Page 38 of Cross Check My Heart
It isn’t until after we finish dinner and head to my bathroom to start getting ready, that she asks how things with my dad went. My breath heaves out of my lungs in a woosh while I grip the counter.
“It was good. We talked. Like wereallytalked. He knows he fucked up by choosing work over us, but after seeing him interact with a couple of the guys from his team for less than five minutes…” I pause, trying to find the words. I reach for my glass and take a sip of whatever sweet drink Paige made me. “He’s good at what he does, really good. His team clearly respects his leadership and from what Dominik tells me, they all adore him. It’s hard because the more I learn about him and his relationship with the team, the more I see thatthisis where he’s meant to be.” I close my eyes, taking a deep breath before I continue.
“When he moved to Florida, mom told us that it no longer fit his schedule to see us. We all believed that because we already know how intense hockey seasons are. But earlier, Imade a comment about how it hurt that he didn’t accept any of the invitations to graduations or birthdays…” I open my eyes, finally facing Paige as the heaviness settles in my chest. “He never got any invitations. When I explained that mom told me she sent him the information, but he was too busy, he said he hasn’t heard from mom in nine years.” My teeth grind painfully together and scrape my fingers through my hair. Tears sting at the corner of my eyes.
“Wait. What are you saying?” Paige questions, her eyes wide. I pinch the bridge of my nose and suck in a deep breath.
“I’m saying that a few hours ago, my dad offered to show me proof that he sent emails and texts to mom every year until Ian, Blake, and I had all graduated high school. He tried setting up summer vacations or spring break trips for him to either come up and see us, or for him to pay for plane tickets for us to come see him.” I can’t stop the hysterical laugh that breaks free. “He even offered to buy plane tickets for you and friends of the boys to come with us so we wouldn’t feel overwhelmed!”
The weight of everything hits me as I meet my best friend’s concerned gaze. Swallowing thickly, my eyes still tearing up as I whisper.
“Mom kept us from him. She let us believe the absolute worst and none of us thought twice of asking her to talk to him ourselves. I’m saying that for nine years, I’ve hated the man because I thought he wanted nothing to do with his kids. And I think I was wrong.”
Paige pulls me into her arms just as a tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. I hug her back for a moment before I bark out a laugh and pull away, wiping the tear off my face.
“Nope. I’m not doing this tonight. Tonight is going to be a fun night out with you. At some point, I will call my mother and ask her about all of this and see what she has to say.” I nod, tucking everything from dinner with my dad back into a mental lockboxand shoving it away for now. “Processing mommy and daddy issues can be for future me to deal with.”
I swallow the rest of my drink in one long chug before turning back to Paige. After a deep breath, I force a smile on my face.
“Now, does this bar have music? Cause I’m in the mood to dance it out.”
“First rounds on me.” I say loudly to the guys as we walk into the bar. Since the bar is literally the building next to the condo that the team puts us in, most of us walked over.
Practice had run an hour late this morning, but not because we were doing bad. No, quite the opposite. We were all in sync with each other. None of us even noticed how long we’d been on the ice until Marcus stalked in and complained that Coach was late for a conference call. Coach swore, scrambling and muttering about how he couldn’t be late today of all days. I laughed with the other guys and told him to get going. When really, I knew it was because he had lunch plans with his daughter.
Once he was gone, we all got sucked back into practicing for another hour before going to review footage from our last exhibition game. Everyone was in such a good mood that we decided to grab drinks. Even a couple guys that don’t normally come out decided to tag along. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve gotten to know more of the team during practices and gym time.
There are still a few of them I don’t know very well, but everyone has been welcoming.
From my experience on my last team, I had almost thought it was normal for teammates to butt heads daily, not everybodyclicks. As long as they worked together on the ice, it didn’t really matter. We all had the same goal, and that was to win.
That’s different with the Bobcats though. These guys all openly care for each other, so do the coaches. There are smaller groupings within the team, guys that clearly hang out together more often, but that doesn’t stop all of us from having a good time together.
It’s refreshing to actually be around a group of adults who don’t bicker like we’re back in high school.
Dean holds the door, gesturing for me to go in ahead of him as he talks my ear off about some Oktoberfest coming up in a couple weeks. We have four more exhibition games over the next three weeks of pre-season, then a four-day break before our first official game. While none of us are used to having this long ofa pre-season, we all refuse to complain, since the past two years had been put on and off hold due to the global pandemic. We’re just glad to be getting back to normal games, even if it means the season isn’t starting until the end of the month. Which, of course, means that Dean is now trying to convince us all to do something “fun” to kick off being back in the game.
Following behind me, Dean rambles on as we head into the bar. Landon and Greyson had left ahead of us to claim enough space to fit a bunch of hockey players. That was Landon and Grey’s way of wanting to make sure the staff wouldn’t be overwhelmed when a giant group of us came in unexpectedly. Since it was a Wednesday, I hadn’t expected it to be that busy, but didn’t point that out to them. If they felt that our presence would overwhelm the staff, they would probably send us a message to meet at one of our condos.
As I take in the bar right now, I know I was right. There’s a good handful of people scattered throughout the place, but it wasn’t busy. The music was already playing at full blast, even though no one was on the small dance floor. There were a couple of people scattered along the bar and a few of the tables had small groups around them. Landon and Greyson claimed some of the booths across from the bar, furthest from the dance floor. No doubt the seating choice was made by Greyson, since it keeps everyone off to the side out of the way.
While he isn’t as outgoing as everyone else, and tends to keep to himself unless asked, I’m starting to enjoy him. He doesn’t talk a lot, but when he does, everyone around him listens. When we went out to our first brunch, just the six of us, he had sat at the table looking like a miserable human, scowling and grunting one word answers to everyone as he drank his mimosa, but mostly just observed and listened. Toward the end of the meal, a couple of the waitresses had come over to our table. They had shamelessly flirted, asked for pictures, and straight up fangirledover all of us. Greyson hadn’t acknowledged any of them, just set some cash on top of his bill and walked out.
I used that as an opening to check on him. When I left the restaurant, he was leaning against Landon’s car. I didn’t say anything, simply shrugged and went to wait next to him. Since then, it’s almost as if he finally accepted me to the group.
As we head over to the booths, a waitress appears with a couple pitchers of beer and some glasses. Landon smiles down at her, and I don’t miss Greyson rolling his eyes as he pours himself a beer. One of the guys pats me on the shoulder, commenting on how he and a few others are going to get something a bit stronger. I dip my chin but accept the beer Grey offers me as I walk up to him.
Lilly and I hadn’t said that we were going to see each other tonight, but I’d prefer to not get wasted in case I do get to see her. It was more difficult than imagined to act like I didn’t know her when I saw her at the arena earlier. She looked stunning in the summer dress, yet I couldn’t help but imagine what she would look like in my jersey. My fantasy was wiped away when Coach came to get her for lunch.
This whole “seeing each other when we can, in secret” thing isn’t that bad. Even after practices, when I’m physically and mentally drained, I still find myself knocking on her door when I get back to the building. The first time I had, it was only meant to say goodnight face to face. But when she invited me in to chat for a minute, wearing that sexy little pajama set, I said yes and ended up falling asleep in her bed with her in my arms.
That’s how every night has been since. Okay, so most nights it’s not as innocent as that. I’m addicted to everything about her. It’s difficult to keep my hands, and mouth, off her.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I fire out a quick text message to Lilly.
Me:
Hope lunch with your dad went okay. You looked beautiful :)
