Page 118 of Off The Ice

“That’s why I can tell that this is different. I’ve never seen him act like this.”

“Why?” I asked the question I’d been holding back for too long.

“Honestly,” she said, “I think it has a lot to do with our dad. Liam would never admit it, but his leaving really screwed him up. It screwed us both up.”

I nodded, understanding all too well the trauma that a parent’s absence could inflict on a child.

“That’s why I thought he’d want to see him now. For closure, or healing, or whatever.” She shrugged. “But he still has that wall up.”

I didn’t tell her, but I understood where he was coming from. There were some things you couldn’t forgive, and if he didn’t want to, my support was fully behind him in that decision.

“What about you?” I asked, not wanting to touch whatever was going on with Liam and his father. It was none of my business. “How’s it going with you guys?”

“Really good,” she admitted with that smile that seemed glued to her face lately. “I think that’s partially why I’m doing so well with Brody. It’s stupid, but I feel like my dad being gone has sort of impacted every area of my life without me even realizing it. And now? I don’t know. I feel like everything is falling into place.”

I reached across the table to give her hand a squeeze. “I’m so happy for you, Maggie. Really, I am.”

“And I’m happy foryou,” Maggie said in turn.

“Me?” I laughed. “Why?”

“Because I have a feeling that Liam isn’t going to give his heart away more than once, which means you and I are going to be sisters!”

I choked on the coffee I’d been sipping, feeling it all the way in my nose.

“Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a little bit?” I raised my brows at her in bewilderment.

“Not even a little,” she said and took a sip of her coffee like her words weren’t on the verge of sending me into cardiac arrest. “Just wait. You’ll see.”

I wasn’t going to hold my breath on that.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Liam

Leaving for an away game almost immediately after all the shit that happened with Cassie felt like a betrayal to her.

She promised she was fine. That everything with her mom was stable and that she’d be so busy with work that she wouldn’t have time to think about anything else. Apparently, they were making turkey crafts for Thanksgiving, and it would take a lot of her time and energy.

But the whole time I was gone, I missed her like she was a missing limb. I texted her constantly. I even watched that show she liked so much just to be reminded of her. Not as if I needed a show to do that, but it made me feel like she could be in the same room in some bizarre sort of way.

When we finished the game, I saw a string of texts from her commenting with horribly incorrect terminology on plays Imade throughout the game. My heart nearly burst out of my chest.

I’d never had anything like this before. I didn’t think I ever would again. Which is why I had to be really fucking careful not to screw it up.

Cassie had a lot of shit going on, and as much as I was prepared to tell her how I felt that night at the gala, I knew now more than ever that the slightest wrong move on my part might send her running out of my life forever.

I couldn’t handle that. I just couldn’t.

So I had to wait it out and give her time to breathe.

Which is why it made zero fucking sense that I booked a flight home right after the game instead of waiting to travel back with the rest of the team.

I was quite literally feening for this girl and there weren’t any options left to reel myself in. It was past that point.

I knew she’d be sleeping when I opened the door, but it settled something inside of me to know that at least we’d be under the same roof. At least I could see her when she woke up instead of another night staring at the ceiling of a hotel room listening to the symphony of Brody’s loud-as-hell snores.

Walking into the apartment, I wondered how I could have ever gone home for the past five years without her being here.

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