Page 111 of Hockey Halloween
“Yeah, but I’m the one who took it to eleven in public. You don’t deserve this.”
“Neither do you. And I wasn’t trying to stop you. Let me do this, Archer.” She looked back to the PR manager. “Are those terms acceptable?”
Saralynn glanced between them and sighed. “None of this is acceptable. But everything you said is true. If this is really what you want…”
Teddy met his eyes again, and the tenderness there nearly took him out. She nodded. “It’s what I want.”
“Then I’ll start the paperwork. Reid, go back to practice. Teddy, you can take the day to clean out your desk.” For what it was worth,the typically manic and calculated Saralynn seemed genuinely upset like she had to force the words out and couldn’t believe what she was saying.
But all Archer could focus on was Teddy. He followed her out of the office, around the corner to her desk. With her back to him, she opened a drawer but didn’t take anything out. “It’s better if we don’t do this.”
He stepped into her line of sight and waited until she looked up at him. It was early enough that most other staff hadn’t come in yet, but he kept his voice low anyway. “Teddy, stop. You can’t do this. Not for me. This job is important to you.”
She bit the inside of her lip and took a slow breath. “Not as important as your job is to you. And I know we haven’t known each other long, but I…I care about you. You’re a good man. Your first chance here got cut short. I won’t take your second.”
This was happening too fast. The sound of a distant whistle broke the quiet, summoning him, but he couldn’t move. “Can’t we still see each other?”
Her eyes closed briefly. When they opened again, she wouldn’t look at him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. The sooner the media forgets about us the better it’ll be for the team. That’s why I’m doing this.”
“Teddy—”
“Archer. Let me do this for you. You need to get down there. Cement your place here. Make my resignation worth it.”
He stared at her for a long beat, waiting for her to meet his eyes. But she wouldn’t. He sighed and walked slowly to the elevator. When he was almost there, her voice stopped him.
“You should know. I was never pretending.”
His shoulders slumped as the words struck him like an arrow. Neither was he. If he looked back, he’d never make it to the ice. He walked straight onto the elevator and hit the button for the basement, unfamiliar and heavy feelings weighing him down.
Teddy
After having been with the team for only a week, somehow Teddy had managed to pack her desk full of stuff. Some of it was functional. Some decorative. And a million random, neon sticky notes covered in ideas for the team were plastered all over. As she peeled them off, each one made her heart ache for what could have been. She’d been really excited about this job, and the creativity had flowed in a way it hadn’t in a long time for her personal social media career. The Sinners had so much untapped potential.
“That is a serious office supply addiction.”
Teddy spun at the voice, and it took a second to place the woman. “Dr. Alexandra Kallen-Reese, or Kally as the team calls you. Sports Psychologist. Married to goalie Shane Reese.”
Kally raised a brow. “You did your homework on me.”
“On everyone in the organization before I applied for the job. Seemed like a good idea.”
Kally studied her quietly with something that looked like admiration mixed with amusement.
Teddy shrugged and glanced at the evidence of her addiction, the sea of hot pink, yellow, green, and blue notes waving from the surface of her desk and the cup of fun pens probably meant forchildren. “And yeah. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right? They really must think I’m taking this hard if they sent a shrink for my exit interview.”
Kally’s smile was empathetic as she dangled a bag of peach rings. “No one’s happy to see me until I bring out the candy.”
“That’s my favorite. How did you…” Was she really a psychic like everyone said?Wait.“Saralynn’s your sister-in-law. She saw me eating them a few days ago.” Family ties ran deep in this organization.
“I do my homework too. And actually, your boyfriend was the blabbermouth.” Kally set the bag of sweets on the desk then sat on a clean corner of it.
“He’s not my—it doesn’t matter anymore.” Teddy went back to peeling sticky notes, tucking them in her tote bag.
“Doesn’t it? By all accounts, you two have been pretty close. And I’m not talking about the video.”
Teddy bit her lip. “If I tell you something as a quasi-patient, you can’t tell anyone else, right?”
Kally crossed her heart with her finger.
