Me: No can do. Boiler repairs at Edith’s. I need to check in.
Axel: Only because it’s her.
Me: I’ll make it up to you.
Axel: I’ll hold you to it.
Carnal thoughts about the world’s sexiest hockey player, who was all mine, were playing like a movie reel in my head when Susannah walked into my office. “Hey. Are you okay if I head out for the day after I go to Eastover? Axel just got home, and he’s got a game tonight.”
“Yeah, sure. It should be fine.” She still didn’t look right.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
She sat down in the chair next to my desk and laid a newspaper in front of me. With her hand on top of it, she looked me in the eye. “I need to show this to you.”
“Okay.” Lifting the paper, I opened it to the sports page and read the title.Hockey’s New Power Couplewas splashed across the headline.
“It’s okay. We knew it was only a matter of time before the press got word of our relationship. We don’t have anything to hide.”
Her brow furrowed. “The article isn’t about you and Axel; it’s about him and his teammate. It says it’s his ex.”
Bile rose into my throat, making it hard to swallow. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my racing heart. This didn’t add up. “I know Axel, and he isn’t a cheater or a liar.”
I looked at it again. The photos were of him and Heath on the ice, in a bar, sitting side by side. Was it damning? Yes. Did the thought of it make me sick to my stomach? Also, yes.
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
I stared down at the paper and made my decision. “I’m not going to read it. It would be easy to believe, and it could destroy me. But I know him. And he’d never do this to me.”
She looked at me like it wasn’t making sense. “The article says they were overheard talking about getting back together.”
She wasn’t making me feel any better. “Still. not reading it.”
“Did you know about that guy?”
“Yes. He told me about Heath the minute he came home from practice when he was traded to the Nighthawks. It’s not him. He wouldn’t do that.”
I wasn’t going to divulge anything about his parents. That wasn’t my place. He was innocent until proven guilty. And I wasn’t about to try him in the media.
“I just don’t want to see you get your heart broken. That’s all.”
“Thank you. But it’s okay.” I folded it up and handed it back to her. “Thank you for letting me know, but I’m gonna choose to believe in him rather than hockey gossip.”
“I had to show you. What kind of friend would I be if I hadn’t?”
“It’s okay,” I replied. “I’m glad you did. If he were anyone else but Axel, I would be concerned. But not about him. I feel it in my heart.”
“Good.” She walked over to the trash can and tossed it inside, then squeezed my shoulder on the way out.
The newspaper haunted me all day long. But my resolve was stronger than my doubt until it hit social media, and the fans started to leave comments. My phone screen lit up a milliontimes before I turned it off. Standing, I went to Susanna’s office. “I’m heading out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure thing. Let me know if we need to threaten to pull funding. Money talks in this town.”
I smiled. “Okay. I’ll be in touch.”
When I walked out the door, I had no idea what was waiting for me.
I didn’t consider myself to be an intuitive person, but I had lived long enough to sense when something bad was going to happen. Large work trucks surrounded the area, making it difficult to find a place to park. I ended up parking two blocks away, then running the rest of the way to see what was happening.
