Page 18 of Keeping it Real

He’d made it perfectly clear she was nothing more than a little sister to him.Multiple times, in fact.So why the heck wasn’t her body getting the message?If she was going to survive the season, she needed to get a firm grip on her feelings.And fast.

Damn you, Jamie.

This was all his fault.Anger toward her brother was not something she was used to feeling.She’d thought they were pretty tight.Clearly, she was wrong.He’d been deliberately keeping things from her.Life-altering things.Not the least of which was him selling the bar.His bank accounts were nearly empty.The mortgage on the house was months behind.None of it made any sense.Where was all his money?

Not that she wanted it for herself.But it would have been a whole lot easier to refuse Alek’s offer had Finn not had to vacate his home.Or walk away from their family’s legacy.

She wished she could talk to her brother one last time.To find out if this was really what he intended.Or maybe to strangle him.She couldn’t make up her mind.Her shoulders slumped as she cursed him again for putting all of them in this predicament.Alek was as much an innocent victim here as she and Finn.

Yet despite everything, Jamie’s best friend had stepped up, no questions asked.As her brother suspected, Alek was doing the right thing for a kid he’d never met.And that should count for something.It certainly made her adore him even more.The least she could do was get over herself and do her part to make this situation work.

Sure, he’d never think of her in quite the same way she felt about him, but that wasn’t his fault.And a girl could do a whole lot worse than having Alek Bergeron in her corner.Finn was the common denominator that joined Alek and her together.Possibly forever.Friends would have to be good enough for her.Resolved, she loosened the tense grip she had on the steering wheel.

“Alek even has a gym and a movie theater,” Finn continued to gush.

She glanced over at him.His enthusiasm for their move continued to baffle her.It was as if he’d closed the door on the life he had with his parents and refused to think about it ever again.Her therapist didn’t seem all that concerned about his attitude, however.

“Delayed grief affects twenty percent of kids Finn’s age,” Dr.Rose explained.“He is coping by idealizing this new relationship with Alek to recapture a lost sense of safety or love.”

“It can’t be that simple.Surely, he won’t feel that way forever?”Sheridan had asked.

“Maybe.Maybe not.It’s hard to say.Everyone is different.But rest assured his grief will manifest itself in other ways.You’ll have to be ready for them.”

Dr.Rose gave Sheridan the names of two grief counselors in the Milwaukee area who worked exclusively with children.Sheridan interviewed them both, choosing the therapist who had offices in the hospital where she had taken a part-time nursing job.She’d be working in the ER of a small suburban hospital near Alek’s home.

Working in emergency medicine was generally not her first choice of assignments but Sheridan needed the hours to keep her license up to date.Especially since the gig in Spain would be available again next fall.Her supervisor at the travel nurse agency promised she’d have first crack at it.By then, she hoped Finn would have had his fill of hockey goalies and would be ready for another new adventure.

Her primary reason for taking a part-time job, however, was self-preservation.There was no way she could sit around Alek’s house all day.She’d go crazy.Especially on the days when the Mayhem were in town, and Alek was wandering the halls.They could be friendly roommates, but there was no reason for her to torture herself.

“Gunner Ferguson said I need to wear one of Alek’s jerseys to the game tomorrow night,” Finn announced.“Isn’t that cool?”

“So cool.”

Alek had somehow finagled to get Finn not only into a private school where some of the other Mayhem players enrolled their kids but also into the same second-grade class as the son of the team’s starting forward.Gunner’s mom, Claire, reached out right away, suggesting the boys video chat.Claire was a genius because the boys were instant BFFs after the call.Sheridan was begrudgingly grateful to Alek for ensuring Finn’s transition to his new school would be smooth.

Claire turned out to be a godsend, too.She not only recommended a pediatrician who specialized in asthma but also offered to help carpool the boys to school.It turned out she was on staff at the same hospital where Sheridan would be working.

“Most of the other WAGs don’t work,” she’d confided to Sheridan during one of their video chats during the past week.“We go to Pilates together a few mornings a week as a group.Everyone is very nice.But sometimes it’s good to get away from the world of hockey and do something for yourself, you know?”

“Except I’m not a wife or a girlfriend of a player,” Sheridan told her.“It wouldn’t be right for me to join them at Pilates or anything else.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Claire had argued.“You’re part of the Mayhem family.Granted, your situation is unusual, but you have as much right to be a part of the WAGs as anyone else.It’s a non-issue.You’ll see.Everyone is already excited to meet you.”

That piece of information had left Sheridan more than a little intimidated.She’d never really had close friends.Growing up, the hours after school were spent doing chores at home or at the bar so her ailing mother could get some much-needed rest.Once her mother was gone, her dad and Jamie demanded all her attention.There wasn’t any time for a BFF, much less a squad of girlfriends.

She’d hoped college would provide her the opportunity to flex her wings and find friends.But then Finn came along, and Madison needed her help.Night school didn’t exactly provide the same interactions as living in a dorm on campus.And it wasn’t like she was involved with the WAGs in Boston.That was Madison’s territory.It was only a matter of time before the Mayhem WAGs would out her for the poser she was.

“I’m bringing my skates, too,” Finn was saying.“Gunner said there is a mini rink in the family lounge.And sometimes they go on the ice after the game.”

“We’ll see,” she said about more than Finn taking a few laps around the ice.

Finn’s phone rang.

“I’ll bet that’s Alek.”He pulled it from his backpack and quickly answered it.“Hello?”After a moment, he repeated himself.“Hello?”Shrugging, he hung up and put the phone back into his backpack.

“Nobody was there?”she asked.

“Nah.Dad gets a lot of calls where no one is there.”

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