"You're like an old married couple," he said after watching them cook dinner together one night. "You finish each other's sentences. You have inside jokes. Jake, you did her dishes without being asked."
"And?" Jake said.
"And it's adorable. Also sickening. But mostly adorable."
The Wolves won their next three games. Jake played well, but his mind was already shifting to coaching. Tommy had him running practices now, teaching plays, working with individual players on their technique.
"You're a natural," Tommy said after Jake led a particularly effective practice. "The guys respond to you. They trust you."
"Even Owen?"
"Especially Owen. Kid follows you around like a puppy."
It was true. Owen had taken to asking Jake endless questions about everything—hockey technique, life decisions, how to know if you were making the right choice.
"How did you know?" Owen asked one day after practice. "That staying here was the right call? That turning down the NHL was worth it?"
"I didn't know," Jake admitted. "I just knew that chasing the NHL was making me miserable. And staying here, building this life—it made me happy. Sometimes that's all you can go on."
"But what if you regret it later?"
"Then I'll deal with that later. But Owen—you can't live your life trying to avoid all possible regret. You just have to make the best choice you can with the information you have and trust that you'll figure out the rest."
Owen nodded thoughtfully. "Is that what Miss Lucy is doing? Going to Paris?"
"Yeah. That's exactly what she's doing."
At home—and Jake had started thinking of both apartments as home, switching between them so seamlessly he sometimes forgot which one he was in—he and Lucy talked about logistics.
"I'll visit in March," Jake confirmed. "Spring break for youth hockey. I can take a week off."
"A week in Paris together," Lucy said, smiling. "What do you want to do?"
"Eat pastries. See the Eiffel Tower. Watch you be amazing at culinary school."
"We're not doing demonstrations for visitors."
"I'll bribe your instructors with my charm."
"You're not that charming."
"You're dating me, so clearly I'm somewhat charming."
Lucy laughed and kissed him. These moments—easy, playful, comfortable—were what Jake would miss most.
On the first Saturday of December, Jake took Lucy to see Emma's hockey team play their first game of the season.
Emma skated up to the glass when she saw them. "Miss Lucy! You came!"
"Wouldn't miss it."
Emma proceeded to score two goals and assist on another. After the game, she bounced over to where Jake and Lucy were standing.
"Did you see? Did you see?"
"I saw. You were incredible," Jake said.
"Are you still leaving for Paris?" Emma asked Lucy.
