Page 7 of Puck & Make Up

But she’s still tiny when compared to me.

Because I’m a fucking behemoth.

Six-five.

Six-eight on skates.

So even as she’s shoving me out of the way, she’s doing it from nearly a foot beneath me.

And I’m letting her.

Because ever since the truth has come out about my birth mother, the hatred that Dessie has for me is…

Tempered.

Oh, she still gives me sass and her wit is full of sharp edges rather than gentle teasing.

But she’s different.

Same as Rosie’s been different since she found out the truth.

They’re all looking at me like I’m fragile.

Like I’m going to snap and freak out and?—

Well, pull an Annie Donovan.

At least it won’t be much longer before I head down to San Jose, before I get some space.

Of course, it’s not going to be far from my Rosie, seeing as how Joel’s career isn’t over and he’s heading down to San Francisco.

At least the handcuff incident I witnessed—the one that led to acid-filled eyes I wanted to gouge out with a spoon—from a couple weeks ago was worth it.

Joel got a contract too.

He’s going to the Gold.

From teammates to rivals.

That’s a hockey player’s reality.

“You know,” I mutter, leaning back against the counter and fixing my stare on Dessie, focusing on the here and now because if I stop and think about the rest of it, I want to punch something. “I’mthe one who was trusted with making the chocolate chip cookies in the first place.”

I know it’s because they’re trying to giving me something to do so I’m not focusing on the fact that Annie Donovan has disappeared again.

And so I’m also not fixated on figuring out how to tell my actual parents—and not my fucking egg donor—about the circumstances of my ending up in River’s Bend in the first place.

OrifI should tell them at all.

Especially considering that creating a relationship with my birth mom isn’t high up on my list of priorities.

She’s…well, I feel sorry for her.

But do I seriously want a relationship with a person who treated Rosie like she had?

Who’d made it clear that she looks after herself first and foremost?

I’ve built a family here.

---