“You don’t need to be sorry,” I say. “I know you’ve had a lot going on.”
And I have an idea.
“Do you want to take a mini-vacation and come to New Orleans for our two away games?” I ask her.
She hesitates. It’s subtle, but I catch it.
“You have to work,” I say immediately. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to choose. Don’t worry about it.”
“No!” she says immediately. “I want to come. And this week is a good one for me to take time off.”
“We could meet my parents, and if I have any downtime, I can take you to the area of Louisiana where I grew up,” I say. “It’s about an hour outside of New Orleans.”
“That sounds nice,” she says, and I can tell she means it.
Maybe I misread her signals earlier. I’m sure if she wanted to tell me something, she would. We always said we’d be honest with each other.
As we reach the truck, I lean her up against the side and kiss her.
She loops her arms around my neck and pulls me closer. “I’m so proud of you, Dec,” she whispers against my lips. “You played so great out there tonight.”
“We’re going to try to come home with the cup,” I say. “A sweep would be nice.”
“It would be,” she murmurs. “Either way, I’ll be in the stands cheering for you.”
That fact means more to me than I want to admit.
* * *
Turns out we don’t sweep.
But we do get one out of two, so we head home to Montana with a commanding three to one series lead against the Fire.
“I’ll see you at home,” I say to Mia as I kiss her goodbye after the game.
She and Jamie Beth are going to stay in New Orleans overnight and fly back in the morning.
“Have a safe trip,” she tells me. “Text me when you land.”
“I don’t want to wake you,” I say.
“Declan.” She stands on her tiptoes so she can kiss me again. “I want you to wake me.”
I’m still grinning when I get onto the team bus that’s taking us to our private plane.
Mia and I had a good time in New Orleans. We went to dinner after game three, and on our day off, we were able to go to my old hometown for lunch. I still can’t shake the feeling that something’s off, but Mia didn’t say anything, so I didn’t, either. I don’t want to push her if she’s working through something on her own.
As soon as we land, I jump into my truck and head home. I plan to catch some sleep before we have a light practice this afternoon.
I’ve just pulled up to my cabin when my agent calls.
“Hey,” I say as I hit accept on my phone. “Just got back.”
“Declan, meet me after practice,” Ned says. “I’ve got some news.”
“What about?” I ask him.
“Ownership stake,” is all he says before ending the call.
