it. I would never admit this to anyone for fear of being branded a pussy for life, but the truth was, kissing Gracie felt like coming home.
And I spent a worrying amount of my free time trying to figure out how to convince her to do it again as soon as possible.
