Page 46 of Something Like That

Alex got it. She was feeling a lot of awe and lust in regards to Nick Sadler herself. She stepped into the box and moved over next to Lexi. She gave the younger woman a congenial jab with her elbow. “You’re drooling, Lex.”

The color in Lexi’s cheeks deepened. “Sorry,” she said, and glanced at Nick again.

Alex laughed. “Hey, I get it. He’s pretty… amazing.” She couldn’t stop a goofy grin from spreading across her face. “Now, about the party.”

Chapter Ten

Alex pushed open the door to the lobby to find Nick sitting on one of the benches signing a Team USA jersey for one of the players’ dads. He handed the sharpie and the jersey back to Kyle and smiled. This wasn’t one of his breathtaking smiles, though, this was a tepid one, forced even. Something was wrong.

“Thanks, man,” Kyle said, holding out his hand.

Nick shook it. “You’re welcome.” His tone was even, no inflection whatsoever. Borderline robotic. Which was troubling. What the heck had happened?

She hurried over and sat next to Nick, pressing her arm against his. He was tense, his muscles clenched tight.

“Hey, Kyle.” She kept her voice bright but firm. “Could you excuse us for a minute?”

“Sure, sure.” Kyle nodded, looking just as dopey as ever. He spun around and walked away.

“Hey,” she said, leaning into Nick. He relaxed against her, the tension in him melting away. “Whatever he said, remember, he’s an idiot.”

He made a noise in the back of his throat. “Yeah, I kind of got that.” He didn’t sound like he did. He sounded almost defeated.

“What did he say to you?” She couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice.

“Nothing I didn’t already know.”

“And what’s that?”

He shrugged and fiddled with the laces on his skates, which were on the bench next to him. Something about the slump of his shoulders, the line of his jaw, made sadness scrape against the inside of her throat.

Especially when she compared him now to what he’d been like on the ice. He’d been happy, free of all the self-imposed expectations he’d balanced on his broad shoulders, even if it was just for a little while. The next time she saw Kyle she was going to wring his stupid, fat neck.

She nudged Nick with her shoulder. “Is this about the championship? Winning isn’t the only thing, you know?” She kept her voice soft, even, unsure of his reaction.

He closed his eyes for a second, and drew in a deep breath. The muscles in his chest and back pulled his t-shirt tight, and no, she shouldn’t be noticing because they were having a serious conversation.

“Alex…”

Her name was a mixture of warning and weariness, but she refused to back down. “We always tell the kids that winning isn’t everything. And that’s okay. The most important thing is that, if you love the game, you give it your all. Trophy’s aren’t the only measure of how good someone is, or how much they love the game.”

“It’s not the same thing.” He turned his head to look at her. The guardedness in his eyes sent a spiral of disappointment slicing through her. Where had the carefree Nick from earlier gone?

And why was she pushing this?

She didn’t know, other than she thought he needed to hear it. “Why? Because they’re kids?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what is it? Help me understand.”

He thrust a hand through his hair, making it stick up all cute and rumply. “It’s hard to explain.” He stared out the window in front of them, his haunted gaze glued to the dark parking lot. Silence wrapped around them, pulling tight enough to suffocate. “It’s just, my whole life has been about me being the best, winning the championship. It’s what I’ve trained for. What I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.”

She swallowed down the response balanced on the tip of her tongue. While she had no doubt he wanted to win, she suspected there was more to the story. She remembered what his dad had been like, always pushing, pushing, pushing, barely letting Nick breathe. It wasn’t a stretch to say his bordering-on-unhealthy obsession with winning had something to do with his complicated relationship with his dad.

Not that she had room to comment on screwed up parental relationships. She hadn’t spoken to her parents since they tossed her out of their house when she told them she was pregnant. Her hope was that she could at least break the cycle with Em. So far, she thought she was doing a pretty good job.

Way to bring down the mood, Alex. Great job.