Hank.
“I thought Lucy might appreciate knowing when things are happening,” he says. “And for who.”
“She will,” I say quietly, eyes heating up. “She really will.”
“There’s no game tonight,” he steps forward, and lifts my chin so our eyes meet. “Tomorrow night, yes. Then nothing until Saturday.” He leans down and kisses the top of my head. “Pick an evening that we can talk. Properly. No fevers. No pretending this is nothing or temporary.”
I look at the names on the list, mine and his, Lucy’s in between, and how much I’d like that… for Lucy.
“Wednesday,” I say.
Chapter 15
Suprise
Lenzin
Practice is noise and motion and rules I understand. It makes sense in a way feelings don’t.
Lines. Drills. Whistles. Repetition. If you do the work, the outcome is rarely a surprise.
I feel torn for the first time between this thing that has saved me from feeling trapped in a life I didn’t choose, and for the first time, feeling that my life after hockey may actually be better than I could have imagined.
I’m confident, this thing beating in my chest, the heightened alertness I feel in every cell of my body, and the energy surrounding me. It is more than a birthright, more than hockey.
This change has been here, in a way, for a few months. The idea of having children changed from something I was adamantly against to something I realized I might be missing when Savannah came into all of our lives, and that changed even more with Lucy. Although I suspect it has a lot to do with her sister too, not that she wouldn’t have made me want nothing but the best of the best for her, and assisted in whatever capacity Icould, but in all honesty, I’d never had been in a situation where I noticed.
I’m fully aware what a selfish ass that makes me sound. I won’t rebuke it if called out. I’ve lived inside a tunnel my whole life, avoiding the inevitable responsibilities that will come after hockey is no longer my life. It is what it is.
Aleks skates up to me and grabs a bottle of water, “You were early today.”
“I’m always early.”
“Earlier,” he corrects. “Like, avoiding home early.”
I take a long drink and keep my eyes forward. “Efficiency is not a crime.”
“It is when you look smug about it.”
I ignore that. Stretch my neck. He waits. Aleks is very patient when he thinks he’s onto something.
“So,” he says casually. “How are things at the house?”
“Functional.”
“That is not an answer,” he snaps.
“It is absolutely an answer.”
He quirks a brow. “Lucy still sick?”
“Fever’s holding,” I say wondering but not asking how he knows. The answer is simple, the girls talk, and Hildy is now one of them, “but it’s being managed.”
“And Hildy?”
There it is. I tighten the cap on my bottle. “She’s the management.”
Aleks squints at me for a beat too long. “You have never once described a woman as management, unless you’re evading.”
