She smiles, slow and satisfied. "Crystal."
26
TALIA
The Ultimate Cliché
Over the next few days, I replay his words in my head more times than I care to admit.
I know he didn’t specifically sayI’ve fallen in love with you. But he didn’t need to. What he said—and the way he said it—tugged at my heart. And I see his affection in everything he does.
I feel it when he pulls me into one of his amazing hugs. When he pretends to be offended because I steal pieces from his cutting board. Or when he looks at me sometimes with that mixture of awe and tenderness.
This is no longer some arrangement where we’re pretending or rushing toward a divorce. And although we don’t talk about that part anymore, I don’t mind.
I’m happy. So happy.
There’s something softer about him lately. Or maybe I’m just seeing it clearly now.
And there’s something softer in me, too.
We move through the next few days in an easy rhythm.
Breakfast together. Practice. Evenings on the couch. Bear constantly underfoot, demanding attention like he’s the glue holding this household together.
Sometimes I catch Jake watching me when he thinks I’m not looking, the corners of his mouth twitching like he’s still surprised I’m here.
I don’t feel temporary anymore.
I feel… chosen.
I’ve gone to a few more of his practices since that night.
The first time after our driveway confession, I sit in the stands with a new kind of awareness.
When he skates onto the ice, he finds me almost immediately.
Our eyes lock for a second, and he gives me the smallest nod, like we share a secret no one else in the arena understands.
And suddenly I want him even more. I’m practically salivating as I watch him.
The way his thighs flex under his gear when he pushes off. The authority in his voice when he calls plays. The confidence in every movement.
It’s like every day he becomes even more attractive. More intoxicating. More mine.
After practice, he now comes over to the boards where I’m waiting. He doesn’t care who sees him lean in to kiss me through the gap in the glass.
The first time he does it, I blush.
He smirks.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
“You’re mine,” he says casually, like it’s obvious.
My heart nearly stops.
