Page 87 of Claiming Her Cougar
“It’s not that Lisa is a bad person.She’s not.She’s very generous, and she does a lot for her community.She’s the first to lend a helping hand.She’s admired and beloved by many.But we don’t click.And it’s okay.Mandy helped me see you could love your family, but you don’t have to like them.Doesn’t mean you wish them ill, but you kinda just stop caring.You choose yourself over their approval and acceptance.”
Choose myself.Those two words cause what feels like a seismic shift in my being.What if I just choose what I want without worrying about what my family thinks or what my coworkers think?Would my world end if they disapproved or were disappointed?Would that be much of a change from how it is now?
I hug Faith and tearfully thank her.Deep in my heart, I hope she becomes my Mandy.I couldn’t imagine a better mother-in-law and friend.But first, her son needs to stop being an idiot.And so do I.I spent so much time and energy worried what everyone would think that I pushed away a guy who wanted to be with me, and that I wanted to be with too.Then when he gives me the space I say I need, I’m here moping.That’s not fair to either of us.I do want him.I want us to have a future.Would he be willing to give me another chance?Or start over?
35
LIAM
“We’re approved!We officially own a hockey franchise!”Teagan is giddy on the FaceTime call with me and Jake.
“When is the Paranormal Hockey League making their announcement of the formation of the League and the inaugural teams?”Jake asks.
“February fourteenth,” she says.
Valentine’s Day.I can work with that.It’s only two weeks away.If everything goes according to plan, it’ll be perfect.If it doesn’t…well, I’ll have a hockey team as the focus of all my time and attention.We officially closed on the pier, so pulling permits and renovating has started.The few remaining tenants were agreeable to having their leases bought out, and any of their employees that were interested and qualified were offered jobs at Devil’s Den, so it’s worked out that we can move full steam ahead with an empty property.It’s an eighteen-month timeline before the PHL starts their preseason games.It will be tight, but it’s doable.Wewilldo this.
We spend the following few hours discussing the next steps and working through our lists.A lot of things have been in progress secretly for months.We’re excited to make them public.I can’t wait to share them with Mallory.Hopefully, she wants to listen.
* * *
I check my watch.It’s only just past seven in the morning, so no one should be in the building this early to see me make my special delivery.I hope this works.I sit at Daphne’s desk to pen the note.I should have prepared it at home, but I returned from the Philly airport a couple hours ago, and I’m exhausted.
I read through the note one more time.
Dear Mallory, Happy Valentine’s Day.I could have gotten you a card, but I think this may make more of a statement.I’m sorry for being an idiot.I wanted to protect you, and all I did was hurt you, and I’m sorry.I will never do it again.I hope after you see what is in the envelope, you’ll agree to be my girlfriend.If you want to give this thing, and me, another chance, please be at the Leeds Ballroom at Devil’s Den at 10:00 a.m.Enjoy the kiss.I have more if you want them.Yours, Liam.
I put the sealed white envelope containing a copy of my letter of resignation from Morgan Development on Mallory’s keyboard and place the note I wrote on Daphne’s yellow legal pad on top.I use tape from Mallory’s funky plastic unicorn tape dispenser to tape a Hershey’s Kiss to it under my signature.
Today is the announcement of the formation of the Paranormal Hockey League and our team’s inclusion as one of the inaugural members.One way or another, my future starts today.I hope it’s everything I’ve been dreaming of.
* * *
“You okay, dude?”Jake asks.
We’re in the ballroom at Devil’s Den, and the press conference announcing the PHL and our team is about to start.Reporters train their video cameras and recorders on the dais with the video screen behind it.The league will be announced via video, and then we’ll field questions about our local team.
“Yeah,” I say, “just anxious.Hope this goes smoothly.”
I look around the room.Mallory isn’t here yet, and it’s almost ten.Everything else is in place, ready for the announcement.The banner that will unfurl with the team's name and logo is hanging above the screen.My family’s standing in the back with Teagan’s parents and all of Jake’s crazy family.Other than his Uncle Enzo, who we swore to secrecy, Jake hasn’t told any of his family about our plans.His sisters would post it on Facebook and Instagram before Teagan took a breath.
Teagan looks to us to confirm we’re ready, and we nod.She walks to the podium and welcomes the crowd.
“Thank you for joining us this morning.We hope you’re as excited as we are for a new opportunity for Atlantic City.”
The video screen comes to life.Brian Benn, the PHL Commissioner, makes the announcement of the league, calling it an important first step in professional sports.It’s an important first step for a lot of things.Yada, yada, yada.
Mallory still isn’t here.I guess that’s it.She doesn’t want this.She doesn’t want me.Can’t say that I blame her.She sees me as someone who would use her and casually toss her away.She doesn’t know I was ripping out my own heart in order to protect her reputation and make sure she got the chance she deserved to show all that she’s capable of.I’m going to have to try to keep on existing without her.Don’t know how I’ll survive with my heart outside my chest.Because it no longer belongs to me.It’s been Mallory’s from the moment we met all those months ago.
The video ends to murmurs throughout the room, and we take our place with smiles for the crowd.Mine is forced.
Teagan resumes her place at the microphone.“The PMW Group, consisting of myself, Liam Morgan…”
I incline my head and raise my hand in a lame-ass wave.
“And Jake Whitman,” she continues, as Jake waves, “is proud to announce that we have been chosen to own one of the first teams of the Paranormal Hockey League.Collectively, we have a deep-seated love for the game of hockey and are looking forward to bringing professional hockey back to South Jersey.Ladies and gentlemen, I’m thrilled to present the Atlantic City Devil Birds!”
The banner unfurls and shows the team’s name in a funky gothic font and our team’s logo—an angry-looking seagull holding a broken hockey stick in its beak.I can hear Uncle Enzo proudly say, “That’s me!”Jake and I share a laughing glance.Enzo has been dying to tell someone ever since the photoshoot we did with him holding a mini hockey stick.We’re using an illustrated version of the photo, but anyone who knows Enzo knows it’s him, with the ferocious gleam in his eyes and the slightly crooked beak.Enzo was a boxer in his youth, and both his human nose and his seagull beak show the damage.
