Page 34 of Goaltender Interference

Connor nodded. “Yeah. We met at BU—uh, Boston University.”

Jesse leaned forward, curious to learn more about his captain. “I didn’t know you went the college route.”

“For a bit. I don’t even remember what my major was at the time but I knew I wasn’t gonna stay at school for long. I’d alreadybeen drafted by the Harriers. Just wanted a bit of development time at the collegiate level.”

“What about your ex?”

“Ahh, Viv was studying to become a lawyer. She was smart and gorgeous and … way outta my fucking league.”

Honestly, Jesse kinda doubted that but he didn’t argue because he wanted Connor to keep talking. “Was it love at first sight?” Jesse asked.

Connor gave him a faint smile. “I dunno aboutthat. We fell for each other quickly though.”

“How’d you meet?”

“At a party at the hockey house. A friend dragged her there.”

“Ahh,” Jesse said. “Party hookup, got it.”

“Nope,” Connor said, shaking his head. “I found her out on the back deck, reading a book on her phone and we started talking. And it was like we’d known each other forever. On the surface, we didn’t have anything in common but we … couldn’t stop talking. Hell, I didn’t even kiss her that night. Which, honestly, is probably why she gave me another date. She wanted to move slow.”

“In the bedroom?”

“Yeah.” Connor scratched the back of his neck. “She was, uh, she’d never been with anyone before. She’d dated but it had been, um, PG, if you get my drift. I was your typical horny college student, but I loved her, so we took it slow for a while. Her family’s based in New York and I went home with her forChristmas that year. They caught me sneaking out of her room one night—we hadn’t had sex but we were getting close.”

Jesse suppressed a smile and nodded.

“They were pissed. They’re from a small town in Romania. I’m not saying everyone there is that conservative, butherfamily was. Uh, Eastern Orthodox and all, and they’d been a little wary of me to begin with and this didn’t help, you know?”

“Sure,” Jesse said, although he knew fuck all about what Eastern Orthodox meant. Some church thing, he knew that. But otherwise? Nothing.

The closest he ever got to seeing God was great sex.

“They didn’t tell us we had to get engaged and marry soon, but we knew they expected it. And I—I was fine with it, you know? Iwantedto marry her. This kinda sped stuff up is all.”

“Didshewant to get married?” Jesse asked, because he could maybe see where this was going.

“Uhh.” Connor sighed. “Yes and no. I think she was afraid that if we did, she wouldn’t be able to finish her degree. So we got engaged quickly and dragged our heels a little on the wedding itself. But her parents were putting a lot of pressure on us so we got married shortly before I turned twenty-one. By then, she had finished her undergrad and I was already playing in the NHL. There was a big fight with her family over the wedding though.”

“Why was that?”

“Well, I was raised Catholic. My whole family is”—he made a face—”I don’t know. I would have said we were strict about it but compared to Viv’s family we’re not. Observant, maybe though? I mean, I still try to go to church on Sundays when my scheduleallows it, but like, my ma also threatened to fight the Pope over Kelly being gay, so I don’t know anymore.”

Jesse smiled, because that made him love the hell out of Catherine O’Shea.

“Did the different religions cause issues when you wanted to get married?” Jesse asked.

“Well, Roman Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox church have some similarities. Enough that Viv and I were allowed to marry without either of us having to convert. Even then, we had to jump through all these fucking hoops and get special permission from both churches and it was kind of a nightmare.”

“It sounds like it,” Jesse said when Connor stalled out, staring down at his hands.

“We got through that bullshit, but by the time that came through, the only date available before the season started was late in August and it fell on a Friday on some fast day for her church.” Connor rubbed his forehead. “Viv didn’t care, but her family had strong feelings about alcohol at the reception. The fasting rules for her church are complicated but basically what’s frowned on is drunkenness and gluttony.”

“Which are guaranteed at a hockey wedding.”

Connor shot him a grateful look, like he was relieved that Jesse got it. “Exactly. So there were fights about that and by the end I was so fucking tired of all of the bullshit. I loved her but I was so goddamn sick of the crap with her family, you know?”

“Yeah, I bet.”

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