Page 26 of From Ice to Grace
This time Hannah turns to me. “Why don’t you date a nice girl, Declan?”
Unable to keep a frown from my face, I ask, “A nice girl? What’s a nice girl?”
“My mom always said I should marry a nice girl,” Lindgren says, while still chewing his food. “I’m not sure what that means, but I intend to do that. She’s my mom and she gives great advice.”
“A nice girl is someone who’s not like the ones you’ve had,” Nikolai says, his voice gruff. “You know, not just a one-night stand. You marry the nice girl because she’s someone you’re not ashamed to introduce to your mother.”
“Whoa…” I say, setting down my own cutlery at the sound of the word ‘marry’. “How did we get to marriage? I just want someone who’ll cheer me on, who’ll keep me company, and who’ll show up when I ask her to. Three easy things. And no one is meeting my mother.”
“Why not?” Avah asks, a devious smile on her face. “Scared?”
“Of what?” I bark.
“That’s what I’d like to know?” she asks, trying and failing to look like she’s posing an innocent question. “Is a long-term commitment too scary for the playboy defenseman?”
I move my feet beneath the table again, this time intentionally hitting hers in the process.
“It’s not scary, it’s just unrealistic,” I answer truthfully. “Marriage is a farce.”
I feel Hannah stiffen beside me and I quickly turn to her. “No offense to you guys, of course,” I quickly add, attempting a smile at both Hannah and Lucas. They’ll find out the truth on their own at some point.
“Uhm…” EJ starts, quirking his eyebrow.
“Nobody stays married,” I go on, ignoring the tightening tension around the table. “It’s unnatural. The passion fizzles out, someone wants more than the other can give, one starts sleeping around,” I say with a frown and a gesture. “Two clear-headed adults should be able to recognize the truth about life and make an agreement that suits everyone’s needs.”
“Another five points for romance,” EJ says, nodding and taking a giant bite of steak.
Maybe I shouldn’t have shared my entire philosophy on relationships right here at the dinner table, but it’s out now. It might make them understand me a bit better, and then they can adjust their expectations.
“Not everyone is like that,” Hannah says, her voice filled with sympathy for some reason. It’s not received well. In fact, it reeks of condescension.
“Oh no?” I ask, turning to her.
She’s a picture perfect wife, all innocence and big eyes, but I refuse to believe even she’s that delusional to believe marriage is rainbows and roses. Perhaps she hasn’t seen enough yet.
“My parents are still married,” Hannah says matter-of-factly. “And Lucas’s dad worshipped the ground his mom walked on before she got sick.” Lucas nods in agreement before taking Hannah’s hand and squeezing it. “I know he wishes she was still here with him.”
“Our parents are still married,” EJ says, looking at his sister next to him. “Thirty years now, right?” he asks Avah and she nods.
She isn’t looking at him or me or anyone. Instead her entire demeanour has changed, almost like she’s retreating into herself.
“Mine too,” Lindgren says with a mouth full of food. “I know for a fact my dad wouldn’t survive without my mom. He’d lose his own head if it wasn’t attached to his body. She takes care of him even when he drives her insane.”
All of their words are like a foreign language. Like the Canucks hoisting the Stanley Cup…completely unexpected and out of place. My gaze flicks back to Avah, wondering what she’s hiding. If she was in complete agreement with them…she would’ve used this opportunity to hurl something at me.
Instead she’s hiding.
“Let me get this straight,” I ask, meeting the gazes of my teammates around the table. “You’re suggesting I get married and settle down like Lucas over here?” I ask, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice. A chuckle escapes me. “Maybe pop out a few kids and drive them to church on Sundays?”
Lucas shakes his head, as he sets down his knife and fork. “Marriage is not something you do on a whim, Dec.”
“Says the guy who got married in Vegas,” I mumble, taking a sip of my cranberry juice.
Cranberry juice. Can you believe it.
“To the woman I’ve been in love with all my life!” Lucas says, staring at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“That doesn't mean anything,” I toss back, the need to defend myself kicking in before I can stop it. “No, offense.”
