This secret was going to detonate everything when he found out.
“I’m glad,” Jim said. “She’s spent so much time following me from city to city, rarely taking time for herself. I appreciate the dedication, but she’s twenty-eight. I want to see her with someone who can take care of her when I no longer can.”
“Maybe she wants to take care of herself.”
His smile came easy. “You know what I mean. She’s smart, and she’ll always do well. But I know she’s lonely sometimes. We all are, I guess.” He lifted a bite of eggs but didn’t slide it into his mouth. “I worry sometimes that I asked too much of her. That she sacrificed too much to stay close.”
My throat closed. He had no idea that she’d found someone and that person was sitting across from him, nodding along like he wasn’t the complication Jim would never approve of.
The guilt that had been building for days gouged my chest.
“She’s talented,” I said carefully. “Her work speaks for itself.”
“It does.” Jim ate the bite of eggs. “But I want more for her than just work. Everyone deserves that. Even people who love this sport as much as we do.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
We talked for another twenty minutes about defensive pairings and system adjustments and all the safe topics that didn’t put me in a situation where I might need to lie. By the time we left, we’d finished our meals and my shoulders ached from the tension I’d been holding.
“Whatever you figured out, whatever clicked, keep doing it,” he said as we started walking toward the arena only a few blocksaway. “You’re playing the best hockey I’ve seen from you in years.”
“I will.”
He clapped my shoulder and we continued, entering the arena. He went toward his office while I stepped back outside and leaned against the front of the building, taking my phone from my pocket.
How did it go?Haley had left me a message.
Alright. We’ll tell him soon. We have to.
Haley’s response came through right away.I’m ready. I love you.
I love you too.
I looked up from my phone to find Crim paused on the sidewalk not far away. He watched me with an expression I couldn’t read. Just…knowing. He nodded once, a gesture that said,I see what you’re carrying, and you’re running out of time.
Then he stepped inside the building.
I stood on the sidewalk, staring at my phone, Crim’s knowing look burned into my memory.
We had four days left in our week. Then we’d sit down with Jim, and I’d watch everything I’d built here either survive or collapse.
Soon, we’d find out if love was enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY
HALEY
Two days after the season opener, I stood in front of my closet at six in the morning, staring at clothes as if they were a tactical problem I couldn’t solve.
The blue blouse was professional. Safe. The kind of thing I wore when I wanted to disappear into the walls during team meetings. I pulled it out, held it against my chest, and immediately shoved it back. Too cowardly.
The green sweater made me look approachable. And it was soft. It made me look like someone who hadn’t been letting a player go down on her in a hotel gym while the rest of the team slept a few floors above.
Also wrong.
My hand landed on the cream-colored blouse with the small buttons down the front. I’d bought it a few years ago, and I’d always thought it made me look put-together. I’d also thought it made me look like myself instead of someone trying to disappear into the paneling.
That felt right.
