Page 57 of Puck King
I knew that it seemed weak, but my dad called the shots. If I disobeyed my father and his team lost – well, I didn’t want to see what would happen. He could ruin my career. I hadn’t exactly been great with my money, and if I didn’t have hockey, I didn’t know what else I could do in life. “Hockey is my life, Alison. I can’t do anything to jeopardize the only thing that I’m good at.”
“Sure.” Alison brushed her hands together as though there were still strands of my hair stuck to her palms. “I get it.”
But the look on her face told me she didn’t. She didn’t know my father. “We can do this right, like we’d talked about. You know, take our time. All that jazz.”
Alison sighed. “There’s one thing we need to do, though. And we can do it as friends.”
“What’s that?” My shirt had become incredibly itchy and I was dying to rip it off and shower away the hair that represented one of the worst hockey seasons of my career.
“I’d like to meet your horses.”
It wasn’t what I was expecting. “Of horse you can meet my courses.” I screwed up the words on purpose, hoping it would lighten the air in the treatment room. It worked. Alison rolled her eyes and the smile that I had grown to love flashed on her beautiful face. “And Alison...”
“Yeah?” She looked up from pretending to read the charts on her desk.
“Act surprised when Everleigh tells you. I’m not supposed to be seen with you, other than for physio.”
Alison closed the file folder and walked me to the door. “I’ll do my best to act surprised when your sister fires me from my fake fiancée job.”
“The best is yet to come.” I squeezed her hand and then cast a glance down the hallway. “One last kiss.” I pulled her in tightly for a kiss, and the tears in her eyes surprised me, but not as much as the ones in my own.
“For now.” Alison rested her forehead on my chest.
I kissed the top of her head. “One last kiss…for now.”
And that’s how Alison and I broke up for the first time.
Twenty-Six
Alison
When I’d arrivedto work that morning, the snow had already been lightly falling. By the time I left to meet Hollie for lunch, it was deep enough that it threatened to breach the top of my hiking boots.
Steam filled the coffee shop and condensation dripped down the inside of the windows. Hollie was waiting for me at our favorite table at the back, with two giant mugs of coffee on the table. I slid into the booth. “More caffeine?” I pulled the mug toward me and inhaled.
“The coffee at the rink is terrible.” Hollie smiled.
“I think they make it with energy drinks instead of water.” I laughed and held out my hand. “I’m still jittering from the cup this morning.”
Hollie and I discussed the morning’s treatments and she went over some billing software questions, but mostly we talked about her upcoming date with Travis.
As we walked back to the arena, Hollie brought up the subject I’d been hoping to avoid at lunch. “How are things going with Colton?”
“Ah.” I shoved my hands into the pockets of my puffy jacket. “We’ve decided to cool things off for a little while. He needs to focus on hockey.”
“Mmmhmmm.” Hollie’s tone was dubious. “Because that’s what he does? Focus on hockey?”
I stopped, but Hollie was already two brisk strides ahead of me before she noticed. “Why do you hate him?”
“Whoa.” Hollie held up her mittened hands. “I don’t hate him.”
Steam puffed as I let out a huge breath of exasperated air. “You’ve certainly formed your opinion about him – about ‘us’.”The ‘us’ that no longer existed, I thought to myself.
Hollie checked her phone. “We should get back. You have that appointment with Everleigh soon.”
“Not yet.” I put my hands on my hips. “Colton isn’t what you think. I thought that we covered this already.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think, Alison.” Hollie’s voice was soft and I could tell that she was choosing her words carefully. “It matters what you think.”
