Page 37 of Breakaway

They started walking and Remi tucked her big turquoise scarf up higher under her chin against the late afternoon breeze off Lake Michigan. She bit her lip. Should she call him?

“Let’s go here.” Delise stopped in front of a small Thai restaurant.

They stepped inside and were seated at a small table near the front. They draped their jackets over the back of their chairs and Remi set her cell phone on the table and eyed it between studying the menu.

“Call him.”

“I have to give him time to get cleaned up. I’ll call him later. After dinner.”

Her stomach tight, shoulders tense, she managed to eat half her pad Thai, but she barely tasted it. Focusing on conversation with Delise took her mind off Jase for a while, until they emerged from the restaurant onto the dark street and she remembered with a jolt all the blood and Jase being helped off the ice.

Delise drove her home. “I’m sure he’s fine,” she said. “Athletes are tough.”

Remi made a face and nodded as she got out of the car.

Jasmine sat in the living room watching television, wearing cotton pajamas, her long blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail. “Hey. How was the game?”

“The Wolves lost.” Remi unwound her scarf from around her neck. She glanced at Jasmine. Damn. Her puffy eyes and pink nose told her she’d been crying again. “Did you talk to Ethan?”

“Yes.” Jasmine sniffled. “He wants me to come back.”

“Oh.” Remi dropped into an armchair, slip-covered in creamy canvas to match the sofa even though they were ancient and from a different set. “And what did you say?”

“I told him I…I’d think about it.” She swiped the back of her hand across her nose. “I love him so much, Remi. I want to go back and try again.”

Remi held in her sigh. “Why do you keep going back to him, Jasmine?”

“Because I love him. He swears he wasn’t cheating on me.”

“And you believe him?”

“Yes.”

Remi leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. “Well, then if you go back, you’ll trust him?”

Jasmine bit her lip and tears sparkled in the lamplight. “Maybe.”

“Maybe you should think about it before you decide to go back.”

“That’s what I’m doing. I’m not rushing it.”

Remi wished Jasmine would see that her relationship with Ethan wasn’t healthy, but she seemed blind to it and got defensive if anyone tried to point that out to her. But maybe taking her time before moving back in with him would give her a chance to think about their things.

The doorbell rang, interrupting her gloomy thoughts. She frowned.

Jasmine sat up straight and put her feet on the floor. “That must be Ethan.”

Remi rose and looked at her. “Do you want to see him?”

“Yes. No.” Jasmine scrubbed at her cheeks and smoothed her ponytail as Remi went to the door. ”I don’t know.”

Jase walked up to the house, the front window glowing golden through the drawn curtains. In the quiet dark neighborhood, it seemed like a beacon—inviting, homey, welcoming.

He stood on the porch beneath the light and paused.

What the fuck was he doing here?

After the game, the guys were going out and had invited him along. For some reason, going somewhere like Rouge or another hot club with groupies and puck bunnies appealed to him as much as a stick in the eye.

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