“Well, yeah, but I think it’s more because she has pretty bad anxiety and then, what it seems like to me at least, is that she gets fixated on one specific thing, like driving over a bridge, and she can’t handle it all then. She definitely is a bit quirky about some things, and I’m not quite sure why… Yet,” I added. “But can you keep this between us?” I asked.
He drew a breath in before pushing the bar back up and I waited patiently for a response.
When he put the bar back down, his blue eyes focused back on me. “Well, anxiety is not the same thing as grief,” he looked away to make sure no one could overhear us. “But with Sav, I got her a dog, and it really took her mind off things. Like she focused more on the puppy than what was going on withher.”
Now that was something to think about. I wasn’t sure if we were ready for a pet together… but gifting her a pup, that wouldn’t be bad, would it?
“Like a therapy dog?” I asked.
His eyes widened. “Oooh, don’t call it that. That got me in a shitload of trouble. She was in such denial about everything. I don’t know, maybe Ellie’s not stubborn like that. But the puppy ended up in my bed and I was in the doghouse. My advice, just treat it like a gift, but yeah, functioned as a kind of therapy forSav.”
“Interesting,” I said. That would definitely be something to think about. I did love puppies and hadn’t had one since our childhood beagle passed away.
I pictured Ellie driving with a cute golden retriever kinda dog sitting shotgun. Or would she want one of those tiny dogs? Damn… maybe I should just buy it because then I could pick it out. It’s not like I wasn’t making money now… And maybe if I kept the dog she’d want to visit evenmore.
“Sav’s an overthinker too,” Griff said with a grin. “It used to drive me crazy, but the thing is, when a girl tries to think of every single risk and reason not to be with you, but then is still there with ya, it really shows she loves you,” he said. “Overthinkers just need to be wifed up, bud,” he smirked. “Saves time.”
That stopped me in my tracks. I’d never thought about it that way, but he really did have a good point about that. She pushed me away as hard as she could, but… she was still coming to see me, wasn’t she?
I spent the rest of the workout daydreaming about different dogs and different names, which was probably me getting in over my head… but Griff did it and it worked out for him pretty nicely, right?
When we were finally dismissed from workouts, I ran back to my place to get showered and ready for Ellie’s arrival… and I guess the banquet too, not that I cared too much about it. I was more into trying to impress my girl.
I watched out my window as she parked in the back of my apartment complex, and I ran down the stairs to greet her, feeling like a kid on a Christmas morning.
I ran down the stairwell and cranked open the back door swiftly, making her jump slightly. She was still next to her car, grabbing her bag.
I let a slow smile spread on my face then, because she looked absolutely stunning. I made a big show of looking her up and down and called, “Dayyumm, girl!”
She bit her lip, and I could tell those cheeks were turning pink.
I took a few strides to walk over to her, took the bag from her hand, and wrapped my other arm around her little waist. I hoisted her up and spunaround.
She laughed, put her delicate hand on my face and kissed me lightly.
“Nice to see you too, Hockey Boy.”
“Missed you, SkaterGirl.”
I set her back on the ground and placed a hand at the small of her back, guiding her toward my place.
“How was the rest of the drive?”
She beamed up at me. “Great.”
“Glad to hear it, babe. Ready for this banquet?” Iasked.
She smoothed the light green dress I’d given her. “This boujee enough?” she asked, throwing her body into a show-offpose.
I leaned back to check her out. “So very boujee, so verysexy.”
After dropping her bag off in my apartment, I locked up and we turned to head straight back to the arena where the banquet was being held.
I reached for her hand as we walked the couple blocks down the sidewalk to the rink. I could see a couple other fancy couples’ heads bobbing up and down as they walked toward the rink as well.
“I missed this,” I told herearnestly.
“Holding my hand, Theodore? Oh, boy,” she looked up at me in mock seriousness. “TJ and Ellie sittin in a tree,” she sang at me teasingly, copying what I had said to her only a couple days ago.
