“Sorry I was a dick at practice today.”
“I was too. I know better. I wasn’t trying to make mistakes, but I wasn’t trying not to, either. I just wasn’t trying.”
“That doesn’t help the team,” Alan said softly.
“No, yeah, I know.” I sighed. “I owe everyone an apology for that.”
“This game isn’t just about delivering stones down a sheet of ice. It’s about how we communicate, how we conduct ourselves. When all of us are on top of our game, we might still lose if we aren’t together.”
“As ateam,” I clarified.
“Yes, as a team,” he repeated, though he didn’t emphasize the word the way I had.
“Our personal issues are getting in the way of that.”
“Hey.” Alan put down his tongs and cupped a hand under my chin, making me look up from chopping.
Almost instantly, Perry gripped my wrist and eased the knife out of my hand, like he thought I might try to keep working when I couldn’t see what I was doing and slice a finger off or something. The vibrations of him, so close next to me I could feel his body heat, sent a shiver through me. I decided that was better than being annoyed.
“We all have baggage,” Alan said. “Personal shit that distracts us from the game. That makes us human. We aren’t machines. We can’t ignore what we’re feeling because it’s inconvenient tocurling. I love the game but I’m not going to pretend that it’s all I care about in my life because after the ice melts, we all still have lives we’ll want to go back to.”
“Or get on with,” Perry whispered.
“Or get on with.”
Gently, Perry pulled one of Alan’s hands away from my face so he could lean in to kiss my cheek. “Go wash up the dishes,” he instructed. “I’ll finish the potatoes.”
“I was getting better,” I protested, though I didn’t try to reclaim my knife.
Alan kissed my other cheek.
I don’t know who slapped my ass as I walked off towards the sink, but it didn’t matter. It had been so long since I felt this relaxed in my own skin, I just smiled and hummed as I started filling the sink for the bigger items that couldn’t go in the dishwasher.
CHAPTER 19
PERRY
While Alan transferredthe browned chicken breasts to a crock pot, I sauteed the onions and celery I’d chopped and congratulated myself that I’d managed not to offer Evan any advice on his potato chopping. He was in the kitchen helping, so I wasn’t about to rock the boat.
The short interlude that had allowed us to switch jobs helped me to relax and I had to wonder if that was due to the interaction itself, or because I was such a control freak I’d needed to have more agency in the potato situation.
“You handled that wonderfully,” Alan said.
“You’re not supposed to point out that he took the job away from me,” Evan said from the sink.
“I didn’t—” I started.
“Babe, it’s okay. I know it was making you nuts watching me.”
I thought about saying a dozen different things before settling on, “Thanks for helping us, Ev.”
He chuckled without looking up. “Thanks for not saying the ten things that went through your head first.”
“I—”
He looked up and winked at me. “I know I was doing a terrible job.”
“Cut that piece in half,” Alan said, tapping a monster cube Evan had left behind with the tongs he was using to turn the chicken. “It won’t cook all the way through like that.”
