Page 64 of Halftime

I sighed. “Yeah, but it’s not that easy. I can’t just turn off what I felt.”

“Can you at least try? This is your time, a chance to have fun. Don’t piss it away.” I thought Coop would tell me I was being stupid, which was probably fair, but instead, he was being reasonable.

I scrubbed my face with my hand, frustrated with myself. “I’m not pissing away anything. I’m having fun. I just need…a bit of time.”

“Well, it’s New Year’s Eve. There are going to be a lot of single women at this party, so maybe you should consider if you’ve had enough time to at least kiss someone when the ball drops.”

I was getting pissed with him, but I was pretty sure that’s what he wanted. Maybe he thought it would kickstart me getting over Faith. “Are you seriously trying to get me angry enough to kiss someone just so I can shut you up?”

He flashed a grin at me. “Is it working?”

I had to laugh. “I’m not going to kiss someone just to prove something to you. But I’ll try, okay? If something feels like it’s working, I won’t shut it down.”

He punched the steering wheel. “That’s all I want. There’s a world of possibilities out there, Hunter. Keep your eyes open. I’m going to bring you to the fucking fun side yet.”

“Maybe.” I shot him a glance. “Maybe I’ll bring you over to the relationship side.”

“Right. You’re making it look good right now.”

He had a point. Breakups sucked. I needed to move on. After all, I was the one who’d called it quits this time. But it wasn’t because I didn’t care about Faith.

If only it was that simple.

* * *

Faith

Getting back to school was a relief.

My dad hadn’t returned, and my mom was still stalking his client. I’d tried again to tell her I was fine, and that she should leave Dad if she wanted to. I was on a scholarship, and I could take care of myself. She’d patted my cheek and said I didn’t understand.

I didn’t.

Back at school, I threw myself into hockey and classes. Coach asked if I was okay, and I assured her I was. I told her that being back here, keeping busy, was helping. Penny treated me like a wounded deer for the first couple of days, but finally she was convinced that I wasn’t about to fall apart. Not again. The weather was cold, and we had a lot of snow, but I didn’t mind. Back in Toronto, the snow always ended up gray and dingy. This was a smaller city, and things weren’t as dirty. I liked it.

Playing hockey really belonged to cold weather. And playing where the world looked like a Christmas card was a bonus. I might as well enjoy what I could. We had a home stand, and I got one of the starts. I would have loved another shut out, but I let one in on a power play. We got the win though, and that was the important part.

The women’s hockey house had a party after two wins that weekend. Fortunately, the men’s team was snowed in at their away games, so I was able to go and forget about my problems. Or at least the one that played hockey.

I had fun. Not the kind of fun that would be on the highlight reel of my college life, but I managed to forget Seb and my family and enjoy being around people—people who weren’t related to me or breaking up with me.

I could do this. I could be on my own and not worry about guys. If I wanted to hook up with someone, well, I was young. This was the time, right? I didn’t want to hook up with anyone at this party. But that was my choice. When I felt like it, I would.

I drank a little more than I should, but there was no practice in the morning, and I was mostly caught up on schoolwork. I’d had lots of time to work on my reading while I was home over break. I slept in the day after the party and took some aspirin to get rid of the lingering effects. Penny wanted to go for brunch, and I was almost ready when my phone rang. It was my mom.

I didn’t really want to answer. Her calls hadn’t brought much good news this year. She was still on the outs with Dad, and she complained about him every time we talked. I’d told her she should leave him, but she wasn’t going to, so the phone calls were just her excuse to vent. It always depressed me.

I knew she’d probably keep calling, so I answered, hoping it wasn’t going to spoil my Sunday. I had decided though, that if she was going to tell me about some photo she’d seen of Dad, I was going to refuse to listen this time. She could leave him or not. That was her choice, but I didn’t have to be part of it. Their relationship had messed with me, and it was time I set some limits.

That wasn’t why she was calling though. Mom told me that Gramma had left her estate to us—to me and her. “That’s great news, Mom.”

I wasn’t surprised, though she could have left everything to my mom. I didn’t expect much beyond the furniture and silverware that my mom had been trying to get me to choose while we cleaned up Gramma’s apartment. But Gramma had more. It wasn’t a fortune, not millions, but there was a lot more than anyone had known about. Two thirds were going to my mom, and one third to me. The money I was getting would easily handle the cost of school for as long as I needed or could pay for a house. Although maybe not much of a house in Toronto. This meant my mom had a lot coming to her.

She wanted to know what I was going to do with my money. The money I hadn’t even known I was going to get until five minutes ago.

“It’ll take a while to go through probate, Mom, but I’m good for now. I don’t know. I’ll just invest it or something until I need it. What about you?”

Mom started listing options—a vacation place, or something like that, and then it hit me. She could leave Dad. She didn’t have to stay and be miserable and humiliated. She could get her own place, divorce Dad, and do anything she wanted.

---