Page 91 of Grumpy Puck

My chest tightens.“I did what I had to do.”

“Did you?Why?Did you even consider the possibility of a long-distance relationship?”

The truth is, I didn’t.At least not at the moment when Michael asked me to stay.Just minutes earlier, I was so sure he’d dumped me for the usual reasons that I couldn’t fully process the fact that he hadn’t.It’s like my mental gears got stuck, and the only thing I could think about was that every other boyfriend had dumped me.

“You should call him,” Seraphina states when I remain silent.

I swallow.“I don’t think I could stand it if he doesn’t pick up.”Which he won’t.

She frowns.“Why would he not pick up?”

“Why did he not callme?”

“Because you are the one who left,” she repeats.

Damn her and her stupid good points.I know she’s right.Michael asked me to stay.He said he liked my family, but I didn’t really believe him.

Why didn’t I?

Was it because every other boyfriend of mine abandoned me as soon as they met my weird family?

Or… maybe it’s never been my family that they’ve found weird.

Maybe what really scared me was the idea that the weirdness they ran from was me.

“Seraphina…” My voice catches.“I think I screwed up.Like you said, he liked our family, and he proved that by asking me to move in with him.By asking me to stay.And what did I do?I left.I didn’t even try to?—”

She puts a hand on my shoulder.“Do you wish you’d stayed?”

I swallow the lump in my throat.“Yes.No.Maybe.You saw the show.I had to come here.But I wish we hadn’t fought before I left.I wish we’d decided to make it work.I mean, I could have flown to Florida to see him every so often, and he could have flown to New York to see me.”

In that moment, my brother joins us, so we can’t keep talking about this.

Yet that conversation festers in my mind all evening and well into the night.The next morning, I wake up tired and heartsick but with an epiphany.

I can’t go on like this anymore.

I have to try to fix things with Michael, and if he tells me to go fuck myself, that is a price I’ll have to pay—but at least I will know I tried.

Chapter27

Michael

“You’re retiring?”Dante takes his goalie mask off, blinding everyone with the paleness of his skin.“After all that hardcore practice?”

The rest of the team look just as shocked, and I can understand why.Lately, I have been a beast on the ice, but it was the only way to get my mind off Calliope.That, and I was doing Coach a favor by whipping the team into shape before departing.

“I’ve been increasingly focused on my foundation,” I explain.“And the next phase will require me to travel all over.”

“‘All over’ includes New York, right?”Dante asks with a wink.“After all, that’s where Tugev—I mean, your biggest donor—resides.”

“Exactly.”Dante’s Tugev jibe doesn’t land because I no longer see that overconfident prick as an enemy.It’s almost the opposite, in fact, thanks to a surprising number of things we’ve turned out to have in common.

“If I may.”Coach slaps me on my shoulder.“You’re going to be missed here, Michael.”

“It sure won’t be the same without you,” Isaac says, and I can tell what he means is, “It will be so much easier for me to act in my role as the captain without an asshole like you undermining me at every step.”

“Yeah,” several of the players say in unison.

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