His cheeks are pink.
“I like it when you blush,” I tell him.
“You don’t remember him?” Annika frowns.
I glance at my sister.
She seems to be in an unusually disagreeable mood. Perhaps she does not like the final year of her master’s program as much as she hoped to like it. Unfortunately, I do not remember our recent conversations.
“Florian has amnesia,” Mateo says finally.
My parents gasp. Annika’s expression sobers.
I hate it.
They make it seem like this is something terrible. Which I suppose it is.
“But I feel fine,” I say quickly. “Apart from all the pain.”
“And you have Mateo,” my mother says.
“Who you do not remember,” Annika says, looking at Mateo strangely.
“No. But I will remember him.” I turn to Mateo. “I promise you. I will remember you.”
“Yes.” His jaw tenses somewhat, which is weird, but it must be strange for him to meet his boyfriend’s family under these circumstances.
“This can’t have been an easy day for you,” I say.
“You woke up,” he says. “That’s theimportant thing.”
My body relaxes, and everything is warm and wonderful. I yawn.
His dark eyes are tender. “Get some sleep.”
Then he hesitates, probably because my family is in the room, then kisses my cheek. The heart monitor beeps, and he chuckles and shakes his head.
Voices drift around me, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone I love is in this room with me. No matter what happens with hockey, that’s the most important thing.
I smile.
I am a Blizzard. They signed me up years ago, but I have been playing in Europe for so long, I sometimes wondered if they would ever send for me. I thought for sure I would come after Dmitri Volkov was deported, but they got another player from Los Angeles instead.
But I managed to join after all.
I have never been so happy.
I am still happy when I wake up, and I am still happy when the nurses explain to Mateo and my family when I need to take pills, what I need to be eating, and how I can best recover.
I continue to be happy as I’m wheeled out. Mateo tells my family that we can all stay in my apartment together. I’ll have my boyfriend, my parents, my sister.
I am very lucky.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Mateo
