Page 52 of Goal Line
“Eva.” I pause and wait for her to look up at me. “I didn’thaveto do this. Iwantedto, and I’ve told you that all along. I’m sorry if I made you feel like I only made this offer out of necessity or obligation.”
“But youdidmake the offer because you had to,” she whispers. “If I hadn’t gotten pregnant, hadn’t been worried about telling my parents, hadn’t stressed out about the possibility of losing my healthcare, and?—”
“None of that means I didn’t have a choice. I very much did.”
“Then why?”
I’m not sure what I see in her eyes. It looks a bit like hope, like she wants me to tell her that I’mchoosingher. “Because there’snothingI wouldn’t do for you.”
She looks down quickly, saying, “I know,” as she buries her face against my chest again and squeezes me in a hug. And I’m not sure why, but somehow, I know she’s still disappointed with that answer—I just don’t know how to make that better, because I’m certain that telling her my real feelings would actually make things worse.
It would make me into the exact guy I’ve never wanted to be.
“Well, if this isn’t the cutest studio I’ve ever seen, I don’t know what is,” Morgan says, walking across to the open French doors through which fresh air and sunlight are streaming. “And this patio! My god, this is amazing.”
“Thanks,” Eva says, following behind her. “It was kind of a dump when I first bought it five years ago, but I enjoyed fixing it up.”
“Kind of a dump” is an understatement. When she first texted me the pictures, telling me how much promise the place had, I tried to talk her out of buying it. But when she went ahead with the purchase, I helped her find a contractor, then secretly had him charge her only half of his fee—so she could do everything she wanted—and I made up the difference.
Now, it actuallyisadorable, and it’s veryEva. Dark-greenpainted cabinets and light wood countertops in the kitchen, floral wallpaper in the dining area with a white table and pink chairs, an upholstered headboard running across the small alcove where her bed is, and the marble-tiled fireplace with a large gilded mirror resting on the mantle.Everything bears her touch, and it’s perfect for her.
“What are you going to do with the place now?” Morgan asks, eyeing the boxes packed up next to her kitchen table.
“I’m not sure,” Eva says. “It probably doesn’t make sense to keep it.”
Beyond coming here to pack her things, we hadn’t discussed what we were planning to do with her place. It’s making me realize just how many things we still need to work out and, for the first time since we made the decision to get married, I’m starting to worry that we jumped too fast. I wish we’d talked through more of these details yesterday when we were packing everything up. I thought we’d have all day today.I didn’t realize AJ would be on top of this so quickly or that Morgan would be standing here now.
Her presence is, however, a great distraction from the conversation Eva didn’t want to have about the mystery pulsing sound we heard earlier this morning. My mind hasn’t stopped imagining the possibilities, and while I’m not planning to go dumpster diving to find out, I’d be a liar if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
“If you want to hold on to it,” I say, “we could hire a property management company that could rent it out.”
“Maybe,” Eva says, and I can tell just by the tone of her voice that she likes the idea of keeping this place.
“It would also mean we could come out here wheneveryou wanted,” I say. “Or you could, if you just wanted to have a girls’ weekend and visit friends or something.”
Eva’s friend group in Los Angeles is small. Because so much of her life has revolved around skating, and because that schedule is so demanding and unpredictable, most of her close friends have been other skaters. And they haven’t always stayed put in LA when they’ve switched partners or coaches, or retired.
Christopher has been her one constant and, as much as it drives me crazy that she has such an important man in her life who’s not me, I’m still glad she has someone. Or at least I was, until he stomped on her heart and she wound up pregnant as a result.
She glances over at me and widens her eyes—a clear reminder that she’s about to have a newborn while training for the Olympics. But unlike her, I’m thinking long-term, and I want her to keep this place so she doesn’t feel like she’s giving up everything that’sherto become part ofus.
“We’ll figure it out,” Eva says and turns back toward Morgan.
“Seems like you guys have several things on your plate to work out...” Clearly, Morgan is sharp and observant, just like her father.
Oh shit, does Carson know about this?I didn’t even think to tell him, which is exactly the type of thing he’ll be furious about. Athletes do impulsive and public shit all the time, and he’s always told me how thankful he is that he doesn’t have to worry about that with me.
He thinks it’s because I’m such a stand-up guy—and that’s pretty much true, but I’ve also had decades of training on what it means to be a Hartmann. If I was ever going to dosomething inappropriate, I’ve learned from my older brothers how to keep it from going public. Somehow, though, I was so wrapped up in the details of marrying Eva that I didn’t think to plan ahead.
“We do,” I say, stepping up behind Eva and wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her back against me. “We thoughtsomeparts of our marriage through before tying the knot, but we certainly didn’t have time to plan out everything.”
“So was this a spur-of-the-moment decision?” Morgan asks. I can’t tell if she’s just being curious, or if she’s collecting information in order to help us frame this story in a way that puts us in the best light possible. When I ask, she just lets out a small chuckle and says, “My job here is to help you craft a message that will reflect well on both of you, personally and professionally.”
“So you’re a fixer,” I observe.
She rolls her eyes and says, “Only when peopleneedto fix their image. Is there anything that needs fixing here?” Her gaze lowers, and she notices my hands are splayed across Eva’s belly, with hers resting on top. “Oh shit.”
The way Morgan sighs those words lets me know that she’s connected dots that we’d hoped no one else would without us telling them, and the way Eva stiffens in my arms lets me know she’s noticed too.
