“Well, that is the general rule. For you, we can make an exception, but only because Coach Mason is offering to keep you safe on it,” Eli explains. “It has to be a secret, okay? We don’t want the other kids getting sad they couldn’t ride it, right?”
Aiden takes his fingers and zips them across his lips, keeping the secret within. He trails the coaches into the rink.
Eli motions with his head for me to follow him over to the rental counter. He shoves the sleeves of his yellow Aspens sweatshirt up to his elbows and pulls a clipboard from his gear bag. While he shuffles through the paperwork, standing this close to him, I feel smaller, or he got bigger. Judging by his bulging forearms, years of hockey conditioning have done him good. Real good…
“Here we go.” He produces the form at last, before I find myself in a puddle on the floor.
“I really thought I’d been thorough and signed everything,” I protest.
“My assistant’s obsessive about paperwork. We have to protect ourselves and make sure each kid is covered, etc. If she says we need this, then we better take care of it.” He winks and hands me a pen. But he doesn’t let go of the pen when I grab it. Our fingertips brush with an electric shock, setting my pulse racing. “Aiden is such a cute kid. His enthusiasm for hockey reminds me of myself at that age.”
“He certainly likes his coach,” I muse, tugging harder at the Bic.
“Well, can’t blame him. I’m cute too,” he quips with another wink. Too many winks are making me dizzy. Then he turns serious. “Is everything okay—I couldn’t help but notice you got a phone call. When you walked back into the rink, you seemed upset.”
Very observant. So, he was keeping tabs on me the entire class? “Oh, I’m fine. It’s just the way I react after every call from my ex.”
“Ah, Jerrod, huh?” His lips flatline. They never got along, being two alpha males vying for me.
“Yes. I don’t recommend divorce. Managing custody hasn’t been easy.”
“Believe me, I know all about messy divorces, although not with the kid part, obviously.”
My head jerks back. “You were married and divorced?”
“What, you've read no articles about me online all these years? About my ex-wife, Bunny Jolene, the actress?”
“I don’t know. I probably heard a few things here and there. Honestly, I tried to avoid knowing anything about you.”
He dips his eyebrows. “Really? Never once looked me up?”
Oh God. Now when I get home, that’s all I’m going to want to do instead of homework.
“No offense, but I found it easier so I could leave the past behind me.”
“How’s that working for you?” He smolders at me, leaning in closer, his voice lower and deeper. His heat radiates from his body, reaching out to me like a temptation. “It’s a little hard to avoid each other now, don’t you think?”
My breath hitches. I fight to keep in control and not let that naïve sophomore from college make an appearance. The one who was so in love with Eli, yet so sure he didn’t need me and my family situation holding him back from everything he wanted in life. He needed to fly away and spread his wings, not worry about me with my dad in jail, facing a lengthy trial.
“Speaking of the past, I’d like to take you out for coffee soon. Just to clear the air about how we left things back then,” he adds, his eyes intense and dark, pulling the pen and my hand closer to him.
The thought of spending an hour over coffee in adult conversation with a man is tempting. But look at him, a success in hockey, just like I figured he would be when I let him go. We’ve both grown and changed, only I’m still a mess. Divorced with a son. Broke as broke could be, in both money and heart.
Why would he waste his time revisiting the past, something I don’t even want to address? And where would that conversation lead? No, I need to stop this before it goes any further. Aiden may fall for him, but I can’t.
“Unfortunately, I won’t be coming to these often. Unless her shop gets busy in the evenings, my mother will bring Aiden.” I finally win the war over the pen, yanking it free, and sign the paper. “It’s been good to see you, Eli, you and all your success. But if that’s all, I really should get my son home.”
I surprise myself with my unwavering voice, certain that I’m doing the right thing, the best thing for me, for Aiden, and my heart.
He nods and adds the paper to his stack. “Sure, I understand.”
I step away from his cologne, and his body heat, and his daring eyes, and pretend I have important things to do on my phone until Aiden finishes the Zamboni ride. Of course, I’m really opening a social media app I haven’t been on in ages.
While Eli cleans up the waiting area, running a vacuum and gathering the trash, I search for him and find his profile. I skim down the posts; the more recent ones are filled with his travels, his big game plays, parties and events with his buddies. A few photos of him appear with different women he’s been linked to, and further down I find the time of what must have been his marriage to Bunny. She couldn’t be more opposite me with platinum blonde hair and brown eyes and big breasts.
They were married for a few years, living the high life, from what I could tell. She must have taken over his profile at one point, what with all the posts of them dripping with luxury items like watches and designer clothes, riding in fancy cars, and attending celebrity events, even the Oscars the year she was nominated but didn’t win.
Each post with his face in it—didn’t look like the Aiden I knew. Not happy at all, more like forced to do these things for show, for her. If there’s one thing I know about Eli, he’s a casual guy who shows love through service and acts of kindness; he always did. He probably would have moved mountains for her if that had made her happy. What prompted their divorce? A little jealousy grips me, and I get lost too easily in trying to decipher his state of being in every post. This is why I avoid social media.
