Page 53 of Taking It To Overtime

I don’t want to be.

“Could we do this for real? Be together? A couple? Even if it’s only for another seventy-two hours?”

I can’t stop myself from looking at her, any more than I can stop myself from breathing. It’s semi-automatic. I can only hold out so long before my body takes over and my eyes are back on hers.

Could we do this?

“I know I’m sending a million and a half mixed signals.” Her chuckle is dark. “But I’m not doing a great job remembering to keep my distance.”

Fuck distance.

“Yes.” The word is ripped from my soul.

“Yes, I’m sending mixed signals?” Vera’s brows tip together.

“No. Yes, we can do that. Be that. I want that.”

Want you.

She reaches for me, sliding her hand into my hair.

“Robert. I need you to listen to me.”

I nod.

“Last time our lives diverged, you made the choice for both of us.” Her fingers scratch along my scalp. “This time we’re going to make it together. Okay?”

A tiny yellow bird hops up onto our blanket, eyeing our basket with wide black eyes. It tilts its head to the side, looking from us to the basket and back again. It ruffles its wings, shimmying its little round body as it decides if our dinner is worth the risk. It takes two tiny hops toward it, shaking its feathers again, then another hop away.

“Robbie?”

And shit, I didn’t answer her.

“I want you, Vera. I want you in any capacity you’re willing to give me. A week, a month, a day, I’ll take it. Even a moment with you is better than a lifetime with anyone else.”

“Don’t say that.” Her voice dips and cracks, a fine tremor weaving through each syllable.

“Why? It’s the truth.”

She shakes her head, fingers toying with the edge of the pillow. “Don’t you understand how much pressure that puts on me? To make the right decision? To not break you? Us?”

Somewhere out on the lake there’s a splash and a tinkle of laughter. A family enjoying an evening on the water.

“Vera.” I reach up to my hair, taking her hand in mine. “This time I need you to listen to me.”

It’s her turn to nod, her chin dipping down as she holds my gaze.

“I might have been the one who broke us up in the past, but things didn’t end. Not for me.”

Her eyes dart to the left and down, her fingers spasming against mine.

“Wha—”

“Leaving for the juniors, leaving you. It didn’t change how I felt about you. How I still feel.” I take in a lungful of air. My heart is pounding, adrenaline crashing through my system. The stakes feel higher than last season’s playoffs, even the game that went to double overtime when Rags—our goalie—was crashed in the crease and left the ice with a groin injury. “I love you Vera. I have since the first time I saw you on that playground, standing up to those asshole kids. It took one look to know you aremine. You areprecious.”

Her eyes flash and she pulls her hand away. “And you take care of things that are precious? You broke my heart, Robbie. That’s not taking care of anything.”

“Yeah,” I nod, “I did and I’m so goddamn sorry, but I was a kid who thought he was doing the right thing. If I could go back in time, I’d probably do it again, too.” She pulls back even further, and I let her move, but I push my words out faster, needing her to understand. “Look at what you became, Vera? You made every one of your dreams come true. You got out of Kimmelwick. You’re a household name. You’ve traveled all over the world and done things most people can only dream about.”

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