I pull over onto a side street and call Jamie Beth.
“I have a problem,” I tell her.
“Let’s meet for drinks,” she says.
* * *
“Don’t tell Declan yet,” Jamie Beth warns me when I tell her about my dad changing the contract.
She tosses back a whiskey shot. “First rule of thumb with professional athletes—don’t throw off their game. Declan’s in the finals—that makes it way more important that he doesn’t lose his focus.”
“I agree with what you’re saying.” I take a sip of my lemonade. “The thing is, I’m worried about telling Declan at all. He’s a good guy. If he finds out that I no longer need to stay in this marriage, he’ll insist on us divorcing. He won’t want me to feel stuck in something that only he technically needs.”
“Wouldyou feel stuck?” Jamie asks me. “Or are you actually happy in this fake marriage?”
“Of course I’d want to end it,” I say as I jab my straw at the ice cubes in my lemonade.
“Huh. Why do I think you’re full of shit?”
Jamie smiles at me sweetly when I glare at her.
“Of course, a divorce is the only sane option. We did it for business reasons. Since I no longer have a reason, I don’t need to keep these.” I twist the engagement ring and wedding band on my finger. “But to tell Declan now would be beyond selfish. He wants this championship so much. And he wants to be an owner badly, too. He deserves both. And if I tell him now, he’ll back out on my account. That’s the kind of person he is—selfless and caring.”And sexy and sweet and amazing in bed.
“I like Declan a lot,” Jamie says. “And I like you together. But if you think for one second that he’s going to let you go in order to beselfless, I think you’re wrong.” She sticks out her hand. “I bet you you’re wrong.WhenDeclan finds out about your dad changing the contract, I think he’s going to fight to keep your marriage.”
I shake her hand half-heartedly. This isn’t a bet I want to win.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Declan
Mia’s been acting strangely for the past couple of days.
Ever since she was on Chronicle Montana.
“Maybe she’s on her period,” Arch suggests after we win game two.
I slug him in the shoulder as Jared curses at Arch.
“What?” he says. “I’ve never lived with a woman. Does she get moody?”
“No. And stop being an ass. I never should have said anything.” I wouldn’t have except that when I waved to Mia in the stands, she looked like she was going to run down to the Plexiglass to see me. So, I waited a second before leaving the ice, but she stayed where she was.
The moment bugged me through my interviews and shower, and as I was getting dressed in front of my locker, I mentioned it to the guys.
“Just ask her what’s up,” Jared advises. “Don’t talk to us. Talk to her.”
He’s right.
Talking to Mia is my priority as I walk out of the locker room.
But when I meet her outside and we walk to the truck together, she clams up when I ask her what’s going on.
“Nothing at all,” she says. “Why do you ask?”
“Just a feeling I got when I saw you in the stands,” I say with a shrug. “And the last couple of days, you’ve seemed…I don’t know, guarded.”
“I’m sorry,” she says so softly I have to bend my head to hear her.
