I raised my eyebrows and stared at him.
“I’d rather not go into detail,” Niklas added.
“You know you’re only making me more curious, don’t you?”
“All right,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I made it clear I was getting out of hockey. I told him that if we were to take our relationship further, I had more than enough money to take care of you, no matter what we do next.”
“What?” said I, dropping my hands to my sides. “Did we just rewind a century or two? And we don’t even know what’s happening next week.”
I took a couple short breaths, and Niklas looked at the floor.
“I thought you might say something like that,” he said.
He took a deep breath and met my eyes again.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with us,” he said quietly. “But your father really wants to know you’ll be okay.”
I shook my head.
“No. He wants me to get married and have someone else to take care of me. Basically do what my mother did. Get married, settle down. That’s probably why I stayed with Brad so long—I was trying to be a good daughter. But I’m done with that.”
“So you bought a ticket and left town to be on your own for a bit?”
“Yep.”
Niklas leaned his forehead on mine. “And then I came along and ruined it?”
I heard an apology behind his teasing.
I softened my voice. “I just need to do some things on my own. I wouldn’t be happy if my whole life were dependent on you, and I don’t think you would be, either.”
Niklas nodded slowly. “I agree. But we can sort that out for ourselves. What I said to your father—that was for him. That’s what he needed to hear from me.”
He found my hand and covered it with his. I let out my breath.
“Okay,” I said. “My parents are probably trying to listen in from the kitchen right now.”
He smirked. “If we are, it’ll save us some explaining.”
As if on cue, my mother walked down the hall toward us, followed by my father.
“Where’s Brad?” she asked.
“He didn’t stay,” I said.
Niklas bent down and picked up the bouquet off the floor. “But he brought you some flowers.”
My mother’s eyes widened, and my father suppressed a laugh. Finally, I detected a hint of a smile on my mother’s lips.
“Just for me? How thoughtful of him,” she said. “Shall we eat?”
