Page 46 of Mile High Coach

“Harrison—”

“No, Eliza, I don’t have a therapist, but if I did, maybe they’d tell me to apologize to you, too. I know I always put hockey before our relationship back then. I thought it was the right thing, and I think I ended up taking a lot from you to build my success. You deserved to have your life, your family. And I shouldn’t have taken the coaching job without talking to you about it, first.”

The other end of the line is silent for long enough that I pull it back away from my face, looking to see if she’s hung up.

“Eliza?”

“Sorry.” She sniffles, and I hear the sound of a tissue being pulled from the box. “I never thought I’d hear you say that, I guess. I thought you didn’t regret it at all.”

“Of course I do,” I admit. “You were my best friend, too.”

It’s a strange feeling, to hold the knowledge of my love for her in the past alongside this new thing with Lovie.

“What…what made you answer? And say all that?”

I open my mouth, shut it again, knowing the answer is Lovie. “Just doing some thinking.”

“Oh my God, Harrison, did you meet someone?”

That makes me laugh. If I told Eliza about how Lovie and I met, she’d choke. She and I never did anything like that.

In fact, I’d never done anything like that before that night. Something about Lovie brought it out in me. Seeing how reserved she was I had wanted to tug until she started to come undone.

“No—” I try, but it’s too late. If there’s one thing that’s true, it’s that Eliza still knows me. Despite everything.

“Don’t even try to lie to me,” Eliza laughs. “I knew there was something weird about your voice.”

“Weird?”

“You sound…happy,” she says, a bit sadly. I swallow. I am happy, knowing at the end of the day, I’ll get to go home and spend time with Lovie.

“Yeah, well, your voice sounds different, too.”

We sit in the silence for a second, then Eliza asks, haltingly, as though nervous to pose the question, “Harrison, do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive Brad?”

Even the sound of his name makes anger rise up inside me. Eliza is one thing—our relationship was suffering, and I wasn’t being a good husband to her. But Brad?

He was supposed to be my best friend. And best friends don’t sleep with their friends’ wives.

“I don’t know,” I manage, even though I want to say that it’s probably not going to happen. This conversation has been pleasant enough, and I don’t want to dampen it with my feelings about her husband.

It’s not the answer she wants to hear—I know that.

“Okay. Well,” Eliza says, and I picture her shaking her head, running a hand through her hair briskly to keep it out of her face. “I’m glad you’re happy. And I hope you don’t do anything to fuck this relationship up.”

I think about her and Brad, building their life together, in a little pocket of the world that I’ve been shut away from. For a long time, I told myself that it was just circumstance keeping me away from them, but it’s been me, too. Avoiding any apologies, ignoring calls. Never wanting to let that bridge form between us again.

“Yeah,” I say. “You, too.”

That makes her laugh, and when I hang up, I know that I need to do something to show Lovie how much I care about her. Things with Eliza may have gone to shit, but I can use it as an opportunity to learn, to value the woman I have while I have her.

Turning on my heel, I pick up the phone on my desk, raise it to my ear, and place a call to the Blue Crab’s transportation coordinator just down the hall.

Chapter 21

Lovie

“Harrison?”

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