Page 9 of Taylor

Surely, he wasn’t.

“Badly,” he said with a nod. “I’m not as smooth as some of the guys on the team.”

“You’re not so bad at it,” she said, trying to keep her emotions reined in, oscillating between falling in love or thinking this was all a joke.

But Taylor didn’t seem like the kind of jerk who would make her think he liked her just to mock her, and because of that, she really needed to get control of her runaway emotions. He was just being nice.

She broke eye contact and got back to the movie. The movie was safe. Why was she like this?

“Is there a video of you and your sister doing the song? I’d like to see that,” he said, chuckling to himself.

“No, even as a kid, she never would have allowed that,” she said with a laugh.

“I hope this isn’t too forward, but your dad mentioned that he was meeting everyone in the city for Christmas. Why aren’t you with them?”

She took a deep breath and ran her hand through her hair. As it fell from behind her ear, she was reminded of the freshly colored rainbow hair she had, and it did help her to feel better.

“They think I’m on a business trip.”

“But you are alone in a cabin,” he said, gesturing to the room around them.

“I am.”

The room was quiet as Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney sang about snow. He was waiting for her to continue. He was leaving tomorrow, and she wasn’t one to hang out around the team. Why would he even care? And he was surprisingly easy to talk to... So, she decided to be honest, which wasn’t always her go to.

“I lost my job, and I just couldn’t bring myself to go.”

He just nodded and smiled at her, again with no judgment at all. “That sucks.”

“I really tried this time,” she continued. “But I just can’t seem to make myself work in office situations. The monotony gets to me and then I start making mistakes and being late... Whatever it is.” This is the thought spiral she was trying to stave off, but here it was. “I guess I’m just a fuck-up,” she said in a voice above barely a whisper.

His head snapped to her, and this time, she did sense more emotion behind those beautiful brown eyes.

“Why would you say that?”

She tipped a shrug. “It’s not like I’m the only person who says it.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

Shaking her head, she said, “It’s fine. I’m twenty-eight, I’ve never kept a job longer than a year. I never finished college. I’ve never had a serious relationship. I’m pretty much stumbling through life. And in my family, it’s painfully obvious.”

“None of that makes you a fuck-up. I never finished college, and I’ve never been in a serious relationship.”

“It’s different.”

“Why?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You’re a professional athlete. You play on one of the best teams, and you’re one of the best defensemen in the league. It’s clearly not the same.”

“All I’m saying is, if I didn’t have hockey and had to try and force myself into an office job I hated, it would end badly. You just need to find what you’re good at,” he said, as if it were that easy.

She laughed at him. “Oh, is that all?”

He cocked his head, seemingly confused. “Yeah, find what you’re good at, something you love doing, and make it work.”

“Well, considering I don’t have any hidden talents that would make me millions, I’m not sure that’s an option for me.”

“What do you want to do? What about your art?”

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