He clenches his jaw as he looks at me, clearly torn. I’d say he’s a fool for giving her up for a box at the arena, but I almost gave her up because of my own damn fears, so I’m hardly one to point fingers.
“If she’s not into you anymore, you’ll walk away?” Sean asks.
My heart is in my throat at the idea of walking away from her for good, but if that’s what she wants, I’ll do what’s best for her. “I will.”
“I’m only considering your offer because I have no desire to be part of some sort of love triangle. If she’s not over you, I don’t want to be involved.” He pauses. “But, she seems really sweet, so if you’re not totally committed to being good to her, maybe save us both the time and walk away?”
“I’m going to give her the whole damn world, as long as she’ll let me.”
He gives me a quick, decisive nod. “Okay.”
I get that he doesn’t want to be part of a messy situation, but the fact that he just gave up so easily speaks volumes.
“Thanks, man. I’ll get that suite set up. The number for the office that handles luxury boxes is online, call anytime after Monday and they’ll have more information for you.”
He nods, then turns, walking away, and I step into the restaurant. I bypass the host, telling her I’m meeting someone, and walk straight over to Morgan. The shock on her face is expected, but the hostility in her rigid body language isn’t.
“What are you doing here?” she asks, her gaze moving beyond me and darting around the restaurant like she’s afraid Sean might walk in and find me in his seat.
“Having dinner with you,” I say as I slip my jacket off and hang it on the back of the chair.
She folds her arms across the table in front of her, leaning toward me and lowering her voice as I take my seat. Her strawberry blonde hair is down in loose waves, falling forward over the expanse of bare skin in her square-neck top. “I’m meeting someone.”
“Are you disappointed that I’m here instead?”
“Instead?” she asks.
“Yes,instead.I asked your date to bow out of dinner so I’d have a chance to convince you that I was wrong and stupid, and to tell you that I’m sorry.” I take a deep breath, relieved she didn’t throw her drink in my face and tell me to go to hell.
Her face softens, the slightest hint of a smile evident on those full lips. “Keep going...”
I pick up the straw sitting next to the glass of water that was already on the table when I arrived, and pull the paper off it, just to have something to do with my hands.
“This hasneverbeen ‘just friends’ for me. I knew from that first night in Bermuda that you were perfect for me, just the same as I knew I’d never be good enough for you?—”
“Why would you think that?” she asks, before her eyes flit down to where I’m folding the straw wrapper into a thin rectangle.
“I didn’t want a relationship, and you’re clearly a relationship kind of girl. Then we found out we were working together and your dad was my agent, and...I couldn’t stop wanting us to be together, but I also hated keepingusa secret. You are not someone to keep hidden. You shine too brightly for that. You need someone who can show you off, who can shower you with praise and affection. Youdeservethat. And I didn’t think I could be the one to give it to you.”
“Are you ever going to tell mewhyyou’re so opposed to a relationship?”
I sigh and fold the paper wrapper again before glancing up at her. “Remember how I told you about Hayley?”
She tilts her chin as she studies me. “You never told me her name, but I assume that’s the college girlfriend you thought you were in love with?”
“Yeah. There’s...a bit more to the story, though. We started dating my freshman year, and when I found out my mom died, she was there for me every step of the way. She comforted mewhen I completely broke down, held my hand at the funeral, made sure I went to my classes for the rest of the semester when the only thing I wanted to focus on, my only escape from the sadness, was hockey. There was so much darkness lurking in me then, and she pulled me out just enough that I didn’t succumb to it. I don’t know how I’d have gotten through that period without her. Going through that trauma together...it deepened our relationship in a lot of ways, and also filled in some cracks that would have probably made it clear we weren’t right for each other. By junior year, those cracks were starting to show. I was under immense pressure to perform on the ice that year, because I’d already been drafted and there was a lot of talk about me getting called up. And then...” I swallow as I glance down at the paper wrapper I’ve now circled around my pinky multiple times. “We found out she was pregnant.”
Morgan’s lips part before she sinks her teeth into her lower lip and nods for me to continue.
“It was February when we found out I was getting called up to Minnesota, and the plan was for her to finish out the last few months of the semester at school, and then she’d join me in Minneapolis and we’d have the baby there. She was going to take a year off school, and then finish up her senior year once our lives were more settled. But...right before I moved, she miscarried.”
“Oh shit, Aidan,” Morgan says, her eyes glazing over with unshed tears. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t think either of us was emotionally ready to be a parent, but we were committed to figuring it out. And then, once there was no baby, she decided it was better if we ended things and she stayed to finish up her degree.”
“So you...moved to Minnesota without her, without the family you’d expected to have with you?”
“Yes, and itbrokeme. It was like losing my parents all over again but worse, in a way, because I’d spent so much time, when we found out she was pregnant, envisioning what kind of father I wanted to be. I’d catalogued all the good things about my dad before he succumbed to his addiction, and all the good things about Max, too. I wanted to be the best dad I could be, and I don’t know...” I say, shaking my head. “I guess I was so focused on becoming a dad, I didn’t think enough about how Hayley was feeling about becoming a mom. When she lost the baby, she didn’t seem nearly as upset about it as I was. I think she was...relieved?”
