Page 27 of The Riley Effect

“It’s definitely a girl.”

“Haven’t I.. we discussed th..this,” Byron slurs.

Not wanting to fight with my drunk best friend, I turn my attention to the girls in my lap.

“What breed do you think she is?” I ask Ivy because if anyone would know, it would be her.

She laughs as the puppy’s tongue laps over her face. “She’s probably a mutt, but there is definitely some husky in her.”

Ivy swings her legs so her back is against the couch, and her legs are draped over mine with the puppy in her lap.

“She has no collar, and it looks like she hasn’t been fed in a while. Can we keep her?” Byron asks from the kitchen. I’m sure he is looking for some kind of post-bar feast.

Ivy uses my chest to push herself to her feet, and I grunt as she scoops up the puppy and walks to the kitchen. Ivy opens different cabinets, eventually finding what she is looking for. She takes the small bowl from the top shelf and fills it with water for the little fluff ball in her arms.

“Can we keep her?” Ivy repeats Byron’s question, sitting next to the water bowl and petting the puppy Byron is now holding. I’m not sure when I became the decision-maker of the house. I should probably wait until Byron is sober and we talk withAaron and Marcus, but I don’t think I can say no to both pairs of hopeful eyes before me. At some point, my roommates will remind me that I made this decision for a girl who doesn’t live here, but in this moment, I don’t care.

“First, we need to put up fliers and see if anyone comes to claim her, but if nobody comes forward, we can keep her. What should we name her?” I ask.

The notes that make upMama Miafill the room as the closing credits start for the movie I forgot we were watching.

“Mia,” Ivy says. It’s a statement rather than a suggestion. I can’t think of a better name for the new lady of hockey house.

“We’ll have to get some specialty food too,” Ivy tells me. “I’m sure Jill will let us grab it from the shelter until we have time to buy some.”

The ride to Ivy’s apartment is like an infomercial on how to take care of a puppy.

“I’ll bring all the stuff you guys will need tomorrow. Just text me when you guys get home. Also, you need to make an appointment with a vet so we can make sure all her vaccines are up to date.”

“I’m so sorry about Byron. I told him to text me when he was coming home, but obviously, he was not in any state of mind to remember that,” I tell Ivy as we pull into her apartment complex.

“It’s fine. I had a really great time tonight,” she tells me. “And don’t be too hard on Byron. I would have been so excited if I found that little pup.”

“I won’t be,” Just because I have Byron to thank for future visits from Ivy doesn’t mean I forgot what we were up to when he came home.

I pull into the parking space in front of Ivy’s apartment and open my door so I can venture over to the passenger side and open Ivy’s door. Ivy hesitates slightly when I offer my hand to help her out of the car, but when I lace my fingers with hers, she relaxes, acting like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

When we get to her front door, I tug her hand so she is facing me, and for the first time since we met, she leans in and gives me a light kiss at the corner of my lips.

“ Thank you for tonight. I’ll text you tomorrow when I have everything ready for Mia.”

I nod before deciding that her chaste kiss wasn’t how I want to end the night. My hand reaches toward the back of her arm, pulling her into me. I push my lips to her, and when she lets out a sigh, my tongue takes it as an invitation to enter, but only for a second. I pull away, and the corner of her lips turns up slightly. She unlocks the apartment door and gives me a small wave before she vanishes into her apartment.

16

Ivy

“Alright, ladies, I’m happy we started the season with a win, but we can’t get complacent. It’s a long season, and as reigning National Champions, we’ll have a target on our backs all year.”

After Coach Lee finishes her post-game speech, we move to our lockers to grab what we need to shower before our flight back to campus.

When I return to my locker, I pull out my phone, expecting to see a message from my sister and the kids. It’s become a tradition for them to send me a goofy video after my games to either celebrate a win or make a tough loss a little better. Competing at a high level comes with so many emotions, bothgood and bad, and these videos make the good times better and remind me during the rough ones what’s really important.

When I finally dig my phone out of my bag, it’s Jalen’s name that headlines the messages on my phone.

Jalen- Congrats on the win :) When you get home, come to Jasper’s to celebrate.

It’s foreign to me to have someone interested in following my games that isn’t a family member. No boy form my past ever took the time to text me after a game. Looking back on it now, it was definitely a red flag, but they were both athletes, too, so I believed the lie that they just didn’t have time. I now know you make time for what’s important to you.

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