Page 74 of Hockey Wife

“They’re not around anymore and my memory of them is kind of dim.”

“She had breast cancer fourteen years ago. Beat it like a boss.”

“Knew she was a tough cookie. What else?”

She felt him relax. “She protested during the sixties. Burned her bra in the seventies. Probably did a ton of coke in the eighties.”

“Really?”

“Maybe? What I’m trying to say is that she’s always been a woman of her time. Nothing fazes her.”

She inched closer. “It sounds like she’s led a very full life.”

“Yet for some reason she claims she won’t be happy if she doesn’t see us all paired off.”

“So, that’s why you came back to me with your offer?”

He hesitated, likely trying to think of some way to phrase it that wouldn’t give offense. She let him off the hook.

“Hey, we both have our reasons. It’s okay. And like I said, yours is far more noble than mine.”

“Georgia—”

“I promise to do whatever I can to make her wishes come true.” After all, she did it for complete strangers on their birthday. Why not her husband’s grandmother? Why not bring a tiny speck of joy to this lovely family?

He shifted to face her. “The things I said before about you being?—”

“Mercenary?”

“In a word. That wasn’t fair. We all have ways of surviving. I don’t know you well enough to assume your ways are more preferable to mine.”

Perhaps her performance had pleased him. You did good, Georgia! Here are a few morsels of kindness as your reward.

“It’s okay. You can only draw conclusions on the information you’re given.”

He snorted.

“It’s true!”

“So what you’re saying is that either I’m terrible at reading a situation or you’re amazing at fooling the world about what you’re really like.”

She opened her mouth. Closed it quickly. She had no good response for that.

He leaned over, close enough that she could feel his breath hot against her cheek. “Which is it? Banks the dummy or Georgia the faker?”

“Neither of those options are very flattering.”

“No,” he murmured, his voice soft and low. “Tell me what I need to hear.”

“That you’re a dummy?”

He chuckled. “Sounds about right. But I think both can be true at once. You’re hiding things from me.”

Of course she was. If he had any clue of how much she was enjoying this incredibly awkward conversation, he’d think she was crazy. Just talking to him like this, closer than she’d ever felt with anyone since Dani, was more than she deserved. Especially after how she had trapped him, all because she’d been looking for a way to soothe her pain.

“So what secrets are you keeping, Peaches?” He was still close, and the whisper in the words made him seem even closer.

“I’m an open book.”

---