I stare at him, waiting for his face to break into a smile. It doesn’t.
“I can’t,” I mutter. “I won’t.”
“No?” His eyebrows rise.
“No. Absolutely not. Patterson is a nonnegotiable for me.” I stand from the chair because I can’t have this conversation sitting down, looking up at him like a child. “We don’t get tochoosewho we love.”
His face shifts—shock first, then something harder settling in.
“But you’d choose him over your family.”
“You can’t be serious,” I whisper. “You’re forcing a choice that doesn’t need to exist.” I step toward him. “I can love Patterson and still be your daughter. I can have him and have you.”
“You can’t. This relationship will affect my coaching.”
He turns away from me, facing the window that overlooks the practice rink. The same rink where I learned to skate, holding his hand while he guided me across the ice. I’ve always been so proud to be his daughter.
“I should’ve never made this commission happen,” he says to the window.
“Dad—”
“I should’ve never trusted you to be in this building every day,” he admits. “I thought I was helping your career. I thought I was being a good father.” He presses his palm flat against the window. “This is my fault.”
For one second, I see it—the crack in his armor. Then his shoulders straighten, and it’s gone. I don’t respond as he stands there with his back to me, hands tucked into his pockets. My father has always been so warm, and watching him push me away hurts.
“Your access to this facility is being revoked,” he says. “I don’t want to see you at any games. I don’t want you to be within five miles of my players.”
“Dad, please?—”
“I can’t look at you right now, Kendall.” His voice breaks on my name as he walks to the door and opens it. “I need you to leave.”
“Daddy.” The word rips out of me, raw and childlike. I haven’t called him that since he carried me off the ice after my ankle shattered, since he held me in the hospital while I sobbed into his chest. “I love him.”
He stops in the doorway. His back is to me, but I can see his shoulders tense.
“I’m in love with him,” I confirm, and my confidence slightly grows. “And I know you think that makes me naive, like every other girl who fell for a hockey player. But what we have is real. And I need you to realize that, even if you can’t accept it right now.”
Silence stretches between us.
“You should’ve never made me choose between my players and you,” he says.
“You’re choosing your pride over your daughter,” I say.
“Get out,” he says gruffly, moving back to his desk, ignoring me. “We’re done here.”
His indifference shatters an edge of my heart into fragments so small that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to piece it back together.
This was my biggest fear. I’ve officially lost my dad’s respect—something I’ve worked my entire life to gain. I wipe my face with the back of my hand and walk out of his office, trying to be strong.
Patterson rushes toward me in the hallway.
“Kendall.” He reaches for me, and I let him take my hands. “What happened?”
“He’s banning me from everything.” Saying it out loud doesn’t make me believe it anymore. “I never thought he’d do this.”
“He can’t do that.” Patterson’s jaw tightens.
“Yes, he can,” I whisper, growing more upset. “I can’t do this right now.”
