Page 21 of Forever Player

“We already had coffee in the city,” Ellie replies since she doesn’t like the coffee we have out here on the farm.

“How about I fry up some eggs and bacon?” I offer since I am hungry from nursing.

“Sound good, I’m starving.” Ellie nods. “Thanks.”

“The only reason a woman is that hungry in the morning is if her man gave her a good riding last night,” Mom says.

My eyes turn round. “Mom!” I chide.

Ellie laughs and moves her head from side to side. “The benefits of being married to a hockey player.” She’s blushing but doesn’t seem put off by Mom, which is a relief.

“Our Willow scored a hottie too.” Mom winks.

For the love of everything holy. “Mom, please,” I plead.

“What? You guys aren’t in elementary school anymore. You should be able to handle some sexy talk.” Mom shrugs, bringing her mug of coffee to her lips. I want to crawl and hide because why does she have to be so inappropriate? I give Mom my best mopey face. “Fine, I’ll go upstairs to get ready so you ladies can have some privacy.” She finally leaves and saunters her way upstairs.

My friends wait a few moments before beginning their inquisition.

“How are you feeling, Willow? It was crazy how everything went down,” Eden starts, talking about my confession to Brett and my subsequent fainting.

“I’m okay, considering,” I say as I prep the dishes to make our meal. “I hope you guys aren’t mad at me about keeping Brett’s identity a secret.”

“I’m just sorry you felt like you had to keep the secret,” Ellie retorts.

“But you understand why I couldn’t tell you guys. Everyone is friends and if I would’ve told you guys about the horrible text message, it would have caused a lot of drama.”

“What a clusterfuck,” Eden sighs.

“It’s just so sad you guys had such a horrible miscommunication,” Ellie laments.

“Tell me about it. Not in a million years, in all the scenarios I thought of, was there a chance that Brett lost his phone,” I say.

“Don’t focus on what was. Now you guys are here together,” Ellie says.

“True, I don’t know what to expect. He’s kind of jumped right in on wanting to bond with Maylee, it’s making me nervous. I’m not used to sharing her, and I don’t know what his intentions really are.”

“He’s a good guy,” Ellie states.

“So you’ve said,” I reply to my friend. “Last night was such a mess. I planned to catch him in the locker room after the game. I wasn’t expecting him to have such a strange reaction to seeing me.”

“What do you mean by strange?” Ellie asks. She and Eden showed up after all the drama of Brett grabbing on to Jacob’s collar and telling him he had no right to be at the game with me. I retell the story to my friends of how Brett spotted me at intermission and charged up to me.

“Holy crap, Willow, Brett likes you.” Ellie looks wide-eyed.

“He does not,” I retort. I open the fridge and take out the eggs and bacon.

“Don’t kid yourself. He went alpha on Jacob. Sounds hot.” Eden is fanning herself.

“It was confusing. I’ll tell you that. I had a whole speech prepared. Then Brett went and uprooted the whole thing with his crazy reaction.”

“And then you fainted, so dramatic.” Eden rolls her eyes playfully.

“I couldn’t believe my own ears. That mix-up was too much to process. I spent most of last night tossing and turning, thinking of how things could’ve been different if we had somehow managed to connect.” I crack the eggs in a bowl and make extra, just in case Brett didn’t eat. I know what it’s like caring for a baby. You can forget to feed yourself.

“Don’t dwell on the past. Brett is here now and he seems to be connecting with Maylee,” Ellie says.

“He’s a natural with her,” I say, trying to hide the swoony feelings from my voice. I take out a pan and spray some avocado oil on it.

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