Page 81 of Like A Daydream
“Jet pulled some strings with some people he’s still in touch with,” Danielle says, smiling up at him. “And I didn’t tell anyone but him I was coming. I’m in the group chat, but I’m notinthe group chat, if you know what I mean.”
“I get it,” Andy laughs, scooping Harper back up into his arms like she weighs nothing. She leans her head on his shoulder, hugging around his neck.
“The fact that the team’s management is so whipped for JT is astounding,” Danielle says, “I told him I wanted tickets, and all he had to do was snap his fingers and they were in my mailbox with passes.”
“When did you get in?”
She hooks her arm around his waist as he guides her out the back doors of the arena to the parking lot.
“We landed at three,” she says “and we dropped our stuff off at your house and had dinner before coming right here.”
“I was wondering why my security system alerted me someone was at the house,” he says, softening his tone. Harper has fallen asleep on his shoulder. “She must have had a busy day.”
“I pulled her from school to get to the airport on time,” Danielle says, “her teacher practically shoved us out the door.”
“Is she a fan?”
“Hockey mom,” Danielle says, grinning. “Her sons were a couple of years behind us in school, but they played for the high school team with Jet.”
“I’ll have to send her a personal thank-you,” Andy says, laying Harper down in the back seat of his truck, careful not to wake her. “I missed my girls.”
“It might not be a good idea,” Danielle says, teasing. “They’re Boston and Buffalo fans. I don’t know how they would take a rival Captain’s thank you.”
“No one is ever too old to have a change of heart,” Andrew deadpans. He stands to his full height, hooking an arm around Danielle’s waist and pulling her close.
“When Harper figured out we were coming to see you, she cried,” Danielle says, waiting for him to get her door before climbing into the truck herself.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he says, once he’s in the truck. He leans over the center console and kisses her quickly before starting it. “And not just because I missed you.”
“What other reason could you possibly have?” she teases. He takes her hand, navigating out of the lot with one hand on the wheel and she thinks she’s never seen anything hotter in her entire life.
“I need to have a serious conversation with you,” he says, glancing over at her. “I’ve been kind of playing around with the idea, and I mentioned it to JT a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted your thoughts first.”
“Uh…. Okay?” she asks, confused. It’s too early for the marriage conversation, right? Or is it? It’s only been a few months, but she’s heard of people getting married quicker. Is that what he’s on about?
“What would you think about me retiring at the end of the season?”
Oh, she was so off.
She almost sighs with relief, because she had wanted to date him a little longer to see how their lives would work together. But, retiring? That seems a little unexpected, especially since he’s still young and could have at least three more years of playing ahead of him.
“Why would you retire?” she asks, turning in her seat so she can look at him while he drives. She’s quiet so she doesn’t wake Harper, and so he doesn’t get distracted.
He lets out a sigh that says ‘I’m ninety years old and have seen some things’ as he takes an exit off the highway.
“I don’t know how much longer hockey is going to be for me,” he says, “we have a shot at the Stanley Cup again, but I want to retire when I have some of my sanity left, and before I lose any teeth.”
She waits, sensing more.
“Plus, I’m already kind of old,” he says, shrugging. “In the NHL at least. My team’s average age is twenty-nine. Even if I have a year or two left in me, is it worth staying when I have more important things in my life now?”
“It literally sounds insane when you say that thirty-three isold,” she says, shaking her head.
“It is!” he says, laughing. “We have like, three guys on the team older than me, but the rest are younger by at least four years. I’m old, D,geriatric,even.”
“Dramatic, is more like it.”
“How dare you,” he says in his best Lucius Malfoy voice. “I am as undramatic as a person can be.”
