Page 23 of Dump and Chase

“It just came out.”

Jeremy got on the bike next to me. “I think you want her around,” Jeremy said. While Ryan was a soft touch away from the ice, Jeremy liked to hit you right between the eyes.

I shook my head. “I want to be around for her and the kid. It’s not what you think.”

“So if Brandi dumps you, you’re not going to try to get Tangi back ASAP?”

“No. It’s not like that.”

Jeremy and Ryan exchanged looks and laughed.

“You want our advice? Rip the Band-Aid off and tell Brandinow. The longer you wait, the harder it’s gonna get,” Jeremy said as he worked on his stretches.

Ryan nodded. “And maybe she’ll surprise you and be okay with it.”

Jeremy stifled a laugh as he got off his stationary bike and started on his weights. “You’ll be lucky to come out of it alive.”

I groaned and Jeremy patted me on the back. “Look, we’ve all made huge mistakes,” he said, sounding a little more compassionate. “Not as huge as yours, but some pretty big mistakes. Find a way to tell her that doesn’t make you sound like an asshole. Say you were reminiscing about your dad, you’d been drinking, and you royally screwed up.”

“That sounds like a lie,” Ryan said.

Jeremy shot him a look and he shut up. As team captain, Jeremy always had respect in the room. No one dared cross him and get away with it. He may have been quiet and serious most of the time on the rink, but he said it the way it was, and he wasn’t tolerating any bullshit. Off the ice, things were different, but that was for a different day.

“Sometimes you’ve got to lie,” he said. “Unless you want her to walk out. And I’m not being an ass right now. I know how you feel about Tangi. You were a bumbling mess when she left. You were on pace to score forty goals that year, and poof, you barely hit twenty-five. If having her around is going to mess with your head, then you need to figure that out. If getting her back is the goal, you need to figure that shit out too. Whatever you decide, it can’t affect you or the team. You’re going into free agency in a year. You want to play for every dollar you’re worth.”

And that was why Jeremy was captain. He had his life figured out and knew exactly what he wanted.

“I always liked Tangi,” Ryan said. “I thought you guys were perfect together. She was sweet, and everyone liked her.”

Right. No one liked Brandi as much. She’d often come off as a snob, implying she was smarter than everyone in the room. Ryan slipped to me that his girlfriend didn’t appreciate the fact that Brandi boasted about her job all the time, and all the important charity work she did. As far as I could tell, Brandi hadn’t made any connections with the other girlfriends and wives, and from what Ryan’s girlfriend Amanda said, she hadn’t even tried.

“And Brandi has to be a smarty pants,” Jeremy added. “It turns people off.”

“But she is hot,” Ryan said, trying to soften Jeremy’s latest blow.

“Why do I feel like you guys are trying to tell me something,” I said.

Jeremy shrugged, running a hand through his dark hair. He’d let it grow out during the off-season, just like he did every summer, and then just before the season started, he’d cut it super short and leave it that way until the end of the season. But then in team pictures, which were scheduled just before he cut his hair, he’d have the longer hair slicked back. So all season long, his team and promo pictures looked nothing like him.

“I don’t think we’retryingto tell you. I think wearetelling you,” Ryan said. “We loved Tangi. And you love Brandi. But if Brandi tells you to take a hike, we’d all get over it pretty fast.”

I shot Ryan a glare but he smiled instead. I let the subject drop because these two guys were no help.

We finished up our workout and I showered and got ready to leave. We’d decided to work out every morning until physicals. Fortunately, I’d been able to do some training back in Minneapolis to stay in shape, but I wasn’t at my best. I also wasn’t worried about it.

I said goodbye and grabbed my phone as I walked to my car and saw the text from Tangi.

I‘m applying for the Ravens position. Can I use you as a reference?

My heart skipped a second as the words sank in. There was no turning back now.

ChapterThirteen

Tangi

Isent the text to Ethan and waited for his reply. It came about an hour later.

Sure. Of course.

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