Page 57 of Dump and Chase

“Jim told me you’re working too hard.” There was nothing more satisfying that using the Jim card on him.

He didn’t say anything for a moment before clearing his throat. “I’m doing only what everyone’s been telling me to do.”

If he thought he was going to outsmart me, he had another thing coming. “When you say that, do you do the recommended reps or do you do more?”

More silence. “The recommended reps,” he finally said.

“Funny, my bullshit meter is off the charts right now.”

He grumbled something I couldn’t make out. Then he said, “I really want to get back out there.”

“And you will. You will be cleared for non-contact practice in a few weeks. You’re working with Jim on the ice now. It will happen. You’re doing a great job. Don’t screw it up by coming back too early.”

I realized my voice usually sounded more upbeat, but today it sounded irritated, and Brandon caught that because he asked what was really bothering me. Telling him the truth was a bad idea, so I fudged it. A lot.

“I’m just a bit bummed,” I admitted. "I’ve been here almost a month and it’s been hard not having family and friends around. The good news is that I’m going home for a few days to see everyone and be there for my BFF’s restaurant opening.”

“That’s cool,” Brandon said as I worked on the muscles in his non-injured leg. They were compensating again. He grunted when I hit a tender point. “You probably don’t want my two cents, but when I left home to play hockey, it was the hardest thing I’d ever done. I didn’t know anyone. The family I was staying with was nice enough, but they weren’t my family, you know? But it got easier. I started to make friends, and you will too.”

I rolled out my acupuncture tray. “It’s hard to make friends when I work six days a week. And if you hadn’t noticed, there aren’t many women who work here.” Actually, I didn’t know of any. Some who worked admin came around occasionally, but most were older, and I didn’t see myself making a connection with any of them.

“Are there any wives and girlfriends left that you knew from when you and Ethan were together?”

“Yeah, but I think it would be weird.” Based on what I’d seen on social media, a few were still in the picture, but so much time had passed. Sure, we’d all been friends back then, but I wasn’t part of their sphere anymore.

I started my dry needling and hit some spots that had Brandon biting down on his lip, but he didn’t complain. He was too much of a tough guy to show any emotion, even though I could tell it was hurting like hell. Served him right for training too hard.

“You know,” he said through gritted teeth when I hit another tight spot, “there is this great Italian restaurant I go to all the time. Great family place. Now, I’m not suggesting a date because there is no fraternization allowed, but we could hang out there. Mario has a few daughters your age, sweet, fun, smart girls who I think you’d click with. One is an accountant and does the books for Mario, the other is a financial analyst.”

“You seem to know a lot about them,” I said, moving to his injured leg. “Have you dated them both?”

“Hell no, Mario would kill me. But we can have dinner there, and I can ask Mario to invite them too.”

Instead of asking me out, he was setting me up on a friend date. That was kind of cute. “I’ll think about it.”

“Tell you what, when you get back from your trip, we’ll go out for dinner and you can feel out the situation.”

That was starting to sound like a date again, but it did sound like fun to be out for dinner and not stuck in the condo alone. “All right, I’m up for that. In the meantime, you’re going to take it easy because if you reinjure yourself, it’s not only Jim’s head on the line but mine too. I like this job, so don’t ruin it for me.”

“Fine, I’ll lay off. But I’ve got to say this: Grant was an idiot to let you go.”

Where had that come from? I put down the hot presses on his sore muscles and Brandon closed his eyes as he relaxed. God, he was hot. But there were so many problems with even thinking anything else about him. First of all, I was pregnant. But more importantly, he was Ethan’s future teammate and totally off limits. Or was he?

ChapterTwenty-Eight

Tangi

Iflew home Friday evening and Mom and Dad picked me up at the airport. Mom nearly started crying when she saw me. I had to stop her from lifting up my shirt to see my slowly growing baby bump. I reminded her that I was barely four months along, so there wasn’t much to see.

“You’ve been eating right?” Mom asked as Dad took my small rolling luggage.

“I’ve always eaten right,” I said as she fussed with my oversized purse. “I can carry that!”

“And those Ravens are treating you with respect?” Dad asked.

With the exception of Garson and a few other Neanderthals, yes, but I lied and told Dad they were all perfect gentlemen. I filled them in on everything while we drove home, and Mom was nice enough to have dinner prepared since with the time difference it was around the time I ate dinner.

“How is Ethan?” Mom asked as I ate her chicken dumpling soup. That soup was the perfect comfort food for a cool Minnesota evening.

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