Page 85 of Power Play

Me: I need some advice. How do you tell a woman you’re sorry?

Me: Asking for a friend.

Me: Also I might be in Calico Cove.

Me: Or somewhere else entirely.

My brother discovered hockey first. He discovered everything first. But I followed wherever he led. And listen, the whole world is full of stories of how big brothers push aside little brothers. How they don’t want them tagging along. No one would have blamed Wyatt for trying toditch me. I was a royal pain in the ass. Total attention hog. But he never did. Not once.

When shit went south with Mom, I knew Wyatt would figure us out. He’d take me with him wherever he was going. Practice, friend’s house, tournaments. Shinny at the community center. He took care of me. Sometimes the way he took care of me was telling me no.

Telling me to wait. Telling me to be patient.

I shouldn’t take the carpool ride just because I liked the kid. Wyatt knew the dad was a flake and I wouldn’t get to practices on time. I could wait for new skates until the end of the season when the prices dropped on used equipment.

He taught me when I should stick up for myself and when I should keep my mouth shut.

Patience.

Wyatt was always pretty good at it.

I wasn’t good at it at all. I can’t imagine any kid is. But I loved my brother. He was the rock-solid constant in my life, so I calmed myself down and did what he said.

Most of the time, I could thank him for it. I owed my career to him. This last Stanley Cup. That unbelievable endorsement deal he told me to hold out for. But tonight, lying in the comfortable bed under the eaves wondering if Kit was going to get up the courage to come for me – I wanted to punch my brother out.

Bullshit advice, honestly.

Why would anyone on the planet take that man’s advice about women? He was practically a mountain man virgin. I’d never seen a guy turn away so many interested women. Of course, now he was married to Sydney Malloy, so maybe he was getting the last laugh.

I had no idea what was happening there. He wasn’t answering any of my texts.

Maybe that told its own story though. Maybe he was pre-occupied with other things up in his cabin in the woods with Sydney.

One thing I was sure of. Kit wanted me. It was as obvious as the Voyagers’ gap in their defense last year. She’d built walls around herself for a reason. Of course she had.

How in the world was she supposed to trust me when the one person she was supposed to trust the most – the only person she could trust,her father– had screwed her over so royally?

And yes, of course I understood that this was how I showed her she could trust me. I got it. I could give her all the power. Put every ball in her court. But I could also kiss the doubt right out of her and that would speed the process up. It’s not like we had buckets of time. This beach vacation was over in a week.

I should go down to her, I thought. Just see if she was okay. Maybe see if she wanted…

The door to my room creaked open.

My heart jacked up into my throat.

I knew it wasn’t Tess, once that kid went to bed nothing woke her up until the sun.

The door eased open all the way, and standing in the hallway wearing a long t-shirt, looking about as nervous as a woman could look, was Kit.

She did it. Brave girl.

“Hi,” she said and lifted her hand like we were meeting at the grocery store.

“Hi,” I said, smiling at her because I couldn’t help myself.

Nervously she tugged on her shirt and it took me a second to recognize the character on the front.

“Is that…Shrek?” I asked.

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