Page 46 of Tempest

That’s not what happened. But she doesn’t know that. Odette doesn’t know how scared we both were, or how horrible we felt about so many things. She doesn’t know that I mourned our relationship like it was the death of half of me. Or that I didn’t really feel like I was living again until I held Tori in my arms for the first time.

“Time’s up, Vaughn,” Coach says, knocking me back to the here and now.

“Thanks, Coach.”

“You feel okay? You took a couple hard hits.”

“You know how it goes, shake it off and get back out there. I’ll be ready for the next game,” I answer. We don’t have a game tomorrow. I’ll be having breakfast with Caroline and this Brock guy before we catch the flight to Toronto in the early afternoon. A day’s rest will do wonders for me.

“Good. Get some rest.”

I skip out on grabbing food with the other guys, opting to get room service and playing hermit in my hotel room. After my salmon fettucine arrives, I turn on the television and flip through, trying to find anything to take my mind off everything.

Landing on some Channing Tatum movie, thinking it will be mindless entertainment, doesn’t really pan out. It’s a story of his wife getting amnesia and not remembering him at all. He attempts to romance her all over again, because if she fell in love with him once, surely, she would do it again.

Does that theory hold water in real life? I don’t know, but I can hope that if I have the chance to show Odette the man I am now, maybe there’s a chance she’ll fall in love with me like she did when I was still a dumbass boy.

Brock is a likeable guy; I can see why Caroline likes him so much. He looks like he’s worked manual labor his whole life—broad, strong, big hands that are calloused and nicked. He has a hard time not touching her. I think he’s making the effort, maybe for my benefit, but that’s stupid. Caroline’s comfortable with it, she doesn’t show any reaction other than leaning into it every time his hand finds her.

I’ve asked him about a hundred questions, because at the end of the day, this man will potentially be a part of my daughter’s life.

But he hasn’t given me a single red flag. Not that I expected him to, Caroline has always had a good sense of people’s character. She wouldn’t pick an asshole. Not knowingly, anyway.

Brock is also divorced. His marriage lasted six years and he has two sons from it—the youngest is sixteen, oldest is twenty. It sounds like he has a great relationship with them both. He gets along amicably enough with his ex, too.

Seems like Caroline found herself a drama-free boyfriend.

She looks good, too. Relaxed and happy like I haven’t seen her in a long time. Our marriage took a toll on us both, one we ignored for way too long.

“We’ll be in Seattle in a few weeks,” she says. “I miss Tori.”

“She misses you, too,” I say. “She’s also excited to meet Brock.”

“I’m excited to meet her, as well. I’ve never been to Seattle, so that’s a bonus.”

“It’s a great city, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

“How’s Odette?” Caroline asks. “Tori’s absolutely in love with her.”

“She’s a great mentor.”

“Gav, you know that’s not what I’m asking.”

Talking to Caroline about Odette makes my skin crawl. It’s ridiculous, really. She’s my friend before she’s my ex-wife. But it somehow feels like a betrayal to talk to the woman who came between me and Odette. Even if it was completely unintentional.

But then again, Odette and I aren’t anything more than friends. Fuck, we’re barely even that. Besides, the situation is an anvil on my shoulders, and who better to talk about it with than the only other person that was involved?

“She was there, Caroline. At our wedding.”

“Oh, Gav,” she gasps, her hand going to her mouth and tears instantly pooling in her eyes. “I can’t imagine how hard…”

Brock takes her hand and squeezes it softly.

“I always knew I did her wrong, but her telling me what it was like to watch…I don’t know how she could ever forgive me.”

“This is my fault,” Caroline starts.

“Stop that,” I admonish. “It was my decision to take you with me to Boston.”

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