Page 31 of SlapShot Sweetheart

“Yup. HOA said I couldn’t put my boat in the driveway – so I told them I’d find another one,” Coeur grinned. “You don’t come between a man and his boat.”

“What about you, Batiste? What are you doing this weekend?”

“Don’t you mean ‘who’?” Thierry joked as Theo frowned at his friend.

“Not funny,” he muttered. “She’s a lady, and I like ‘er.”

“What happened to ‘playing the field’?”

“I’m tired of looking around,” he admitted. “If I go out with someone, they want to talk money. I don’t want to talk about money – I want to talk about me, things I like, places we could go, things she likes… which is why I went on the blind date. I want to talk to someone who doesn’t know me.”

“I get that,” Coeur admitted.

“Me too,” Lafrenière volunteered, shaking his head. “Dating is hard once your face makes it onto a billboard.”

“Batiste wouldn’t know…”

“Tais toi,”he snapped bluntly, looking at his blond friend. “Just because you look like Thor from the movies doesn’t mean that the rest of us are ugly.”

“Just Batiste.”

“Eh?”

“He must not be that ugly if he landed that pretty girl,” Giroux nodded and fist-bumped Theo. “I’m happy for you, my friend.”

“I ‘aven’t ‘landed’ her yet,” Theo admitted quietly. “I’m crazy about ‘er, but things are going slow, I think.”

“Keep talking to her and give her time.”

“Good game,mes amis…”he said simply, turning off the faucet and grabbing his towel. “See you at practice.”

Dressing quickly, he gathered his things and half expected Aimee to be gone. It was getting late, and though she worked from home, he knew she had mentioned the time already.

She was a very complicated person, almost reminding him of an instrument. It would sound terrible until you learned howto play it – which took time. He never imagined comparing someone to an instrument before because it wasn’t a game you learned to manipulate, but rather a skill honed through genuine feelings and wanting to do better, simply because something so wonderful deserved someone that would give their ‘all’ to it – like hockey.

Anyone could slip on a pair of ice skates and grab a stick, but it took real skill, drive, dedication, and hard work to even try to make it on the ice. That and a massive amount of luck. Sucking in his breath, he prayed for that same amount of luck as he opened the door to the family lounge and saw her profile as she slowly turned toward the door, almost like a cat stretching.

He spotted Becca distractedly, waving a faint ‘hello.’

“Becca, Travis will be out in a bit,” he volunteered simply and moved toward Aimee, as if drawn by some unseen force, holding out his hand to her… which his prickly girl didn’t take. Instead, she lifted an eyebrow and rose to her feet on her own as if silently saying, ‘See? I don’t need you’– the only thing that kept him from getting frustrated or upset was the fact that she was actually here.

Aimee was here, waiting, which said so many other things that gave him hope. She could have left without a word or texted him to say she was going home, yet she waited. He dropped his hand awkwardly and hated the look Becca was giving the two of them right now. Yeah, having someone witness the back-and-forth tug of war between them was hard… and humbling.

She didn’t need him, but he needed her.

Theo swallowed as he met Aimee’s eyes and held out his arm to her, praying that she took it and didn’t reject him once more. He let out his breath as she stepped forward, putting her hand on his forearm, and turned to Becca.

“It was very nice meeting you,” she said quietly.

“I’m sure I’ll see you again.”

And neither Theo nor Aimee said a word, instead choosing to let that silence speak for itself. He would love to have her attend a game again, but it had to be her idea and something she wanted. If he had to beg her to come, trick her, or press her into making an appearance, then things wouldn’t work out between them. And oh, how he wanted things to work! Walking her to the private entrance to the parking garage, he hesitated for only a moment before speaking.

“Do you want to follow me?” he asked simply. “Or do you want me to bring you back to get your car in a bit?”

“I’ll follow,” she began and then paused long enough for him to wonder if she’d changed her mind, only for her to turn her face upward to him. “You don’t mind bringing me back to my car?”

“Not at all.”

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