Page 33 of Slapshot
Her lips quirked in an empathic smile before she clapped her hands and stood. With firm strokes, she brushed down her jacket, as though straightening herself out of the emotional moment.
“I’m thinking of finding a therapist,” I blurted. The idea was as much of a surprise to me as it was to her. But I’d heard one too many people I respected tell me very similar things over the last couple of days. If I wanted to get out of my own way, and maybe find a way to be happy, I had some work to do.
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
“It won’t affect my work.”
“I know.”
I picked at my nail, wondering if I should say the next part.
“I like him. Cian.”
She huffed a laugh and squeezed my arm on her way to the door.
“I know.”
“Is there anything you don’t know?” I asked.
She paused in the doorway, one heel raised. Her bloodred fingernail tapped against the wooden frame.
“Whether spring will arrive early this year. I’m no groundhog.”
I laughed as Dante strutted her Pennsylvanian ass out of the office, leaving me to my thoughts.
Nope. Not doing that.
Regardless of what Dante told me, I had work to do.
A quick side quest to the Wild Bean, and a short drive later, I pulled into the parking lot of my building and found a familiar truck parked in my usual spot.
I gathered my caffeine and my courage and found Cian sitting on the front stoop of my building.
“I thought you were ignoring me again, but you were at the training center,” he said by way of greeting.
“Mia found me there just fine.”
He sighed and stood with a wince. “Of course she did. She refused to give me an update. Said I could come grovel under my own steam.”
I stepped around him to unlock the entry, briefly considering shutting the door in his face, but it was time to be an adult and not let the intrusive thoughts win.
“So you’re here to grovel?” I asked, holding the door wide as he retrieved a takeout bag from the step he’d been sitting on.
“Apology sushi?”
“Come up.”
His footsteps were loud in the quiet of the stairwell as we made our way up to my apartment. He stood patiently as I opened the door, and waited for me to wave him inside. For someone who kept turning up in my life, he certainly acted like he had manners.
Heading straight for the kitchen, he cleared a space on the counter and began to unpack an unholy amount of sushi.
“Were you expecting your whole team to show up here?”
“I was expecting you to be in a worse mood, honestly. It’s always better to be overprepared.”
“Were you planning on standing in the hall and tossing nori rolls at me until I calmed down?”
He snorted, flicking his gaze up to mine before returning to his unpacking.
