“I know, please forgive me.”
Shea ridiculously sighs. “Fine, only this time, though.”
“Thank God.” I smile devilishly at the little girl, one thing on my mind. I start walking toward the pool, and Shea understands her fate in seconds.
“No, no, no.” She laughs, squirming in my arms.
“Oh, it’s going to happen, little girl. Get ready, you’re about to get wet.” Like the “uncle” I am, I count to three then toss a bathing-suit-wearing Shea into the pool, who luckily, knows how to swim.
Dusting my hands off, I come face to face with Calder’s grilling spatula. “You realize you started a war, right? And Rachel is ALWAYS on Shea’s side. It’s hell, man.”
I grab a beer from the cooler next to the grill and say, “Oh please, you fucking love it.”
“I do.”
Speaking of Rachel, she walks up to Calder, a plate of patties in her hand, a glittering ring on her finger. I wasn’t surprised when Calder told me he proposed in New York City. I’m seriously happy for them.
“Hayden, I’m so glad you could make it. Where’s Adalyn? Did she have to work?”
Taking a giant gulp of my beer, I nod. “Yeah. Work.”
“Ugh, that stinks. I really wanted her to meet Shea. I think they would get along so well.”
There’s one vital thing you need to know about Calder. When it’s off-season, Calder shuts himself off from the world and he spends every waking moment with his family. He turns off his phone, leaving his landline open for emergencies, and steps away from social media and everything that has to do with hockey. The only routine he keeps is his workouts, because that’s a requirement as a professional athlete.
So I’m not surprised when Calder doesn’t mention my trade, or that Rachel is talking about Adalyn as if our world wasn’t flipped upside down with the news of my relocation.
This is going to be hard. I thought telling Adalyn I got traded was going to be difficult, but having to let my best friend know I won’t be sharing the same logo on my jersey as him . . . Fuck, I’m going to hate every second of this.
And then there was my family. My parents immediately called me, understandably upset about the news and me having to move so far away. My mom cried for far too long on the phone.
Will Calder cry? Nah, he’ll be upset though.
No one expected it, a rookie with a stellar first year to be traded. It’s almost unheard of, but it fucking happened. And all I can do is bend over and take it up the ass.
“Uh, hey I have to tell you two something.”
“What?” Rachel brings her arms around Calder’s waist, holding on to him tightly. Her face falls flat when she takes in my demeanor. “Oh no, did something happen with Adalyn? Did you two break up?”
Why are women so goddamn intuitive? There is no way I would be able to pick up on something that well. I swear, there are women out there that are mind readers, Rachel being one of them.
“Yeah, we did.”
“Nooo,” Rachel drags on, disappointment in her voice. “Why? You two were perfect together. I really liked her.” Calder gives Rachel a squeeze, silently telling her to cool it. It doesn’t work. “Did you talk to her about possibly moving to Philly? Was that it?”
I guzzle the second half of my beer and shake my head. “No, I asked her to move to Los Angeles.”
“Los Angeles? Why the hell would you ask her to move there?”
Glancing at Calder, I catch the understanding in his eyes before he closes them tightly and mutters under his breath. “Shit.”
“What? What’s happening?” Rachel looks between the two of us.
“I’ve been traded, Rach.” I reach into the cooler and pop open another beer.
“Traded? What the hell for?”
Running my tongue over my teeth, I say, “My agent thinks it’s from the last game, my temper, and the press conference after. The owner didn’t like it and traded me.”
