Milton walks in as I’m changing my clothes, his grin growing the closer he gets. “Hey, Sunshine! Did you have a gooood night last night?”
“Nah, Mila left yesterday evening. But I had a good afternoon,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows.
“Hell yeah! I really like her, and Jennifer is about ready to plan your wedding. What are you guys anyway? Are you officially dating? Exclusive? Just casual? There are so many different terms these days. I can’t keep up.”
There’s nothing casual about the way I feel for Mila. After our conversation yesterday, I would assume we’re at least exclusive, but dating might be a stretch. “Hmm…I’m not sure. We are at leastverygood friends.”
“Well, you’d better make it official before someone else does.”
Gus skates over from his seat and sits in Bubba’s seat beside me. “Yeah, that woman is way out of your league, Sunny boy.”
“Move, asshole.” Before I can respond, Bubba slaps Gus in the head with his stick to scoot him over. “He’s right, though. How did you say you met her?”
I hella told you last week exactly how I met her, and you didn’t believe me. “Oh, that’s Teddy’s sister.”
“The fuck? Teddy has a sister?” Gus shouts from the other side of Bubba.
“He, um…didn’t know about it until he moved to Thunder Bay.”I really should protect the Taranov family secrets.“They share a father, but neither of them knew about each other until he passed away.”
“I can kinda see it now,” Milton chimes in. “Damn, their dad must’ve been massive. Those are two large humans.”
“Hey, don’t say that about Mila, asshole!”
“Whoa, I didn’t mean any disrespect. I’m just saying it’s in the genes. If anything, it’s a compliment. You two would forsurehave some athletic babies.”
“You guys are getting ahead of yourselves. It hasn’t even been two months since we’ve been seeing each other or…whatever.”Not that the short time matters at all to me. I would marry her right now if she would have me.
“Look, all we’re saying is that if you’re holding out on a relationship because you’re afraid of commitment or something, stop,” Bubba says, putting his arm around my shoulder. “I know it’s a new concept to you, but she’s the one. We all saw it, so just trust us and make the woman yours already.”
I smile and nod, but it will never be my decision. I onlywishit were me we were waiting on to be official. Nobody could ensnare Mila Taranova unless she came willingly, so I’ll just keep groveling at her feet until she does.
The practice bell rings, and everyone files out, immediately forgetting about my love life.Thank God. As always, I’m the last man out. I turn off the lights and make my way to the rink, but I don’t get far before Coach stops me.
“Prescott, my office. Now!”
Backtracking to his office, I pop my head in the open doorframe. “Yes, sir?”
“Have a seat, son.”
I go through any and every possible thing he could want, but I’m coming up short.He must have heard about Mila and wants to give me flak.
I plop myself down as well as I can with my pads on in his small seat and wait for him to say something, but he never does. And the sadness in his expression all but confirms this meeting isn’t just to mess with me. “Um…what’s going on?”
Coach hangs his head with a sigh. “You’re being transferred.”
A moment of silence passes as all I can do is blink. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re being transferred—”
“No, I heard you, but…why? Have I done something wrong? I’ve really been feeling good about my performance lately, but if you’re not happy about it, I can work harder or—”
“It’s not, Thatcher. I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Trust me…”
“Okay, well…where am I going?”
“Thunder Bay.”
Well, at least I’ll be with Teddy. That will be nice. And Mila will surely be planning to visit often anyway, so it shouldn’t be too inconvenient for her. We can talk about it this weekend and…wait…“When do I need to be there? I’m sure I can get my things packed in a week or so—”
