Page 35 of Cross Check My Heart
I’ll take action in bed with you over the ice any day.
Me:
How was your day?
Before I can read her response, Dean bumps his shoulder into mine and nods toward the phone in my hand.
“You got a girlfriend?”
I shrug in indifference. “Not yet. Just met her Friday.”
“You’ve been here for what, a couple weeks? And yet you already met someone? Damn.” Dean laughs as he starts pulling his clothes out and I take the opportunity to check Lilly’s response.
Lilly:
Weirdly productive. I got a lot of writing done, cleaned, and baked some cookies.
Lilly:
I can’t tell you the last time I baked anything.
Me:
What would a neighbor have to do to get one of those cookies?
Lilly:
I can think of a couple things ;)
Laughing, I tuck my phone back into my pocket and reach for my gym bag. The idea of getting home and possibly seeing Lilly again has me ready to bolt out the doors. As I lean forward to grab the box, Landon grabs my attention.
“Did the team put you in the Kings building across the channel?”
“Yeah. You?”
He nods. “Been there for four years now.” He slings his gym bag over his shoulder. “There’s a bar right next door that a few of us like to go to some nights if you wanna join.”
“That sounds good, man. Count me in.”
Over the next couple weeks, Dom and I fall into a routine without even noticing. He goes to practice while I put all my focus on finishing the next set of chapters for my editor. When he got home from his first couple practices, he knocked on my door claiming he “just wanted to say hi.” Each time I opened thedoor, one of us found an excuse for him to come inside and once he did, it was impossible to keep our hands off each other.
Sometimes the chemistry between us takes me by surprise. I’m still trying to get used to craving someone so much.
The past couple Friday’s, Dom has joined a few of his teammates out for beers, which has been perfect for planning time to catch up with Paige, or shockingly, my dad.
I even met up with my dad for coffee last week. It was nice to get to know him more. We only caught up for an hour, so the conversation never went deep and neither of us brought my brothers up. When he asked me what I was doing for work, I shocked myself when I told him about my book. I wasn’t sure about how I thought he was going to react, but he was genuinely excited and curious about what I was working on. He even asked about the company I was publishing through and more about Paige.
He had texted me this past weekend asking if I wanted to meet up for lunch after he was done with work on Wednesday. It took me a few hours to think it over, only because I know that the next time I see him, we will need to clear the air. If we are going to form a relationship, he needs to understand how much he hurt me. Even if it doesn’t work out and he leaves again, I won’t be able to say that I didn’t try. We made plans to meet at the arena, then go from there, and I spent the past week figuring out what to say to him.
Now, as I round the corner onto the street toward the arena, I find myself nervous, wondering if I’m making the right decision.
Dominik knows that I’m meeting my dad today. When I told him my plans for lunch, he finally asked about my relationship with my dad. I had tried to breeze over things, simply saying that he wasn’t around because he was always working, but Dominik didn’t miss a beat. So, we had turned our Monday night dinner into a “trauma dump date night” and I filled him in on myparents’ messy, four-year divorce and my dad leaving right after to move to Florida. He said it was weird because the man that he is getting to know as his coach sounds completely different from the man who left his three kids. I shrugged, repeating Paige’s words about how people can sometimes change.
That doesn’t mean that I’m not nervous as hell for today. I thought I was okay with not having my dad in my life. Even though I keep reminding myself not to get my hopes up, I stop myself from wondering if it’s possible.
There is a small possibility I see Dominik, since the team has practice today. The chances of my dad introducing me to anyone on the team are slim to none. Especially considering he has never been photographed with, or even mentioned his family before. Mom had once said that was so he could keep his “perfect coach” image. Now, after everything Dominik has told me about how crazy the press can be to get “inside scoops” on the teams, I wonder if what my mom had told us was true.
Walking up to the arena, I notice small groupings of people waiting around the edges of the parking lot. Most of them have cameras propped up, which I assume are waiting to catch pictures of the team as they leave. The sight of the camera crew has me stopping at the realization that the moment I walk into the arena, someone will be waiting to see who I leave with.
