Page 46 of Hearts on Ice
She placed her phone on the counter in front of him, open to a picture of the two of them in the parking lot of the sex shop last night, the name of the shop clearly illuminated over their heads, Colby leaning into him and laughing while he held the handcuffs over his head, grinning down at her.
They looked happy. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a picture together where both of them had looked happy. A lot longer than seven years ago.
“Where’d you get this?”
“From Melina. Apparently it’s all over social media.”
“Is it?” He was trying to get a read on her reaction. She’d been the subject of social media posts before. But he hadn’t been, in a while, and he couldn’t quite process his own emotions.
“Check your phone. Mine has a million messages from people asking if we’re back together.”
“I—” Yeah, he couldn’t get a read on her. Was she upset? The picture was a pretty good one. They looked happy. He…he was happy. He passed her to retrieve his phone from the charger on the bedside table. He dropped to the edge of the bed when he saw the multitude of missed calls. His mom, Evan, Meghan, Josh’s mom, Lexi’s mom, Julia, his security guard Patrick. Shit.
“I’m going to return some of these calls,” he said, not even bothering to look at the dozens of text messages or listening to his voicemail.
She didn’t respond, instead walking over to the coffee maker.
He called Julia first because, well, she would be the easiest to deal with. “What’s going on?”
“Are you nuts? What do you think is going on? This place is crazy right now. We’ve got reporters in the parking lot, and Patrick has his hands full keeping them out of the lobby, even though we’ve told them repeatedly you guys are not here.”
“Not there? You’re at the rink already?” He usually opened up.
“Patrick called me when he couldn’t get a hold of you.”
Well, his going there wouldn’t be help, then, would it? Or maybe, if he addressed it head-on, like Colby had done last night, they’d go away. “Let me figure out what to do.” He’d never had to chase reporters away, had always done the avoiding himself. His first instinct was to continue that strategy.
“We have way more people wanting to skate than we have room for on the ice. It’s going to cause problems.”
“We have a capacity limit. Stop it and cite the limit. Are Josh and Lexi there?”
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. There are a billion people here. Patrick could have checked them in. Are you coming down?”
“I don’t know yet. I wasn’t planning to, and it seems like it would cause more problems than it would solve. I have a few more calls to make, and I’ll let you know.”
“Deck, are y’all back together? Can I at least tell them that?”
“Too early to tell,” he said, and disconnected. Next he called Mrs. Fletcher, Josh’s mom, since that had been who had sent the picture to Colby.
“You told me the problem you had with working with Colby was that you didn’t get along,” she said when she answered.
He didn’t hear any ambient noise that would mean she was at the rink. “Yeah, that was a problem, but working together kind of…I don’t know. Kind of took us back to the good times.” He really didn’t want to have to explain his life to one of his students’ parents.
“Honestly, I could not care less, if this photograph wasn’t taken where it was. How are we supposed to talk to Josh and Lexi about their coaches carrying on this kind of relationship?”
This kind of relationship? What was she talking about? “I mean, they know we were married before. I assume they understood we had, ah, had sex in the past. And the shop was just kind of a joke, kind of a way to get the photographers off our tail so they wouldn’t follow us home. It wasn’t anything really lurid.”
“I don’t know, Deck. Cindi and I are talking, discussing this, if we want the two of you to work with the kids going forward.”
Deck’s stomach dropped at that. He sat forward as if that would counter the sensation. “Are you—are you serious? We have been working so hard with these kids. They have such great potential. I’d hate to—I’d hate to lose them. If that makes any difference to your decision. I’ve been their coach for four years. I’ve watched them grow up.” He shook his head. “It’s your choice, of course. You and Cindi talk, and let me know.”
Maybe losing them wouldn’t be the worst thing, he thought as he hung up. He would have a lot more freedom. A more flexible schedule. He wanted to remain their coach, wanted to go back to the Winter Games with them. But apparently the decision was out of his control.
He was looking at the phone in his hand, trying to decide if he was going to try to contact anyone else, when Colby walked in and handed him a cup of coffee.
“Melina?” she asked.
“Yeah, they’re upset at the location of the picture, and the distraction. She doesn’t want the kids thinking about us having sex.” He pushed to his feet in a surge of energy. “She didn’t give a damn if we didn’t like each other when we started working together but God forbid we sleep together.”
