Page 63 of The Hockey Pact

I squeezed her hand. "You should answer. They deserve to hear it from you, not the internet."

She nodded and took a deep breath before answering. "Hi, Mom," she said, her voice artificially bright. "Yes, I've seen the articles... No, it's not—" She winced. "Can I put you on video? Is Dad there too? I want to explain properly."

She moved to the far corner of the office, and though I couldn't hear the details of the conversation, I could see her gesturing earnestly, occasionally wiping at her eyes.

"Your family is next," Diane said quietly, her eyes on Riley's hunched form.

"They'll understand," I said with more confidence than I felt. "My sister already knows anyway."

Diane raised an eyebrow. "You told Megan?"

"She guessed," I admitted. "After I brought Riley to meet my parents, Megan said the way I was looking at Riley was completely wrong. She said I looked like I was analyzing her, not loving her."

"Smart girl," Diane murmured.

My own phone rang then—my mother's name flashing on the screen. With a grimace, I answered the video call.

"Caleb Matthews," my mother began without preamble, her face filling the screen. "Please tell me these horrible stories aren't true."

"Where's Dad?" I asked, noting his absence. "And Megan?"

"Your father is...processing," she said diplomatically. "Megan's on her way over. Now answer the question."

I sighed, bracing myself. "It's complicated, Mom. Yes, Riley and I initially got married because of an arrangement, but—"

"An arrangement?" she interrupted, her voice rising. "Like a business deal? With contracts?"

"Yes," I admitted. "But it's not like that anymore. We—"

"I knew something was off!" she exclaimed, more to herself than me. "The timing was so sudden, and you'd never even mentioned her before the engagement. But I thought maybe you'd been keeping it quiet because of the media, or—" She stopped, her expression shifting from hurt to confusion. "Wait, what do you mean it's not like that anymore?"

I glanced toward Riley, who was still deep in conversation with her parents. "We fell in love, Mom. For real. Neither of us expected it, but it happened."

My mother studied my face through the screen, her expression softening. "Oh, Caleb."

Before she could say more, my father's face appeared over her shoulder. His expression was unreadable, but the set of his jaw spoke volumes.

"Let me get this straight," he said, his coach's voice in full effect. "You entered a fake marriage to secure a team position?"

Put like that, it sounded worse than I'd allowed myself to acknowledge. "The captaincy was part of it," I admitted. "But Riley needed financial help with her restaurant, and we both—"

"Do you have any idea how this looks?" my father interrupted, his face flushing. "The integrity of the game, your reputation—"

"Robert," my mother cut in, placing a hand on his arm. "Let him finish."

I took a deep breath. "I know it was deceptive. I'm not proud of how it started. But what Riley and I have now is real. I love her, Dad."

The simple declaration seemed to take some of the wind out of his sails. He stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head. "Well, you've made quite a mess, son."

"I know."

"But," he continued, surprising me, "if you love her—really love her—then you'll figure out how to fix it. Together."

Before I could respond, Megan popped into frame, her expression a mixture of concern and vindication. "See? I told you this was a bad idea! You should've listened!"

Despite everything, I laughed. "Thanks for the support, Meg."

"Hey, I kept your secret, didn't I?" She sobered. "How's Riley handling all this? The media's being pretty brutal to her."

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