That makes him smile brightly, and oh my god. It’s devastating. Ten years had dulled the memory of his smile and what it felt like to bear the full force of it. “You following my schedule, Rosebud?”
“What? No. But I know it’s the end of the regular season, and I’m not living under a rock. I know you guys are headed to the playoffs. I’m sure you’re busy.”
When he pulls his full lower lip between his teeth, I can’t help staring. I always wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. And I thought—well, I’d hoped—the summer after senior year I’d get to find out.
“Don’t give me that look. You made sure I knew all about hockey after being friends for years.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know you still followed it. Which is why I was so surprised to see you in the stands at my game.”
I knew I’d surprised him. And I blame myself for the hit he took. If I hadn’t distracted him with my presence, he never would have missed the defenseman careening toward him.
Sebastian rarely lets anything get past him. I know because, despite what I told him, I do follow his schedule. And his stats and his interviews. I watch every game from the solitary comfortof my living room and cheer him on like he didn’t once break my heart into a million pieces. I can’t seem to help myself.
Ryland always hated when I had one of Sebastian’s games on. And he wasn’t even aware of our shared past.
“I’m sorry about that hit. Are you… Are you okay?”
Sebastian smiles softly at me. “Yeah. I’m fine. It looked worse than it was.”
Goalies rarely take hits the same way the rest of the team does, so it’s more shocking when they do. The few times a season when Bash took hits always made me sick to my stomach with worry, despite our history.
“Anyway, what do you say? Can I treat you to a coffee?”
Shifting my laptop case on my back, I consider it. Part of me wants to say yes. To bask in his presence for an afternoon. Let myself forget that I wasn’t good enough for him and ignore the growing realization that I haven’t felt this kind of connection with a single man outside of him. I don’t want to let myself look too hard at what that means for me and the rest of my life.
“I have work to do. I’m sorry.”
His face falls for a moment before the smile reappears. “That’s okay. Can I take you out another time? We’re flying out for an away series tonight, but I’ll be back on Thursday. I could treat you to dinner?”
I came here to be close to Sebastian, but I never expected to actually run into him. Even after the game and Lola’s run-in with him, I figured the Twin Cities were big enough that I could avoid him and simply enjoy the idea of our proximity.
This puts a kink in that plan.
“I…”
“Please, Indie. It’s just food. Or coffee. Whatever you want, really, I just…” Sebastian clears his throat, his gaze flicking to the side before returning to settle on me. “I’ve missed you.”
That statement—spoken with so much earnestness—sucks all the air from my lungs. How can I say no to that?
Damn it.
“Okay. Fine. We can get dinner or something.”
The brightness of his smile pushes me off-kilter. “Great. Yeah. Okay.”
We stand there, staring at each other for a moment, before he digs his phone out of his pocket. He unlocks it, opens his contact list, then hands it to me. It takes me a second to process what I’m seeing. A photo of me when I was seventeen, the nameRosebud, and my old phone number. All these years, and he never deleted my number, even though he had to realize it was no longer mine?
He flashes me a gentle smile, like he knows what I’m thinking. “Could you put your number in?”
He says it so easily. Like the ground isn’t shifting beneath my feet. Because for ten years, he’s held on to his old number, and mine. I don’t know how to take that. I don’t know what it means.
“Yeah. Sure, of course.” My hands tremble as I type in my current number and hit save. They tremble as I pass the phone back to Sebastian.
“Thanks, Indie.”
I can’t hold his gaze, so I drop mine to my feet as I scuff them across the sidewalk. “Sure. Listen, I should go. I really do need to get some work done.”
“Right. I’m sorry, I’ll let you go, it’s just, can I…” He sucks in a deep breath, drawing my attention back to him. “Can I hug you?”
