Shannon twisted her fingers. “I’ll fix it! I’ll—”
“Go home, Shan,” I said. “That’s the best thing you can do. Please. Just go.”
“But…but that’s exactly what I don’t want to do! I’ll lose you…” she trailed off, her throat working as she glanced away.
I placed my hands on her shoulders and squeezed them. “Youdivorcedme. You lost me then.”
She flinched.
“You didn’t want what I did. Remember what you told me? Genuine love doesn’t keep people from their dreams, the life they want to live. I want to live my life with Keelie. She’s my future, Shan. We’re…we’re just memories.”
Tears spilled over Shannon’s lashes and down her cheeks as her lip quivered. As always, her tears wrenched something inside me.
Keelie didn’t cry often. She bottled her emotions up tight, but that fracturing of her eyes, the look of betrayal that settled over her face cracked my ribs wide and flailed my heart much more than these tears. The hurt I’d caused Keelie cut deep because it was so unexpected.
I would always regret that she’d seen Shannon’s attempt to renew our former life together. Because Keelie had jumped to the obvious conclusion—and the wrong one.
More tears spilled over Shannon’s lashes, but she nodded. “I’m losing you all over again.”
“That’s because I’m ready to live again. Fully. With a woman I love… Look, I don’t want to hurt you, but Keelie is everything to me. The problem is, she didn’t have an easy time growing up, and she’s always expecting us to fall apart. Now I need to focus on getting her back.”
Shannon narrowed her eyes, her mind already churning. “What problems?”
I shook my head. “That’s her story, not mine. And it’s none of your business.”
“But you’re going to marry her, have kids with her? If she’s messed up, will this be a stable environment for your kids?”
“Stop trying to manipulate me,” I said, voice soft. “You’re better than that.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, once. “I should be.” She sucked in a ragged breath as she rose from the step. “So this is goodbye?”
I nodded. “You were the most important person in my life.”
“You’re still that to me.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. And we both know it. I haven’t been for a long time.”
She nodded once more, then turned on her heel and walked toward her car—a Mercedes. Shannon loved her luxury items. So unlike Keelie, who was most comfortable in Target-bought jeans and a soft, two-year-old tee. I’d fallen for two very different women, and I couldn’t be happier with my second choice.
I inhaled long and slow as I accepted what Shannon had somehow known back then—we’d never have made it long-term. That didn’t diminish what she’d once been to me, but my time with her was passed. Long since.
Maxim sped into my driveway just as Shannon pulled out.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Keelie walked in right when Shannon tried to put the moves on me.”
Maxim’s eyes widened. “That’s not good.”
“No, and we have to be at the airport in an hour and a half, so I don’t have time to go by her place.” I kicked his tire as I let loose a stream of curses.
“Creative but not helpful. Get your bag. I’ll drive while we strategize.”
Houston traffic remained heavy and unpredictable, so my initial plan to find Keelie and explain fizzled. I couldn’tnotgo, either. She expected the worst from everyone. I couldn’t be that man. I refused to be that man.
But, as Maxim pointed out, I couldn’t let my teammates down, and if I wasn’t on the plane, Coach wouldn’t let me play. These next two games would seal our seed spot, and our stats showed how much better the team was when I was on the ice. Leaving rookie Luka there to get hammered on the boards wasn’t an option.
For the first time in my life, I cursed my responsibilities to my team. Mainly because I longed to put Keelie first. Where she belonged.
