“When’s Coop going to propose to your sister?”
“When he can beat my dad in an arm wrestle.”
“What’s the secret to working with Scottie Quinn?”
“Caffeine. A caffeinated Quinn is a happy Quinn.”
“What’s her favorite drink?”
My heart stops.
Lucas shrugs. “You’d have to ask Jake.”
Whew.
Gabriela steps forward before anyone can fire off another question. “Last one,” she says firmly.
Lucas’s final question is his plan for the season, and he says simply, “To play my best and to keep getting better.” Then he stands up. “That’s my time. Thanks, guys.” He gives Gabriela the mic pack and heads straight to the corner of the room away from the backdrop where I’m waiting.
I grab his arm and pull him down the short hallway to the video review room. The door’s propped open, but it’s empty.
I close the door.
“You let it spiral,” I say.
“Let what spiral?”
“About Jake!”
“Quinn, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What did I say?”
“It’s not what you said—though the story about you and Logan was a bit much. It’s about the fact that you kept entertaining their questions! We went over this!”
He’s opening his mouth, but words aren’t coming out. “I did the best I could. I’ll watch out for that next time. But … what was so bad?”
I exhale, wishing the coiling tension in my chest would release instead of bundle even tighter.
“It was too much about him. He’s gonna hate it.”
“Then maybe he shouldn’t have choked someone,” I mumble.
I feel as shocked as if he’d said it into a microphone. “You have no idea the stress he was under or what Palermo had been saying to him for weeks. There’s a reason Jake’s not the one who got traded after that.”
“For two seconds, can our conversations not revolve around Jake?” he asks.
“What are you talking about? We almost never talk about him.”
“Right, he’s just the … the living ghost haunting our every interaction.”
“Silent specter?”
“Is that necessary?” He looks hurt at my correction, and that almost breaks me.
A quiet whimper escapes my throat, and I lean back against the table. “No, it wasn’t. That was bratty.”
“I wouldn’t call it that.”
“Another word that starts withb?”
